09:12Development
Blocked
Staging box
Do not run the seed script here.
The window that will bite you is the one that looks like all the others.
macOS · Windows · free for two windows
Notes that stick to the window.
Press ⌥⇧N over any window and write down why it is open. The note follows the window, steps aside when it is covered, and is back after a restart.
- Free for 2 windows, no time limit
- No account, no sign-up
- Nothing leaves your machine
Works on any window
- staging — sshTerminal
- DemoPkg — A.swiftXcode
- Pricing — ResearchSafari
- Q3 forecast.numbersNumbers
- Invoices 2026Finder
- forecast_studio – main.dartAndroid Studio
- Ticket 4471Mail
- Draft.mdiA Writer
- Onboarding v3Figma
- Contract_final_v2.pdfPreview
- Meeting notes.txtTextEdit
- api.ts — backendVS Code
Measured and tuned on Terminal, Xcode, Finder, Safari, TextEdit, Preview, iA Writer and the JetBrains IDEs — and it attaches to everything else, too.
Sound familiar?
Fourteen windows open. Every one of them was urgent an hour ago. Not one of them says why.
- 01
You close the wrong one
The window with the migration running looks exactly like the one with nothing running. There is nothing to read before you hit ⌘W.
- 02
Monday costs you an hour
Not because the work is hard — because rebuilding where you were takes longer than the work you stopped on Friday.
- 03
The reminder is somewhere else
A to-do in a task manager, a Post-it on the monitor. None of them are where the work is, so none of them are read when they matter.
WindowNote puts the note where you will actually see it: on the window.
Try it
Drag the window. Watch the note.
This is the whole product in one gesture. The note is not on your desktop and not in a sidebar — it is on that window, and it behaves like part of it.
The note sits where you pinned it.
Drag the window, or use the buttons.
A day with WindowNote
Every window says what it is for.
Scroll through a working day. Same desk, four kinds of work — and the morning after.
It finds its way back
Windows change. The note keeps up.
Titles change, apps restart, documents close and open again. Every note carries a fingerprint of its window — app, title, document — and finds it again, strongest signal first.
- 01Restart
Shut down on Friday. Back on Monday.
When the Mac comes back, every note looks for its window by app, document and title — and is on it before you have found your place.
- 02Changing titles
Your terminal renames itself all day.
Every cd, every running command, every Claude Code task rewrites the title. WindowNote remembers what the window was called and holds on.
- 03Tabs
The whole window, or just this tab.
In Safari, Terminal, Finder or TextEdit a note either follows the window whichever tab is in front, or lives on exactly one tab. Close that tab and the note says so instead of wandering off.
- 04Closed and reopened
Close the document. Open it again tomorrow.
Reopening a file makes a brand-new window. The note recognises the document and moves across — even in Xcode, where every file you open renames the window.
- 05Desktops
Spread across desktops.
A note stays on its window's desktop and is there when you switch to it. Or pin one to a desktop itself — for what belongs to the whole project.
- 06Honest about it
It tells you how sure it is.
Certain, probable, or assigned by you — every match says which. A guess never teaches itself in, and you can overrule it in one click.
Status
Five states, and the one you were actually in.
A note's status is a stripe on its edge and a word at the top. It is what lets you glance at a screen full of windows and see where you stopped.
- In progress
Rewrite the importer
Half done, see the branch.
- Blocked
Migration running
Do not close this window.
- Waiting
Numbers from Marc
Chased Tuesday. Follow up Friday.
- Review
Check the export
Numbers looked off in row 40.
- Done
Rate limits
Shipped. Kept for the changelog.
The app
Four surfaces, and a menu bar icon.
WindowNote is a menu bar app that mostly stays out of the way. When you do open it, this is all of it.
One shortcut, from anywhere
⌥⇧N over the window you are in. No window picker, no app switch, no cursor journey to a menu. The editor opens on the note, the note is already attached, and Escape puts it away.
⌥+⇧+NPress it over the window you are in.
The editor opens on the note. The note is already attached.
Why not just…
You have tried the alternatives. Here is where they stop.
None of these are bad tools. They are all in the wrong place — which is the only thing that matters when the note has to be read at a glance, mid-task.
| Sticky notes on the desktop | A notes or task app | WindowNote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is it where the work is? | Floats over everything, including what you are reading | In another app you have to remember to open | On the window it is about |
| Does it get out of the way? | No — it is always on top | Not applicable; it is never in the way, and never in sight | Hides when the window is covered or minimised |
| Does it survive a restart? | The note does, the context does not | Yes, but it never had the context | Note and window are found again together |
| How long to write one? | Find the app, make a note, place it | Switch app, pick a project, type, switch back | One keystroke, in place |
| Where does it live? | Locally, usually | Usually a server, usually an account | Locally. No account, no sync, no telemetry |
Privacy
What WindowNote can see, and what it never looks at.
