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

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

Sidebar panels

• 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.

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

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.

1. Run Jot: Configure Notes Root → select a local folder.
2. Run Jot: Configure Backup → select the cloud-synced folder.
3. Every 10 minutes (configurable), the extension mirrors local → backup using robocopy /MIR (Windows) or rsync --delete (macOS/Linux).
4. If the backup folder is unreachable (cloud service offline, not logged in, etc.), the sync silently skips and shows a status-bar indicator.
5. 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.