I built Mininote, a minimal plain-text tool that stays out of your way.

Most note-taking apps are weighed down by so-called productivity features that only clutter the experience. Endless sidebars, nested folders, and tracking scripts turn a simple text entry into something resembling database management. I wanted a tool that vanishes the moment I finish typing, which led me to create Mininote.

The guiding principle is straightforward: zero lock-in, zero noise. Built for anyone who needs a quick place to capture a ticket number, a passing thought, or a snippet of code without wading through layers of workspace navigation. It remains unobtrusive until called upon, then offers a clean, plain-text environment.

Technically, what excites me most is the API design. Rather than crafting a private internal API for the frontend and later developing a separate public API for external use, I unified both into one. No hidden divide between how the app works internally and how outside tools interact with it. This simplifies integration into custom AI workflows or local automation scripts.

Want to build a basic integration or learn how to work with an API this lean? Treat the app's own network requests as your guide. Because the public API is the same one the site uses, you can observe exactly how data flows and mirror that in your own LLM agent or backup utility.

For those curious about the reasoning, I'm exhausted by notes locked inside proprietary formats. Sticking to plain text guarantees portability. Whether exporting to a Markdown editor or piping content into a prompt engineering pipeline, there’s no wrestling with odd formatting or hidden metadata.

This is data management stripped to its essentials. No heavy setup or complex deployment required, just immediate functionality. Over the past month, I’ve fine-tuned the experience to minimize the gap between having a thought and capturing it. It’s less of a platform and more of a private, temporary scratchpad.