The app asks for the Accessibility permission on macOS, which is one of the broadest permissions the system grants. Here is the whole of what it does with it.
It reads the label, never the contents
WindowNote sees an app's name, a window's title, its position and size, and the document path when the app offers one. Not the contents of a window, not keystrokes, not the clipboard. The Accessibility permission is far broader than that — the restraint is the app's own, and it is stated on the permission screen because someone handing over that permission deserves to know where the line is.
Nothing leaves the machine
Notes live in a local database on your own disk. No account, no sync server, no telemetry, no crash reporter phoning home. The only network call the app ever makes is the licence check, and the free tier does not make it.
It never holds your notes hostage
The free tier limits how many windows carry notes, never how much you write on them, and never takes back what you have already written. A subscription that lapses drops you to Free with every note still readable and editable. A notes app that locks up your own words is one you stop trusting.
What WindowNote reads
- The app's name and identifier
- Window titles
- Window position and size
- The document path, when the app offers one
What WindowNote does not read
- The contents of your windows
- Keystrokes, clipboard, passwords
- The accessibility tree inside another app
- Anything at all, off this machine
Where the notes actually are
A SQLite file in your own Application Support folder. You can read it, back it up, and delete it. There is no copy anywhere else.
~/Library/Application Support/de.jonashottler.windownote/%APPDATA%\Balane\WindowNote\The diagnostics report in Settings copies what the app can currently see of your windows, for bug reports. It leaves this machine only if you paste it somewhere.
Price
Two windows free. All of them for €1.25 a month.
The limit is on windows, not on notes. Keep as many notes as you like on the two windows you picked, for as long as you use the app.
Free
€0
forever, no time limit
- Notes on 2 windows
- Unlimited notes per window
- Every status, colour and position
- Survives restarts
- No account, no sign-in
Pro
€1.25per month
€14.99 billed once a year · incl. VAT · cancel any time
- Unlimited windows
- Up to 3 Macs
- All future updates
- Everything in Free
Purchase and invoicing happen in your browser via Lemon Squeezy.
What happens when the internet does not
The licence is checked in the background, at most once a day. If Lemon Squeezy is unreachable, Pro keeps working for seven days — because locking a paying customer out of their own notes over a flaky connection is not a defensible default.
Questions
Everything people ask before installing it.
Why does it need the Accessibility permission?
It is the only way on macOS to see which windows other applications have open, what they are called, and where they are. Without it the app cannot attach a note to anything. It reads window metadata only — never the contents of a window, never keystrokes, never the clipboard.
Where are my notes stored?
In a SQLite file inside your own Application Support folder. Nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and there is no server holding a copy.
What happens after a restart?
Notes come back. Each one carries a fingerprint of its window — the app, the normalised title, the document path, and the titles and position it wore while the match was certain — and those are re-bound onto whatever is open. Where the match is a guess rather than a certainty, the app says so instead of pretending.
Does it work with terminals, whose titles never sit still?
Yes. Terminal renames a window with every cd, every command and every Claude Code task, and reports the working directory as its document. WindowNote compares the part of the title that stays, remembers the titles a window wore, and holds on to a window it has recognised for certain. Terminal tabs work too: a note follows the window or stays on its own tab.
What if my windows are spread across several desktops?
Each note stays with its window on that window's desktop and shows up when you switch there. macOS only describes windows on the desktop you are looking at, so where two windows could be confused, the app waits and says it is unsure rather than putting a note on the wrong one. You can also pin a note to a desktop itself.
Can I put a note on a single browser tab?
Yes. Each note says whether it belongs to the whole window — visible on every tab — or to exactly this tab. When a tab note's tab is closed, the note falls back to the window and tells you it has.
Is there a Windows version?
Windows is built and compiling in CI: window tracking, the global hotkey, layered overlay windows and the tray icon. It is going out to testers before this page calls it finished. macOS ships today.
Do the notes sync between my machines?
No. A sync would mean your window titles — which are file names, customer names and ticket numbers — living on a server. The Pro licence covers three Macs; the notes on each stay on that Mac.
What happens if I stop paying?
You drop to Free. Every note you have written stays readable and editable; only pinning to a third window is blocked. Nothing is deleted and nothing is locked.
Is it in the Mac App Store?
No. The App Store requires the sandbox, and a sandboxed process cannot read other applications' windows — which is the entire app. It is distributed directly, signed with a Developer ID and notarised by Apple.
Can I change the shortcut?
Yes, in Settings. If another app has already claimed the combination, the app says so rather than silently failing to register it.
Press ⌥⇧N. Then forget about it.
The note remembers, so you do not have to. Free for two windows, no account, nothing to cancel.
macOS 12 Monterey or newer · Apple Silicon and Intel · signed and notarisedWindows 10 and 11 · 64-bit · in testing
Version 0.9.1