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Vantanote
Welcome back
Sign in to sync your notes across devices.
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Set up encryption
Your notes are encrypted on this device before they sync.
On one of your other devices, open Settings → Sync → Your devices, find this request, and approve it only if the code shown there is exactly:
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Waiting for approval…
Your notes get sealed on this device before they leave it — the server only ever stores unreadable bytes, and this device unlocks automatically through the OS. You’ll save one recovery code; there’s no passphrase to remember.
Save these now. If you ever lose your passphrase and this kit and every signed-in device, your notes can’t be recovered — not by Vantanote, not by anyone. That’s what end-to-end encryption means.
Keep this kit in a password manager — one that is not the same account that unlocks this computer (if iCloud unlocks this Mac, don’t keep the kit only in iCloud). Never store it inside your notes.
All decks
Click a folder to study everything under it — or a single note-deck. Carets expand.
Statistics
Share note
Sharing creates a public link that anyone can open — no account needed. To make that work, this note leaves your private vault: its content is stored so our servers (and whoever has the link) can read it. Your other notes are not shared. You can stop sharing at any time.
You
Writing
Pages
Your library
Connections
Help
General
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Your notes are Markdown, and they are yours to export at any time.
Recorded meetings label your side of the conversation with this. A connected calendar (Settings → Calendar) fills it in from your profile.
English
Checked automatically a few times a day — a "Relaunch to update" prompt appears when one is ready. Checking here fetches and readies a new version immediately.
Both panels open on the right side, so your note stays visible.
Pages
Which pages appear in the navigation. Switching one off only hides it — nothing in it is deleted, and turning it back on brings everything with it. Notes cannot be hidden.
Walks you through each page, one at a time, in the app itself.
Vantanote works fully offline — an account is optional. Sign in to sync your notes across devices.
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Set up under Settings → Sync
Changing it here signs out nothing — your other devices keep working.
On by default. The editor built for live editing with other people — it opens every note in Edit view, including notes shared with you. A locked note still opens in the classic editor; the status bar says which editor a note is in. Your notes are saved exactly as before. Turn it off to go back to the classic editor on this device.
With the new editor on: a note open on two of your devices changes on both as you type, and you see the other device's cursor. Needs your cloud library. This device only — turn it on on each device.
15px
Type / on an empty line for blocks, [[ for links, # for tags, ![[ for embeds.
Pasted images and files are saved here, inside the library.
Links are rewritten library-wide
Snapshots every 5 min, latest 25 kept — open one from the clock icon above a note
Deleted notes go to the trash first — nothing is destroyed until you empty it.
Conflict copies
When two devices changed one note at the same time, the second version was kept beside it rather than overwritten. A copy is a whole second note, so every page that counts your to-dos counts it twice.
Only copies whose every line is already in the original can be deleted here, and they go to the trash. Anything holding text the original does not have is listed for you to read, and left alone.
Shared links
Every public link this account has published. Anyone holding one can open it without an account, so a link you no longer want is a link to stop.
What your library is actually made of, biggest first. Measured from the files themselves — nothing here is an estimate.
Trash
Deleted notes, files and folders land here first — nothing is destroyed until you empty it.
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Emptying frees the space these items are holding. It cannot be undone — restore anything you still want first.
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Deleting or renaming something in a cloud library leaves its old bytes in storage with nothing pointing at them. This clears them out. It never touches a file you still have.
Answers to what people actually ask. Type a question below — it searches the questions and the answers.
Let Claude or ChatGPT work in your library — read your notes, search them, write, and move things to the trash. There are two ways to do it: the hosted connector below works from anywhere and does not need Vantanote running, and the local connector further down runs through this app, which has to be open.
Checking…
Connect an assistant
Paste this address into Claude or ChatGPT. It is the whole thing you need — there is no key, no client ID and no secret to copy, because you approve the connection by signing in to Vantanote when the assistant sends you here.
The /mcp on the end is part of it. Without it the address does not answer.
Claude — web or desktop
Open Settings → Connectors. Some versions label the menu Customize → Connectors; it is the same place. On the desktop app it is under the hamburger menu → File → Settings, or Ctrl/⌘ + ,.
Click Add, then Add custom connector.
Give it a name and paste the Server URL above.
Leave Advanced settings alone. The OAuth client ID and secret there are optional, and this connector does not use them.
Click through to Vantanote, sign in if you are not already, and approve. You will be emailed a code to type in.
On Team and Enterprise, only an Owner can add it, under Organization settings → Connectors → Add → Custom → Web. Everyone else then connects it individually.
ChatGPT — web only, paid plan
Check your plan first. This needs Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise or Education, on the web. It does not work on Free, and it does not work in the mobile apps at all.
Turn on Developer mode: Settings → Security and login (some accounts show it under Connectors → Advanced). On a Business, Enterprise or Education workspace an admin has to enable it first, under Workspace Settings → Permissions & Roles.
