Follow-ups
Each ask carries your recent asks in the same note, with their answers, so //give me an example means the answer in front of you.
Features · Mac, Windows and Android
Write it down. Think it through.
A complete Markdown notebook, with frontier AI in the note.
Start with a quick thought, a question or a piece of research, and develop it at your own pace. Writing, research and conversation stay together, and you decide what becomes part of the page.
The AI proposes.
You hold the pencil.
Ask on the page. Keep what you include.
Start any line with // on a Mac or a Windows PC and ask in plain words. The page is yours again at once, and the answer waits on a card under the line until you choose Include.
HootBook calls the AI in the note Frontier. An ask sends the open note, and no other, to the AI provider you chose. That provider’s own terms decide what it keeps.
Rather have answers land on the page? Turn on Frontier writes straight to the page, and longer prose answers go into the note by themselves.
Note
Kyoto, in April
Flights land Thursday at 2:40 pm.
Two nights in Higashiyama, then Arashiyama.
Ask the ryokan about a late check-in.
//turn this into a checklist for the week before
Frontier
- [ ] Email the ryokan about a late check-in
- [ ] Reserve seats on the Arashiyama train
- [ ] Save offline maps of both areas
IncludeDismissCopy
on any line it waits here
until you decide
Quick lookups
A quick lookup, such as a time zone or a unit, comes back as a glance. It clears when you move on, unless you include it.
Rewrite a selection
Select some text and right-click for Fix grammar, Rephrase or Shorten. You see the suggestion beside the original and can edit it first. Only the selection and your Skills are sent.
Skills
Standing instructions that lead every ask, such as who you are and how you like answers. Each has its own switch, and they sync with your notes, so every device has the same ones.
Links and diagrams
A link on a line of its own arrives as a card you can check before you include it. An answer can also come as a diagram that you edit like any other part of the note.
Drawn pictures
With ChatGPT connected, an answer can bring a picture the model drew. Even with answers going straight to the page, a picture waits for Include.
Bring the AI you already use
HootBook has no AI of its own and no default. Choose one in the Setup assistant, or none at all: the notebook works without one.
Claude
Your Claude subscription, through Claude Code.ChatGPT
Your ChatGPT subscription, through Codex.OpenAI
Your OpenAI API key, billed to that account.xAI
Your xAI API key, billed to that account.MiniMax
Your MiniMax API key, billed to that account.
Each starts set for speed, because most asks are quick ones. You can choose any model your provider lists.
Provider names identify the services HootBook can connect to. No endorsement or partnership is implied.
Markdown that formats itself as you type.
Every note is plain Markdown: ordinary text with a few simple marks, such as # for a heading. As you write, the marks turn into formatted text, and they come back on the line you’re editing.
Headings, lists, tasks, tables, code, math, diagrams and pictures all take their finished form in place. The file itself stays plain, so your work stays portable.
Your files, in and out
Open Markdown file brings a note in. Save Markdown as… writes one to any folder you choose, and Export makes a web page with its pictures inside.Search and tags
Search every note from the library, and file notes under tags that nest, such astravel/japan.Pictures
Paste or drop a picture onto the page. It syncs with the note, and you drag its corner to size it.Link cards
A web address on a line of its own becomes a card. Turn on previews to see the page’s title and picture there.
## Spring beds
Spring beds
- [x] Order seed potatoes - [ ] Mend the north gate
Order seed potatoes
Mend the north gate
| Bed | Crop | | ----- | -------- | | North | Peas | | South | Potatoes |
| Bed | Crop |
|---|---|
| North | Peas |
| South | Potatoes |
```mermaid flowchart LR Sow --> Water --> Pick ```
Your notebook. Not our database.
Synced device to device, with no server in between.
Each device keeps your whole vault, meaning all of your notes, and exchanges changes directly with the others. HootBook encrypts everything it sends.
Sync runs over Tailscale, your own private network, on your own account. One computer works without it.Direct sync
While HootBook is open, a device syncs shortly after you save, and about once a minute otherwise. A light in the status bar shows whether your latest writing has reached another device.
Six-digit join
No account and no password. The device that started your vault approves each new one with a six-digit code, and both screens show a second code for you to compare.
Both versions kept
If two devices change the same note before they meet, neither is overwritten. Compare the versions side by side, then keep one, keep both or decide later.
Anchor
On a Mac that stays on, Anchor keeps HootBook running after you close its window, so your phone always has a computer to sync with. Anchor is for the Mac only, and it isn’t a backup.
Transcription on the device. Voice when you want it.
Transcription
On your Mac or Android phoneType //transcribe on any line and press Return. Speech-to-text runs on the device, and the audio doesn’t leave it. The transcript becomes a note of its own, linked from the note you started in.
| Type | What it does |
|---|---|
//transcribe | Records the room and your computer’s audio, unless you change the default |
//transcribe room | Records the room microphone only |
//transcribe computer | Records your computer’s audio only, with no microphone open |
//transcribe stop | Ends the recording. Pause and resume work the same way. |
- It understands many languages, and a Mac shows the words live.
- Audio is kept 24 hours at most, or deleted at once if you choose.
- Sending a finished transcript to your AI provider for a tidied copy stays off until you turn it on.
A command line for you and your agents.
On a Mac, the hootbook command lets you, a script or an AI agent you run read and organize your notes from a terminal. It works through the running app, so a note it writes syncs like any other edit.
Install it from the Setup assistant. Only your own account on that Mac can use it.
Read freely, write on purpose
Writing needs a switch you set for that Mac. Any write can be tried first without changing a thing, and each carries a name you give, which the note records.Careful with your notes
An edit is refused if the note changed since it was read, so it never writes over what you just typed.An honest limit
The write switch stops a script run by mistake. It isn’t a defense against software running as you.
$ hootbook status# the vault, its note count, and whether writes are on$ hootbook find --text renewal --tag work$ hootbook read renewal-prep$ hootbook tags --counts# try a write first, without changing anything$ hootbook tag renewal-prep --add q4 --as my-agent --dry-run
A backup only your passphrase opens.
Your other devices are copies, not backups: sync copies mistakes too. Backup pack… saves an encrypted file of this device’s notes, Skills, pictures and drafts, sealed with a passphrase you choose.
One file to keep anywhere
The pack is a single encrypted file, so it can live on a drive or in a folder you already back up.Checked before it restores
Restore from a pack… replaces this device’s notes with the pack’s, and only after the whole pack checks out.
Mac, Windows and Android.
Start your vault on a Mac or a Windows PC, then add your other computers and your phone.
Mac
Apple silicon · macOS 14.2 or newer
- Starts a vault and adds your other devices.
- Asks with
//and rewrites a selection. - Transcription and voice with your own key.
- Anchor and the
hootbookcommand line.
Windows
Windows 11 · x64
- Starts a vault and adds your other devices, like a Mac.
- Asks with
//, with the AI you choose. - Syncs directly with your other devices while HootBook is open.
- Not in this preview: Anchor, the command line, transcription and voice conversation.
Android
Android 7.0 or newer
- Joins a vault that starts on a computer.
- Syncs while the app is open.
//transcribewith the phone’s microphone, and voice with your own key.- No
//asks: they run on your computers.
Early access
HootBook is in early access in the US, as a public preview: in daily use, with rough edges. Tell us a little about how you’d use it, and we’ll be in touch.
The app has no account. Your email is just so we can reply.