Show HN: Bytepad – a minimal, no-nonsense, open-source note-taking app (opens in new tab)

For a while, I was looking for a note-taking app that really fit how I work, but nothing fully clicked.

So I turned this into a weekend project. That’s how bytepad came to life.

I like taking notes in Notepad++ — simple, fast, retro — but there’s no cross-device sync. Notion feels overwhelming. Todoist handles tasks well but lives in its own silo. Obsidian has a great knowledge graph, but it didn’t match my workflow.

I wanted something:

as simple as Notepad

not limited to a single use case

with multiple functions and a knowledge graph feel

So I built bytepad.

It combines:

notes, tasks, and habits

global search

a lightweight knowledge graph

an optional AI assistant that helps plan the day and create tasks

local-first storage with GitHub Gist sync

fully open source

It’s become part of my daily workflow, so I decided to share it.

If this sounds interesting, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Contributions, ideas, and feedback are very welcome — feel free to explore the repo, open issues, or suggest improvements.