Getting started

Before you begin

Install the desktop app. sudonotes stores notes in a folder you choose, called a vault. There is no account to create and no import step before you can write.

You can start with a new folder, an empty existing folder, or a folder that already contains sudonotes Markdown under prompts/ and ideas/.

1. Choose a vault

On first launch, confirm the suggested folder or choose Browse… and select another location. The message below the path tells you what will happen:

• This folder will be created means the path does not exist yet.
• Existing folder means sudonotes will add its note folders without removing other files.
• Existing vault shows how many notes were found.

Choose Create vault or Open vault. sudonotes creates this small structure when needed:

<vault>/
├── prompts/
├── ideas/
└── .sudonotes/
    ├── index.db
    └── settings.json

Your notes are the Markdown files. .sudonotes/ holds a rebuildable search index and a vault preference; it is not the content of the vault.

2. Create a prompt

1. In the Prompts section of the sidebar, use the add button.
2. Give the note a title such as Review a pull request.
3. Write the reusable instruction in the editor.
4. Optionally add {{placeholders}}, tags, a target model, or [[links]] to other notes.

sudonotes saves after you pause. Ctrl + S on Windows/Linux or Cmd + S on macOS flushes a pending save immediately.

3. Capture the idea behind it

Create a note in the Ideas section and write why the prompt exists, what it should improve, or what project might use it. Blank lines divide an idea into bubbles. A bubble can be reordered, copied, cut, deleted, or assigned its own model.

Connect the two notes by writing the prompt title inside double brackets:

This project needs a repeatable review pass. See [[Review a pull request]].

Hold Ctrl or Cmd and click the rendered link to open it. The target note lists the idea under Linked from.

4. Find the note again

Press Ctrl/Cmd + K, type part of the title or body, move with the arrow keys, and press Enter. Search covers both prompts and ideas.

To find text only inside the note already open, use Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F. This is intentionally different from vault-wide search.

What success looks like

The sidebar contains one prompt and one idea, search opens either note, and the vault contains two ordinary Markdown files. Close and reopen the app: the same vault and notes should return.

Next: Read the core workflow for an everyday capture-and-reuse loop, or link the idea to a project so it is available beside the code.