Support · Public preview
Help, from the people who make it.
Start here. Most answers are on this page.
When this page isn’t enough, write to us. We can’t see your notebook, so tell us what you see on screen.
Your first run, step by step
Your vault, meaning all of your notes, starts on a computer, and a phone joins it later. After that, every step is optional.
What you need
- A computer
- A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14.2 or newer, or a Windows 11 PC (x64). Your vault starts here.
- A phone
- Optional. Android 7.0 or newer. It joins a vault that started on a computer.
- Tailscale
- Only for more than one device. It links your own devices in a private network, a tailnet. Install it on each one and sign in with the same account.
- An AI
- Optional, for
//asks on a computer: your Claude or ChatGPT subscription, through Claude Code or Codex, or an OpenAI, xAI or MiniMax API key.
Sync between your devices runs over Tailscale, on your own account.The first run
Open the app
On a device with no vault, HootBook opens on its first-run page. Nothing is created until you choose.
Tailscale, or skip it
The page shows where Tailscale stands and the one thing to do: install it, open it or sign in. Using one computer? Skip this step.
When macOS, or Windows Defender Firewall on a PC, asks whether HootBook may accept incoming connections, choose Allow. That’s how your other devices reach it.
Start a new vault
Choose Start a new vault here. It opens with one note, Welcome to HootBook, which shows you the basics.
Choose an AI, if you like
The Setup assistant opens next; later, the gear opens it in Settings. Pick one of the five ways to connect a model, choose Use this, then press Connect. For Claude or ChatGPT, sign in to Claude Code or Codex first; for an API key, paste it in. Then start any line with
//and ask.Add your other devices
On the computer that started the vault, choose Add a device… in Settings › Tailnet to show six digits. On the new device, choose Join a vault you already have and type them.
Both screens then show a second set of six digits. If they match, choose The digits match on the computer.
What people ask first
Short answers, complete enough to act on. Open any one in place.
How it stays private →Which devices does it run on?
- A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14.2 or newer.
- A Windows 11 PC (x64). Like a Mac, it starts a vault, adds devices and asks with
//. Anchor, the command line, transcription and voice conversation aren’t on Windows in this preview, so a Windows PC syncs only while HootBook is open on it. - An Android phone with Android 7.0 or newer. It joins a vault that started on a computer, and it has no
//asks. - Not in this preview: iPhone, iPad, Linux, Intel Macs and Windows 10.
Can I use it on one device?
Yes. A single computer works on its own: skip the Tailscale step on the first-run page and choose Start a new vault here. You can add devices later.
A phone can’t start a vault. It joins one that started on a computer.
Why does it need Tailscale?
HootBook has no server, so your devices reach each other directly, over the private network Tailscale sets up between them. HootBook encrypts everything it sends on top of that.
HootBook never talks to Tailscale’s service. It only asks the Tailscale app on your device which of your devices are online. You need Tailscale only for more than one device.
Why is there no server or account?
Your notes stay on your devices, so there is nothing for a server to hold and nothing to sign in to. A new device joins when the device that started your vault approves it with a six-digit code.
Does it phone home?
No. There is no telemetry, no analytics and no crash reporting, and the log stays on the device. Once a day HootBook can ask GitHub whether a newer version is out. That request carries no identifier, and you can turn it off in Settings › About.
Everything else that leaves a device is part of a feature you use. A // ask sends the open note to the AI provider you chose; a voice conversation goes to your voice provider; link previews, if you turn them on, fetch the linked page; and the speech model downloads once. The Privacy page lists every case.
What can the AI do, and what can’t it?
HootBook calls the AI in the note Frontier, and a // ask only proposes. The answer waits on a card under your line, and nothing enters the note until you choose Include. The one exception is a setting you turn on yourself, Frontier writes straight to the page, which is off by default.
On a Mac or phone, a voice conversation can change notes. Voice is off until you choose a voice provider. When you ask, it can add to a note, create a note or file one under a tag, without a confirmation step. It can’t delete notes, and the text it reads goes to your voice provider.
Transcript tidying is off by default. When you turn it on, your provider’s tidied copy of each finished transcript is saved as a new note, and the original stays as it was.
Nothing in HootBook sends email or messages. It can prepare a draft or hand a note to the share sheet, and you send it yourself.
Does my phone sync in the background?
No. A phone syncs while HootBook is open on it, and sends what you wrote when you put the app away. Your other devices can’t reach it, so it syncs with a computer that has HootBook running. Turn on Anchor on a Mac that stays on, and your phone always has a computer to sync with.
What if two devices change the same note?