Go to chatgpt.com/plugins and press +. The plus button only creates a developer-mode app once developer mode is on.
Give it a name and description, paste the Server URL above, and choose OAuth as the authentication.
Approve the connection the same way — sign in to Vantanote, then type the emailed code.
In a chat, pick the app from the + menu. ChatGPT does not always reach for it on its own; naming it in your message helps.
Writing may not be available on your plan. OpenAI has full read-and-write MCP in beta for Business, Enterprise and Education. On Pro and Plus, developer-mode apps are read-only for now — so Vantanote will answer questions about your notes but may refuse to change them. That is ChatGPT's limit, not this connector's.
Deep research needs no separate setup: it uses apps you have already connected, and only to read. Company knowledge will not see Vantanote — it only accepts apps that expose tools named search and fetch, which this connector does not.
What to expect, and what can go wrong
You have to sign in to Vantanote in the same browser. The approval page is not a password prompt from the assistant — it is this account, confirming it is you.
A connection lasts 30 days and then stops. There is no silent renewal: you redo the approval, email code included. Nothing is lost when it lapses — the assistant just stops being able to reach your notes.
Only Claude and ChatGPT are accepted. The connector refuses to send an approval anywhere except claude.ai, claude.com and chatgpt.com, so a link that tries to redirect somewhere else fails by design.
Hidden notes stay hidden. Anything tagged #no-ai, hidden from AI, or password-locked is absent from every answer — not filtered out afterwards, never sent.
If the assistant says it cannot find anything, ask it to call get_index, or rebuild the index below.
Connected assistants
Every assistant with a live connection to this account. Each one is a key to your library for up to 30 days, and it renews itself while it is in use — so anything here that you do not recognise should be disconnected. Disconnecting takes effect on its very next request.
Local connector, through this app
The other route. It talks to Vantanote on this machine rather than to the hosted server, so it needs no account approval and never leaves your computer — and it only works while Vantanote is running, on this machine.
Paste this into your assistant's MCP config, then restart it. In Claude Desktop that file is ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.
What assistants can reach
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The AI index
Remote assistants read this note instead of your file list, because it is built here — where your Hide from AI choices and #no-ai tags are known. Without it they refuse to list or read anything. Rebuild it after adding or renaming notes.
Access
The connector has its own token, separate from the app's, and it only opens the library — not your calendar, AI keys or vault settings. Regenerating it cuts off anything using the old one immediately.
What it can do
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AI prompts
Jobs worth handing an assistant once your library is connected. Copy one, paste it into Claude or ChatGPT, and edit the parts in the first line to suit. Each one tells the assistant to show its plan before changing anything — these touch many notes at once, and a library has no undo.
Switches between Vantanote light and dark with macOS. Turn off to pick any theme by hand.
Built-in washes of colour, no file needed. Saved on this device, like the rest of Appearance. Click the one you are on to turn it off.
A picture behind the app, under the frosted panels. It stays on this device — the theme it makes travels with your account.
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35%
50%
How much of the picture comes through the app itself — the sidebars and their widgets go furthest, the page you write on least, so a photograph never ends up behind your own words.
Engraved paper sets the whole app on one flat sheet — hairline dividers and serif note headings instead of floating glass panels. Reading Room goes further: no boxes at all — one continuous page where each tab composes its own layout and only soft cards float. Your theme's colors stay.
View menu — Cmd + / Cmd − / Cmd 0
CSS snippets
Drop .css files in .vantanote/snippets/ inside your library, then reopen settings.
Click a binding, then press the new keys. Esc while recording clears a custom binding. Custom bindings win over the defaults.
20
Your total daily budget for unseen cards, shared across ALL decks — a giant imported deck can't flood a session. A know-by date raises a deck's own pace when the calendar demands it (deadline decks claim the budget first).
New cards used to arrive in the order they appear in the note, every time — which quietly teaches position as a cue: you recall the fifth term because it follows the fourth. Varied reshuffles them each day, and it is deterministic, so an interrupted session resumes in the same order rather than reshuffling under you. Choose As written for a note whose cards really are a sequence.
Either way, two cloze deletions from the same sentence are never asked back to back — the first one’s question shows the second one’s answer.
Cards come back exactly when your recall is predicted to drop to this level (FSRS). Near a know-by date the target tightens automatically.
4 am — late nights count as one day
.vantanote/srs.json inside the vault
Write cards in any note: Front :: Back on a line, Front :: above a longer answer, {{hidden}} words, or a prompt ending in ?? above a list. Cards highlight violet; the note becomes a deck on the Study page.
To-do reminders
Notifications arrive only while Vantanote is running. Anything that came due while it was closed is shown as overdue on the To-dos page instead of pinging late.
When a to-do has a date but no time. One with a time (due:2026-08-14T09:30) pings at that moment instead.
