Stik is a free, open-source quick-capture note app for macOS. Press ⌘⇧S from anywhere on your Mac, and a floating post-it appears instantly. Type your thought, press Escape, and you're back to work in under 3 seconds. Notes are saved as plain markdown files in ~/Documents/Stik/. Built with Tauri and Rust for native performance.

Yes, Stik is completely free. It is also open source under the MIT license. There are no premium tiers, no subscriptions, and no in-app purchases. You can view and contribute to the source code on GitHub.

Does Stik require an account or cloud service?

No. Stik requires no account, no cloud service, and no sync setup. It works entirely offline and stores everything locally on your Mac. Your notes never leave your machine unless you choose to share a folder via git.

Where are Stik notes stored?

Notes are stored as plain markdown (.md) files in ~/Documents/Stik/ on your Mac. Each folder in Stik corresponds to a real folder on disk. You can open, edit, move, or back up your notes with any tool — they're just files.

What format are Stik notes saved in?

Stik saves all notes as plain Markdown (.md) files. This means your notes are future-proof, portable, and compatible with any text editor. There is no proprietary format or database lock-in.

Does Stik have AI features?

Yes. Stik features on-device AI for semantic search (find notes by meaning, not just keywords) and smart folder suggestions (automatically suggests the right folder as you type). All AI processing runs locally on your Mac using Apple's NaturalLanguage framework — zero data is sent to any server.

How fast is Stik for capturing notes?

Stik is designed for sub-3-second capture. Press ⌘⇧S, type your thought, press Escape to close. The app launches instantly thanks to its native Rust/Tauri architecture — no Electron overhead, no web app loading times. It's one of the fastest note capture experiences on macOS.

Yes, Stik is fully open source under the MIT license. The source code is available on GitHub at github.com/0xMassi/stik_app. Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome.

What is the keyboard shortcut to capture a note in Stik?

The global keyboard shortcut is ⌘⇧S (Command + Shift + S). This works from any application — a floating post-it window appears instantly. Other shortcuts include ⌘⇧M for folder selection, ⌘⇧P for search, and ⌘⇧1-9 for jumping directly to assigned folders.

How does Stik compare to SideNotes, Apple Quick Note, and Drafts?

Unlike SideNotes ($9.99) and Drafts ($4.99/mo), Stik is completely free and open source. Unlike Apple Quick Note and Drafts, Stik saves notes as plain markdown files you fully own. Unlike all three, Stik includes on-device AI semantic search and stores everything locally with no cloud dependency. Stik is the only open-source option with git-based sharing for team collaboration.

Stik vs SideNotes — Quick Capture Comparison

Name: Stik
Availability: InStock
Author: Massi

SideNotes docks a note panel to your screen edge. Stik gives you a floating post-it with a global shortcut. Both are fast — but Stik is free, open source, and uses plain markdown.

Feature	Stik	SideNotes
Time to capture a note	<3 seconds (global shortcut)	~4 seconds (side panel trigger)
Global keyboard shortcut	⌘⇧S — works from any app	Customizable hotkey
Note format	Plain markdown (.md) files	Proprietary format (internal DB)
Local-first storage	Yes — ~/Documents/Stik/	Yes — local storage
Note display	Floating post-it overlay	Side panel docked to screen edge
Export & portability	Notes are already .md files — no export needed	Limited export options
On-device AI search	Yes — semantic search, smart folders	No
Open source	Yes — MIT license	No — proprietary
Price	Free	$9.99 (one-time purchase)
Multi-format notes (images, files)	Markdown text only	Yes — images, files, code snippets
Git-based sharing	Yes — share folders via git	No

Stik leads in 7 of 11 categories

The bottom line

SideNotes is a well-designed side-panel note app. Its screen-edge dock is clever, and it supports rich content like images and code snippets. At $9.99, it's not expensive.

Stik takes a different approach: instead of a permanent side panel, you get a floating post-it that appears only when you need it. Press ⌘⇧S, type, close — zero visual clutter when you're not capturing.

The key differences: Stik saves notes as plain markdown files you fully own (no proprietary database), includes on-device AI for semantic search and smart folders, and is completely free and open source.

If you want a side-panel organizer with rich media, SideNotes is solid. If you want the fastest possible capture with full file ownership and AI-powered search, Stik is the better choice.

Try Stik free

Download Stik and start capturing thoughts in under 3 seconds. Free, open source, no account required.

Download Stik for Mac