GitPad beta

Notes at the speed of thought.

A free, open-source menu-bar notes app for the Mac. Press ⌥Space from any app, type, done — every note is a plain Markdown file in a folder you own, synced by your own git repo. No account, no cloud, no Electron.

Download the DMGRead the source

MIT · Signed & notarized · Zero dependencies · macOS 13+

There before the thought is gone.

⌥Space floats a Spotlight-style panel over whatever you’re doing — you’re typing in under a second. It always lands on today’s note; Esc puts it away. Live Markdown styling, slash commands, auto-continuing lists, clickable checkboxes. When even the panel is too much, collapse it to a draggable pill that floats over your work.

Your notes are files. Actual files.

Nothing lives inside a database or behind an export button. Every note is a real .md file in ~/Documents/GitPad — readable by cat, editable by anything, yours before and after the app.

$ cat ~/Documents/GitPad/2026-07-24.md
# Thu, Jul 24

- [x] ship the landing page
- [ ] record the 20-second demo

Sync is a git repo you already have.

Point GitPad at any private repo and it commits, merges, and pushes invisibly — on every save, every five minutes, on wake. A second Mac adopts the same repo cleanly; genuine conflicts keep both versions and get their own review screen. Full history of every thought, for free.

$ git log --oneline -3
a41f9c2 autosave 2026-07-24T09:41:07Z
7be03d1 autosave 2026-07-23T22:15:44Z
c92e884 autosave 2026-07-23T08:02:19Z

Five themes, fully committed.

System, Sepia, Nord, Dracula, Solarized Light. Each flips the whole window’s appearance — every control adapts, not just a color wash.

Install

Homebrew

Direct download

Grab the DMG or zip and drag GitPad.app to Applications.

Builds are signed and notarized, so Gatekeeper opens them without ceremony. SHA-256 checksums are in every release’s notes. macOS 13+.

Build from source
$ git clone https://github.com/stalinzbb/GitPad.git && cd GitPad
$ ./build.sh
$ cp -r GitPad.app /Applications/

Needs the Xcode command-line tools (xcode-select --install).

Questions, answered honestly

Why git?

Because the sync engine already exists, and you already trust it. Every save is a commit, so full history comes free, conflicts are a solved problem, and your notes follow you to any Mac through any git host — GitHub, GitLab, a box in your closet.

Why no Electron?

GitPad is native Swift — seven source files, zero dependencies, built with SwiftPM. That’s why the panel appears in under a second and idles without eating your battery.

Where are my notes, actually?

In ~/Documents/GitPad, as plain .md files. Open them in any editor, grep them, back them up however you like. Delete the app and every note is still there.

Really no account?

Really. There is no server to make an account on. Sync auth is your existing SSH setup — GitPad never sees or stores credentials.

Is it safe to run?

The entire source is public under MIT — small enough to read in a sitting. Builds are signed and notarized by Apple, and every release publishes SHA-256 checksums. Details in SECURITY.md.

Does it phone home?

No. No telemetry, no analytics, no tracking of any kind. This page doesn’t load any either.

Can I read my notes on my iPhone?

There’s no iOS app. But your notes are just a git repo of Markdown, so any mobile git or Markdown client that can clone a repo can read and edit them.

What does it cost?

Nothing. Free and MIT-licensed, no paid tier planned.