Checking…
Add due:2026-08-14 to any to-do line, or press Cmd/Ctrl ⇧ L on it. every:month repeats on the calendar; after:3days counts from when you tick it.
AI is off. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Requests go to Vantanote's server and on to the AI provider, and use credits from your plan. Vantanote records how many tokens each request used, and nothing else about it. Your notes are not stored there and are not used to train anything.
This library used to run AI on your own API key. Vantanote now provides the connection itself, so there is no key to manage — the setting above has moved to Vantanote AI. Your saved key is left in the keychain untouched and is no longer used.
Which company answers. Recording, transcription and the assistant need OpenAI; everything else works with either.
Not checked yet
Checking key custody…
Saving a key here also switches AI to Your own API key — the two used to be separate, so a key could be saved while AI stayed off.
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Exact token counts come from the provider with every reply; dollar figures use current list prices and are approximate. Counted on this device only.
Only the job you invoke
Every feature runs on a written job card: the model receives only the excerpts the app hands it (never the library), must cite what it uses, treats note text as data — instructions inside notes are ignored — and can only propose. Nothing touches a note until you accept it.
Connect a calendar and recorded meetings name themselves after the matching event — its attendee list becomes the speaker roster, no typing. Your events are read on demand and never stored, and never sent to AI unless a recording matches one and you transcribe it. The connection follows your Vantanote account: sign in on another device and it is already connected.
Checking…
Checking…
Access is read-only — Vantanote can never change or create events. Connecting opens your browser to sign in; the sign-in tokens stay on this device.
A small prompt offers to record when a meeting starts — it never starts on its own. Two things trigger it: a calendar event with other people, and noticing that Zoom, Meet, Teams or Webex is in a call (most meetings are never on a calendar). The prompt floats above whatever you are looking at, so you see it during the call rather than behind it.
Raises the floating prompt so you can see what it looks like and where it appears. Only works in the desktop app.
One-time setup
This build has no OAuth client for the greyed-out provider yet. Create one (Google Cloud → "Desktop app" credential; Microsoft Entra → "Mobile and desktop" app) and paste its ID here — see design/calendar-oauth-setup.md for the exact steps. Installed-app client IDs are not secrets.
How this device appears to your other devices.
On by default. Syncs shortly after launch, when you switch back to the app, and every couple of minutes — the status bar shows "Up to date" when everything is in the cloud. Automatic sync starts after the first manual Sync now confirms this library.
Encryption
Off
Asks for Touch ID before unlocking at launch. This is an app-level prompt over your Mac login — a convenience gate, not extra encryption.
Encrypts your notes on this device before they sync, so the server only ever stores unreadable bytes. Opt-in — your current sync keeps working unchanged until you turn this on. If you lose your passphrase and Recovery Kit, your notes can’t be recovered.
What to sync
Unchecking never deletes anything from the cloud or your other devices — this device just stops syncing it. Adding a folder back re-downloads it.
Your devices
What each device syncs
Every device’s scope, editable from here. Changes apply on that device’s next sync.
Local only
Kept out of sync entirely — these never leave this device.
Online only — not on this device
Notes you removed from this device but kept in the cloud. Download to bring one back here.
Cloud library
Everything stored in the cloud for this account — read-only.
Every device signed into your account, when it last synced, and how many files it held. Disconnecting a device stops it from syncing until someone signs in on it again — the files already on it stay there.
Recent syncs
Your library stays a folder of plain Markdown on this Mac. Sync mirrors it through your account — file bytes in private cloud storage, never a database. A conflicting edit is kept as a separate copy, never overwritten.
Switching does not move or delete anything. The folder on this computer stays
exactly where it is — the app simply stops reading it — and your cloud notes stay
in your account. Vantanote restarts to apply the change, and you can switch back
at any time.
Each library is independent — its own notes, trash, history, plugins, and snippets.
Serves the library to devices on your network behind a password (user vantanote, port 27124).
Drag the Clip to Vantanote link to your bookmarks bar (or Copy the code and make a bookmark from it). Clicking it on any page clips the title, link, selection, and readable article into Clippings/. The button holds a private code, so other sites can’t add notes; New button retires every older one.
Quick capture
Press the shortcut anywhere to pop a capture window; what you type is appended to Inbox.
Drop .js files in .vantanote/plugins/ inside your library, then reopen settings. Plugins use the window.vantanote API: commands, slash items, and events.
A workspace remembers open tabs, the active note, sidebars, and the split pane.
Every note and attachment as one plain zip you can open without Vantanote. With a cloud library this is your second copy — worth making somewhere else too.
Exports every note as a linked static page — upload the folder to any host.
Danger zone
Restores every setting to its default. Notes are not touched.
Returns this library to its brand-new state — the Welcome note and Examples folder, like a fresh install. Nothing is destroyed: everything currently here (notes, files, study history) moves into a timestamped backup folder next to the library. Sync setup is cleared for this device; the cloud and your other devices are untouched.