Both versions are kept, and neither is overwritten. Compare them side by side, then keep one, keep both as separate notes, or decide later. Settling it on one device settles it on the others once they sync.
How do I back up?
Another device is a copy, not a backup: sync copies mistakes too. Choose Backup pack… from the command palette to save an encrypted file of this device’s notes, Skills, pictures and drafts, sealed with a passphrase you choose. Without the passphrase, nobody can open it.
Restore from a pack… replaces this device’s notes with the pack’s, after the whole pack checks out.
Where is my data?
On each of your devices. Every device keeps a full copy of your vault. Your AI keys and your Settings stay on the device where you set them up, and only the vault syncs.
Can I use it with Obsidian or another Markdown folder?
Partly. Every note is plain Markdown, and HootBook keeps a Markdown copy of each note in its own folder, which another app can read.
Don’t edit those files or add new ones. HootBook rewrites that folder from its own history and doesn’t read changes back: an edited file is rewritten, and a file HootBook didn’t write is removed. To bring a file in, use Open Markdown file. To write a note out to a folder you choose, use Save Markdown as…
Start with the status bar
Your writing is saved on this device first.
The Vault item at the left of the status bar says where your writing is. When it reads not yet synced, the words after it say why.
| The status bar says | What to do |
|---|---|
| Not yet synced ·Tailscale is off | Turn Tailscale on in the Tailscale app. HootBook syncs as soon as it connects. |
| Not yet synced ·Tailscale is not installed | Install it from tailscale.com. If it’s installed somewhere HootBook doesn’t look, set its path in Settings › Tailnet › Advanced. |
| Not yet synced ·Tailscale needs you to sign in | Sign in from the Tailscale app. If your tailnet needs an admin to approve new devices, approve this one in the Tailscale admin console. |
| Not yet synced ·No device answering | No other device answered, and HootBook keeps trying. Open HootBook on another device, or turn on Anchor on a Mac that stays on. |
| On a phone ·May be behind | Everything you wrote is saved, but the phone couldn’t ask your other devices what they hold. Check that Tailscale is on, and that HootBook is open on a computer or Anchor is on. |
| On any device ·Save failed | The save didn’t reach this device’s vault. Click the light to see why, and look at the log. |
Other common fixes
For when the status bar looks fine and something still isn’t right.
A device can’t be found when joining
A code lasts one minute and allows five wrong tries, so choose Add a device… again for a new one, and check that Tailscale is on for both devices. Still nothing? Open The other device cannot be found? and type the address the Tailscale app shows for the other device.
Check connection says “did not answer”
Something between your devices is blocking HootBook: the access rules on your tailnet, Shields Up in the Tailscale app, or a firewall. If it says “not listening there” instead, HootBook isn’t open on that device. You’ll find Check connection in the Setup assistant.
If you manage your tailnet’s access rules, let your own devices reach each other on TCP ports 4318 to 4320.
A computer can’t be reached
The first time, macOS or Windows Defender Firewall asks whether HootBook may accept incoming connections. If you didn’t choose Allow, change it. On a Mac: System Settings › Network › Firewall › Options. On Windows: Windows Security › Firewall & network protection › Allow an app through firewall, choose Change settings, then check HootBook’s box.
“Opening your Vault…” takes a while
HootBook checks your vault’s whole history before it trusts it. That full check runs again on the first launch after an upgrade, or after a device is added or removed, and on a long history it can take several seconds. Later launches are quicker.
“Add a device…” says Unavailable
Only the device that started the vault can add or remove devices, so on any other device it reads Unavailable. A phone never adds a device; it only joins.
Reading the log
Settings › About › Copy logs copies the recent log, ready to paste. It never holds note text, prompts or keys, but it does hold note IDs made from your note titles, device names and Tailscale addresses, so read it before you share it.
Write to us
Until the public release, the early-access form also brings your questions to the people who build HootBook.
Ask a question
Choose Write to us, put your question in the last box (How would you use HootBook?) and choose Send request. We’ll reply by email. A good message says:
- Your device, and HootBook’s version: at the right end of the status bar on a computer, or in the app’s info in Android Settings.
- What the Setup assistant says about Tailscale.
- What you did, what you expected and what happened.
- The log lines around the problem, once you’ve read them.
Never send note text, AI keys or files from HootBook’s folder.
Report a vulnerability
Please don’t use the form, or post it anywhere public. Email it privately, with the version, the platform, what you did and what happened. We acknowledge a report within three business days.
The security model →Community
GitHub Discussions and a Discord server open at the public release. There are no links to follow yet.