The values below define what stays stable, the principles guide day-to-day tradeoffs, and the implementation choices describe how MinkNote delivers on them today.
Enduring values
- Writing is a tool for thinking MinkNote gives people a quiet place to explore ideas, remember clearly, and make sense of their lives without getting in the way.
- Your notes belong to you People keep what they write, read it years from now even outside MinkNote, and leave with it whenever they choose. Where durability and short-term convenience conflict, durability wins.
- Privacy is a default, not an upsell Trust comes from restraint, clear behaviour, and local control, as documented in Privacy.
- Security is part of trust MinkNote keeps security plain and reviewable through a small dependency surface, macOS sandboxing, and release checks documented in Security.
- Clear tools are better than ambitious systems MinkNote favours understandable behaviour over feature accumulation and vague promises of productivity.
Product principles
- Native UX over cross-platform compromise MinkNote follows macOS conventions rather than working around them, even when that rules out sharing code with other platforms.
- Local-first is the baseline Core writing and organisation work on local files, without requiring a service or account.
- Plain text files, no vendor lock-in Storage stays readable, portable, and easy to inspect with other tools.
- Unlimited creation Notes and folders are never metered or capped, so a long body of work never costs more to keep.
- Findability is part of ownership Notes are only useful if they can be found again, so search reaches across an entire project, not just the note currently open.
- Complexity needs proof New features earn their place by reducing friction or improving clarity, not by sounding powerful.
- Be precise about what the product does MinkNote avoids aspirational claims that are not reflected in the actual experience.
Current implementation choices
- MinkNote is a native macOS app.
- Notes are stored as standard Markdown files on the local filesystem, not in a proprietary cloud or locked database format.
- Analytics are anonymous, opt-in, and off by default.
- The free plan is permanent: notes stay readable, searchable and exportable, with one journal fully editable. Pro removes the editing limits.
- Pro is available as a monthly, yearly, or lifetime purchase.