Local-first notes

Notes that start in your browser, not in a cloud account.

ZeroNote is local-first by design. It gives you a fast scratchpad for drafts, prompts, snippets, and plain text while keeping the storage model simple: your notes live in the browser profile you use.

Open local-first editor Browser notepad

What local-first means in ZeroNote

Browser storage

Drafts are saved with IndexedDB under the ZeroNote domain in your current browser profile.

No account requirement

You can write without creating a cloud account or sending drafts to a ZeroNote workspace.

Manual backup

Copy or download important notes when they need to live outside this browser.

Good tradeoffs for quick writing

Good for privacy-first drafts. Text can stay out of cloud note storage while you are still shaping it.
Good for low-friction capture. You do not need to decide where a note belongs before writing it.
Not good for automatic sync. If you need multi-device access, collaboration, or long-term archival, export the note to your main system.

When to download or move a note

Download it when the note contains work you would not want to recreate.
Move it when it becomes a project record, documentation, or shared source of truth.
Leave it local when it is a temporary prompt, checklist, message draft, or working snippet.

FAQ

Are local-first notes private?

They avoid a ZeroNote cloud account, but browser and device security still matter. Do not treat a scratchpad as a password vault.

What happens if I clear site data?

Clearing site data can remove local drafts. Download important notes before changing browser storage settings.

Can I install ZeroNote as a PWA?

Yes. The app includes PWA support, so it can be installed in supported browsers after loading.