HootBook Request early access

Frontier AI, with no one in the middle.

Ask, and your note goes straight to the AI you chose.

Frontier is HootBook’s name for the AI in your note. Start a line with // and ask Claude, ChatGPT or another model you already use.

Follow one ask
The route of one ask A line runs from a // line in your note, on your Mac or Windows PC, straight to the provider you chose: Claude through your Claude Code sign-in, ChatGPT through your Codex sign-in, or your own OpenAI, xAI or MiniMax API key. The answer comes back to a card under your line. The space between them, where an app's servers would sit, is drawn empty. The provider is the one other party, and its own terms decide what it keeps. // list the open questions YOUR NOTE, ON YOUR COMPUTER a Mac or a Windows PC EMPTY WHERE AN APP’S SERVERS WOULD SIT YOUR ASK, THE OPEN NOTE THE ANSWER, ON A CARD THE PROVIDER YOU CHOSE CLAUDE your Claude Code sign-in CHATGPT your Codex sign-in YOUR API KEY OpenAI · xAI · MiniMax THE ONE OTHER PARTY. Its own terms decide what it keeps. The route of one ask A line runs from a // line in your note, on your Mac or Windows PC, straight down to the provider you chose: Claude, ChatGPT or your own API key. The answer comes back to a card under your line. The space between, where an app's servers would sit, is drawn empty. The provider is the one other party, and its own terms decide what it keeps. // list the open questions YOUR NOTE, ON YOUR COMPUTER a Mac or a Windows PC YOUR ASK, THE OPEN NOTE THE ANSWER, ON A CARD EMPTY where an app’s servers would sit THE PROVIDER YOU CHOSE CLAUDE your Claude Code sign-in CHATGPT your Codex sign-in YOUR API KEY OpenAI · xAI · MiniMax THE ONE OTHER PARTY. Its own terms decide what it keeps.

One ask carries one note.

Press Return on a // line, and HootBook sends one request from your computer to the provider you chose. Here is everything in it.

HootBook on a Mac: the list of notes on the left, the open note in the middle, and recent activity on the right.
Other notes
never in the ask The open note
in the ask
HootBook on a Mac
  1. What you typed after //
  2. The open note
  3. Any text you selected
  4. Your earlier asks in that note, so a follow-up makes sense
  5. Any link or picture you pinned for your asks
  6. Standing instructions you’ve switched on
  7. HootBook’s instructions for the shape of the answer

Your other notesNever

The answer comes back on a card under your line and waits there until you choose Include. A setting can let answers write straight to the page instead, and it’s off until you turn it on.

Device to device, with nothing in between.

Your Mac or Windows PC and your Android phone connect over your own private Tailscale network, which links them wherever they are. Your notes never pass through a server of ours. There isn’t one.

Sync runs over Tailscale, on your own account.
The route between your devices Your computer, a Mac or a Windows PC, and your phone each hold the whole vault. Between them runs your own private Tailscale network, and your notes cross it encrypted twice. The space between, where a sync server would sit, is drawn empty. YOUR COMPUTER Mac or Windows THE WHOLE VAULT YOUR PHONE Android THE WHOLE VAULT EMPTY WHERE A SYNC SERVER WOULD SIT YOUR PRIVATE NETWORK The route between your devices Your computer, a Mac or a Windows PC, at the top and your phone at the bottom each hold the whole vault. Between them runs your own private Tailscale network, and your notes cross it encrypted twice. The space between, where a sync server would sit, is drawn empty. YOUR COMPUTER Mac or Windows THE WHOLE VAULT YOUR PRIVATE NETWORK EMPTY where a sync server would sit YOUR PHONE Android THE WHOLE VAULT

Encrypted twice

Tailscale encrypts the connection between your devices. Inside it, HootBook encrypts your notes again, with keys made on your devices.

A full copy on each device

Your vault, meaning all of your notes, is on every device you add. A phone joins a vault started on a Mac or Windows PC, and syncs while HootBook is open on it.

Six digits to join

There’s no account to sign in to. A new device joins with a six-digit code from your first device, and you approve it there.

The app doesn’t phone home.

There’s no analytics and no crash reporting. The one request HootBook makes on its own is a daily check with GitHub for a newer version.

That check carries no identifier, and you can turn it off. HootBook never updates itself.

Worth knowing

  • At your providerHootBook asks OpenAI and xAI not to store your requests. Claude Code and Codex keep a conversation for each note in their own history. A provider may also search the web using your ask.
  • Your sign-in stays with its appClaude and ChatGPT asks run through Claude Code or Codex on your computer. HootBook never reads or copies your sign-in.
  • Protect each deviceAny program running under your login can read your notes and any API keys saved on that device. Lock each device, and encrypt its disk and backups.
  • Asks run on your computerThe Android app holds and syncs your notes, but has no // asks.
  • Removal isn’t erasureRemoving a device stops it receiving anything new. It can’t erase what that device already holds.
  • Public previewHootBook is in daily use, and it still has rough edges.

Early access

HootBook is in early access in the US, for Apple silicon Macs (macOS 14.2 or newer), Windows 11 PCs (x64) and Android (7.0 or newer). Tell us a little about how you’d use it, and we’ll be in touch.

Back to home

Before you start

  • A single computer works on its own.
  • For more devices, Tailscale on each one, signed in to the same Tailscale account.
  • For // asks, a Claude or ChatGPT subscription with Claude Code or Codex, or an OpenAI, xAI or MiniMax API key.
Mac, Windows and Android · US

Request early access