Jotnow

Tell your agent to "jot that down" and it's saved to your account at jotnow.dev: tagged, searchable, exportable. Works with Claude Code, Codex, and any other MCP client, plus a terminal CLI.

Free to sign in, and use. Export all your notes in markdown anytime, no vendor-lockin.

Setup

1. Sign up (free) at jotnow.dev, then open the confirmation email; its link confirms your address and signs you in. Or sign in to an existing account.
2. Open Settings > API keys and create a key.
3. Install and store the key once for this machine:

npm install --global jotnow
jotnow key

jotnow key prompts for the key, validates it against the API, and saves it to a config file so every later jotnow command and MCP config on this machine picks it up automatically. It then prints the MCP configuration for your client, plus equivalent commands for Claude Code and Codex.

Once connected, ask your agent to "jot that down", find your jots, or list your recent jots.

Prefer not to install globally, or want to configure an MCP client without touching your terminal first? Use the env-var flow instead:

npx jotnow init --key jn_live_your_key

This validates the key and prints an MCP config block with the key embedded in its env, plus equivalent commands for Claude Code and Codex.

MCP configuration

Claude Code

For Claude Code or similar clients that use a JSON MCP configuration, once a key is stored via jotnow key, no env block is needed:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jotnow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "jotnow"]
    }
  }
}

Otherwise, configure a key directly in the MCP config (what jotnow init prints):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jotnow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "jotnow"],
      "env": {
        "JOTNOW_API_KEY": "jn_live_your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex

After storing your key with jotnow key, add JotNow to Codex:

codex mcp add jotnow -- npx -y jotnow

Codex stores MCP configuration in ~/.codex/config.toml. The Codex CLI, IDE extension, and desktop app share this configuration. To configure JotNow manually instead of using codex mcp add, add:

[mcp_servers.jotnow]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "jotnow"]

The server provides these tools:

• jot: save a note
• find_jots: search notes by keyword
• recall_jots: search notes by meaning (Pro)
• get_jot: read one note by ID or short ID prefix
• list_recent_jots: list recently updated notes

CLI

After a global install, store your key once:

npm install --global jotnow
jotnow key

Then run commands directly:

jotnow add "Useful fix" --body "Restart the worker after changing its environment."
jotnow search "worker environment"
jotnow recall "why deployments use stale configuration"
jotnow get <id>
jotnow recent 10

Everything above also works without a global install by prefixing npx, e.g. npx jotnow recent — npx jotnow key stores the key the same way.

Environment variables

• JOTNOW_API_KEY: your user-scoped API key from Jotnow settings. If set, it is used instead of (and takes priority over) any key stored by jotnow key — useful for CI or containers where nothing should be written to disk.
• JOTNOW_API_URL: optional API endpoint override for local development or self-hosting
• JOTNOW_CONFIG_DIR: optional override for where jotnow key stores its config file (default ~/.jotnow)

jotnow key stores the key in ~/.jotnow/config.json (or $JOTNOW_CONFIG_DIR/config.json), created with permissions that only your user can read.

The npm package contains no account credentials or service-role secret. Each installation uses the API key supplied by its user. Keep that key private and revoke it from Jotnow settings if it is exposed.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer

License

MIT