Citronote 3 - Beta Preview for Summer of Making

Citronote 3 is a powerful notes app
that can save anything

BETA PREVIEW FOR SUMMER OF MAKING

Features

Note Types

With Citronote, you don't have to record all your information using the same simple toolbar!

There are dedicated UIs optimized for each purpose, allowing you to capture information efficiently and effortlessly.

Markdown

Markdown is familiar to developers, right? You can format your notes just by surrounding text with a few simple symbols!

Also, Citronote comes with a WYSIWYG editor, so you can work on your notes without any distinction between editing and previewing.

Filesystem based

Citronote treats folders on your computer as "notebooks."

The contents of the notes are in .md or .txt formats, so they can be handled naturally with other software and file managers.

Scrap

Citronote has a notetype called Scrap.

This allows you to keep your thoughts and records in chronological order, like a chat or message. (Surely I'm not the only person who's used a solo chat room for taking notes!)

Technical appeal points

Extensible design

The Citronote codebase is designed with a strong focus on extensibility.

For example, note types are managed through a core registry that allows them to be injected externally. This makes it easy to add new note types or extend existing functionality in a flexible way, while also paving the way for a future plugin system to be implemented seamlessly.

Monorepo

Citronote is a pnpm-based monorepo with separate packages for the React app, Electron desktop app, core logic, utilities, and UI components.

This structure allows flexible code sharing, such as reusing logic for a future mobile app or sharing UI components in a plugin system.

Tech Stack

Citronote leverages a modern tech stack, including React 19, Vite, Zustand, Tailwind CSS, Electron, and TypeScript.

Looking ahead, we are also considering migrating from Electron to Tauri in the future.

Story

2022 and earlier

Back then (I was around 11 years old), I was searching for a good note-taking app for PC. Every app I tried seemed to have pros and cons, but none felt like the "perfect fit." That's when I decided to build one myself - the beginning of this project.

I sketched out ideas, concepts, logos, and UI designs on paper and on my computer.

It was probably around this time that I also came up with the core concept: "an app where you can save anything."

Date unknown

After coming up with the idea, I immediately tried creating a prototype.

At first, I chose Electron (a framework for building desktop apps with web technologies) and SimpleMDE as the editor. I didn't know about frameworks, nor did I consider using them.

However, I struggled with handling files via Electron's IPC and eventually gave up.

I tried a few more times after that but never managed to finish.

On the bright side, around this time I also began web-focused development and learned frameworks like Vue.

2023 October

One day, while looking through old files, I found the Citronote logo I had designed before. That discovery reignited my motivation, and I decided to try again. This time, I used JavaScript, Vue, Electron, and Tailwind CSS.

By the way, I was hospitalized at the time, so I actually had plenty of time to work on it.

2023 November

After much trial and error, I finally released the first version (v1) of Citronote!

Although I had attempted many personal projects before, this was the first one I actually completed and published.

That said, due to my limited skills, I had to compromise on many of the original concepts and features.

2023 November onwards

With the app completed, my next thought was: "Now I want people to use it!"

I wrote posts for blogs, submitted it to Product Hunt (a platform where individuals and startups share their products), and even published it to the Microsoft Store.

However, I was only 12 years old at the time, which meant I couldn't use many social platforms like X due to age restrictions. This limited my ability to promote the app.

As a result, Citronote didn't become a big hit like some indie maker success stories, but it still grew into a small app with real users and real demand.

2024 March

A while after release, I wanted to add new features in an update.

But then I realized the codebase was a mess—almost everything was crammed into a giant App.vue, with no thought for maintainability.

So I decided to remake it from scratch with a cleaner foundation, while reusing some components and features. This became Version 2. (v2)

2024 August

After releasing v2, I felt burnt out and stepped away from Citronote for a while, working instead on developing a social network.

But when I later revisited the Citronote code, I realized… it was terrible again. (Yes, déjà vu!)

Still, with what I had learned from the social network project, I believed I could finally build a more maintainable codebase and truly realize the concepts I had once compromised. So I drafted a plan for Version 3. (v3)

Unfortunately, that plan never made it past the planning stage.

2025 June

I came across Hack Club's Summer of Making, and that gave me the motivation I needed to finally restart Citronote. I decided to pick up the long-abandoned remake plan and get back to work.

2025 September

At last, I shipped the preview version of the new Citronote for Summer of Making. It was my first time building a large-scale app, so it was quite challenging. For now, due to time constraints, it's limited to simple features, but stay tuned for more to come!

Future Plans

Cloud sync

We’re planning a cloud service for Citronote that lets you save your notebooks online and sync them across devices. It’s an idea we’ve had for a long time, and we definitely want to bring it to life someday!

Search & Tag

The ability to search notes, and categorize your notes using tags. Currently, this is not possible due to time constraints, but we plan to implement it ASAP.

AI Feature

I'am very interested in integrating AI into Citronote and plan to develop it as a related service.

Plugin system

Our plan is to let users create and install plugins, giving them the ability to customize and extend Citronote’s features!

Mobile version

Alongside the desktop version, we plan to develop a mobile version as well. While there are several challenges ahead, we consider it an essential step. To prepare for this, we are already designing the codebase with future mobile support in mind.

Other Platform

At the moment, the app is available on Windows and in the browser. In the future, we would like to expand support to macOS and Linux as well, though I currently don't have access to a Mac device.

Expanding Languages

At the moment, English and Japanese are supported (although this deployment is limited to English). We aim to expand to many more languages in the future, and are exploring how LLMs could assist with translations.

More Notetypes

We’re looking to expand the variety of note types. Some ideas currently under consideration include Tasks (for Kanban-style task management), Canvas (for sketches and drawings), Bookmarks (to save websites), and Voice Memos.

Stay tuned...

There is much more to come for the future of Citronote!

Try Citronote

Citronote 3 for Windows

At the moment, it is released as an MVP with simple functions.

* You may see a warning like "Windows has protected your PC", but this is because the exe file is not digitally signed. If you downloaded the exe from korange.work, it is safe. If you're worried, you can also scan the file with something like VirusTotal.

Try it in your browser

If you don't have a Windows machine, you can also try Citronote in your browser.

However, you'll likely get a better experience on Windows, so we recommend doing so whenever possible.

* We recommend using Chrome or a Chromium-based browser. Firefox does not work due to the Web API.

If you notice anything unusual or have any feedback, please send it here.

Citronote 3 is a powerful notes appthat can save anything