Jot

Quickly jot down Markdown notes, organized by project and tags — right inside VS Code.

Jot is a lightweight, offline-first note-taking extension. No cloud service, no telemetry, no database — just plain .md files in a local folder you choose.

Why Jot?

Instant — Cmd+Option+I (Ctrl+Alt+I on Windows/Linux) captures a note in Inbox with zero prompts
Organized — top-level folders are projects; notes are sorted by time or name
Tagged — create, edit, rename, or bulk-delete tags from a dedicated panel
Searchable — full-text search across titles, projects, tags, and note body
Portable — notes are plain Markdown files; works with any other tool
Backed up — built-in one-way sync to a second folder (cloud storage, NAS, etc.)
Cross-platform — Windows, macOS, Linux
Lightweight — zero runtime dependencies, activates in milliseconds

Getting started

Open the Jot icon in the Activity Bar.
Click Configure notes root... and select a local folder.
Press Cmd+Option+N (Ctrl+Alt+N on Windows/Linux) to create your first note.

Choosing a destination project when creating a note

Keyboard shortcuts

Action	macOS	Windows/Linux
New Note (select project, title, tags)	`Cmd+Option+N`	`Ctrl+Alt+N`
Capture to Inbox (no questions asked)	`Cmd+Option+I`	`Ctrl+Alt+I`

Notes: browse projects and notes, drag-and-drop to move, right-click for actions. Inbox is auto-expanded on startup.
Tags: browse all tags in use, expand to see tagged notes across projects.

Tags panel with a tag expanded and its context menu open

Right-click actions

On a note	On a project	On a tag
Preview Markdown	New Note	Rename Tag
Reveal in File Explorer	Rename Project	Delete Tag
Copy File Path	Open in File Explorer	Copy Tag Name
Edit Tags
Move to Project...
Rename
Duplicate
Delete

Command Palette

Search Notes across titles, projects, tags, and content

Command	Description
`Jot: Search Notes`	Search by title, project, tag, or content
`Jot: Open Templates Folder`	Open the templates folder in File Explorer
`Jot: New Note from Template`	Create a note from a specific template
`Jot: Open Recent Note`	Open a recently modified note
`Jot: Configure Notes Root`	Set the root directory for notes
`Jot: Configure Backup`	Set or disable the backup directory
`Jot: Show Notes Root`	Display the currently configured root
`Jot: Edit Note Tags`	Edit tags of the current note in the editor

Settings (`settings.json`)

These settings are stored in settings.json and synced across PCs via Settings Sync:

Setting	Default	Description
`jot.fileNamePattern`	`{{date}}_{{title}}`	File name pattern. Tokens: `{{date}}`, `{{time4}}` (HHMM), `{{timeCompact}}` (HHMMSS), `{{title}}`, `{{project}}`, `{{type}}`
`jot.defaultProject`	`Inbox`	Fallback project
`jot.defaultTemplate`	`memo`	Template for regular notes
`jot.rememberLastProject`	`true`	Show last-used project first
`jot.recentLimit`	`50`	Max files in Open Recent list
`jot.notesView.sortOrder`	`modifiedDesc`	Note sort: `modifiedDesc`, `modifiedAsc`, `nameAsc`, `nameDesc`
`jot.notesView.projectSortOrder`	`nameAsc`	Project sort: `nameAsc`, `nameDesc`, `modifiedDesc`, `modifiedAsc`
`jot.notesView.pinInboxToTop`	`true`	Pin Inbox to the top of the Notes panel
`jot.backup.intervalMinutes`	`10`	How often (in minutes) to sync notes to the backup directory (1–1440)

Per-PC settings (not in settings.json)

These are stored inside the extension (not in settings.json), so they are not synced across PCs and won't appear in your settings file:

Setting	How to set
Notes root directory	`Cmd+Shift+P` (`Ctrl+Shift+P` on Windows/Linux) → `Jot: Configure Notes Root`
Backup directory	`Cmd+Shift+P` (`Ctrl+Shift+P` on Windows/Linux) → `Jot: Configure Backup`

Backup / Sync

Jot can automatically mirror your local notes folder to a second location (e.g. a cloud-synced folder) while VS Code is running.

Run Jot: Configure Notes Root → select a local folder.
Run Jot: Configure Backup → select the cloud-synced folder.
Every 10 minutes (configurable), the extension mirrors local → backup using robocopy /MIR (Windows) or rsync --delete (macOS/Linux).
If the backup folder is unreachable (cloud service offline, not logged in, etc.), the sync silently skips and shows a status-bar indicator.
When VS Code closes or the extension is uninstalled, syncing stops — nothing is left behind (no Task Scheduler, no cron, no external scripts).

Logs appear in the Jot output channel (Cmd+Shift+U, or Ctrl+Shift+U on Windows/Linux → select "Jot").

Multiple PCs: each machine stores its own root and backup paths independently. Only UI preferences (sort order, filename pattern, etc.) sync across PCs.

Templates

Templates live in <notes-root>/.jot/templates/. The built-in templates are memo.md and meeting.md. Add your own .md files there to use them with New Note from Template.

Available template variables: {{title}}, {{project}}, {{type}}, {{tags}}, {{selection}}, {{clipboard}}, {{date}}, {{time}}, {{timeCompact}}, {{created}}, {{cursor}}.

Tips

Cloud sync users: the extension debounces file-system events and watches only .md files, so sync metadata churn does not cause flicker.
Delete on network folders: if moving to the Recycle Bin fails (common on cloud-synced or network folders), the extension offers a permanent-delete fallback with a confirmation dialog.
Markdown preview: use Cmd+Shift+V / Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows/Linux (side preview) or Cmd+K V / Ctrl+K V on Windows/Linux (split preview). If the preview appears light on a dark theme, check that markdown-preview-github-styles.colorTheme is set to "auto" in settings.json.

Jot

aruhi

Jot

Why Jot?

Getting started

Keyboard shortcuts

Sidebar panels

Right-click actions

Command Palette

Settings (`settings.json`)

Per-PC settings (not in settings.json)

Backup / Sync

Templates

Tips

Jot

aruhi

Jot

Why Jot?

Getting started

Keyboard shortcuts

Sidebar panels

Right-click actions

Command Palette

Settings (settings.json)

Per-PC settings (not in settings.json)

Backup / Sync

Templates

Tips

Settings (`settings.json`)