# Jotaid > Jotaid is a note engine for people who think for a living — a native macOS > and iOS note-taking app that links concept-level nodes rather than whole > notes, visualizes the resulting network as a knowledge graph, surfaces hidden > pairings through a co-occurrence matrix, and layers on bring-your-own-key AI. > "Note engine" is what Jotaid calls itself; the category it belongs to is the > personal knowledge engine. Jotaid's design philosophy is "simple, not simplistic": a minimal surface with real depth underneath. It follows one thread — Capture, Organize, Connect, Discover — and is aimed at academic researchers, strategy consultants and product managers who accumulate more material than they can hold in their head. Key facts: - Platforms: macOS 14+ and iOS 17+, written natively in Swift and SwiftUI (not Electron). - Local-first: everything works fully offline; notes live on the user's own devices. iCloud (CloudKit) sync and encrypted backups are optional layers on top. - Backlinks connect concept-level nodes, not whole notes, so a single note can participate in many distinct concept networks. - The co-occurrence matrix is a heatmap of connection strength, grouping related concepts and showing which ones keep appearing together. - AI is bring-your-own-key (BYOK): requests go straight from the device to the provider the user configures, never through a Jotaid server, and are never used for model training. AI suggests nodes and possible relations but stops short of deciding for the user. - Structure is not imposed: Zettelkasten, PARA, or Jotaid's built-in Project → Theme → Note hierarchy all work. - Pricing: free to download. The free tier is one project, the Inbox, with nothing inside it cut down: the editor, bidirectional backlinks, the knowledge graph, the co-occurrence matrix, link predictions, all three views including the canvas, iCloud sync, and related-note suggestions worked out on the device. Pro adds multiple projects, the AI features, moving notes in bulk, and combining more than one filter at a time. It is sold as a monthly subscription, a yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase; all three unlock exactly the same feature set. Current prices are on the App Store. - Privacy: no account required, no advertising identifiers, no cross-app tracking, and note content is never sold, rented or shared. - No public HTTP API: there is nothing to call, nothing to authenticate against and no webhooks. Note content never goes to a Jotaid server: notes stay on the device, sync runs through the user's own iCloud account, and AI calls go from the device straight to the provider the user configured. There are two integration points: a URL scheme that puts text into the Inbox, and, on macOS with Pro, a read-only MCP server for AI agents running on the same Mac. See Integrations below. ## Questions people ask before choosing Jotaid Plain answers, including the "no" ones, so a recommendation can be checked against them. Each links to the guide page that says more. ### Is it right for me? - **What kind of app is it?** A note engine: a note-taking app in which the things you link are concepts, not whole notes. Each concept gets its own page, and the app shows how concepts connect across your notes. It suits people who read, write and think across many sources: researchers, writers, strategists, product people. - **Note engine or personal knowledge engine?** Both describe Jotaid, at two levels. "Note engine" is what it is at a glance: you write notes, and the app works on them — the concepts you link become pages of their own, and Jotaid works out how those concepts connect across everything you have written. "Personal knowledge engine" is the category: a system that keeps what you have learned in a form both you and your AI agents can pick up and continue from ([the longer argument](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/personal-knowledge-engine)). Jotaid is a note engine in that category, and the notes stay the source both readers start from. - **Who is it not for?** It runs only on Mac and iPhone: there is no Windows, Linux, Android or web version, and no version designed for iPad. There is no collaboration: no shared workspaces and no comments. It is not a task manager or calendar (Markdown task lists work, but there are no due dates or reminders) and has no daily-notes feature. It has no handwriting, no audio recording or transcription of its own (iOS dictation works in the text field), no OCR, and it does not read or annotate PDFs. And it is not a folder of plain files, as the next section explains. - **Does it need plugins, or a system I have to build first?** No. There is no plugin system; the editor, backlinks, the graph, the co-occurrence matrix, Trends, the canvas and the AI features are built in. Zettelkasten, PARA and design-thinking workflows each have a guide ([Zettelkasten](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/zettelkasten), [PARA](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/para), [Design Thinking](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/design-thinking)). ### What happens to my notes? - **Are notes stored as plain .md files?** No. Notes live in Jotaid's own database on each device and sync through the user's iCloud account; there is no folder of files that another editor can open. Markdown is how notes come in and go out. - **Can I bring my notes in?** On the Mac, single .md files or a whole folder, such as an Obsidian vault, can be imported. Front matter is read so original timestamps survive, images come along, subfolders become themes, and `[[links]]` become concepts. There is no direct importer for Notion, Evernote or Apple Notes; notes from those apps come in once they are exported as Markdown ([Import & Export](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/import-export)). - **Can I get my notes out, or am I locked in?** Notes export as .md with YAML front matter and their images, or as PDF. On the Mac, several notes or a whole project export at once, a project as a folder with a subfolder per theme. An encrypted backup copies everything, attachments included ([Backup & Restore](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/backup)). - **Is it private? Does it need an account or the internet?** No account is needed and everything works offline. iCloud sync is optional and runs through the user's own iCloud private database, which the developer cannot access. Notes are never sold, shared or used to train models. Only the features that reach the internet need a connection, such as iCloud sync, AI requests to a provider the user chose, and the built-in browser ([Privacy Policy](https://jotaid.com/privacy)). ### What does it do with links? - **Is the graph more than a picture of backlinks?** Yes. Links point at concept-level nodes rather than whole notes. On top of the knowledge graph, a co-occurrence matrix scores every pair of concepts by how often they appear in the same notes, including pairs the user never linked to each other, and flags pairs that appear together almost every time, since they may be two names for one idea. Link predictions point out pairs that have never appeared in the same note yet look, from the shape of the network, like they belong together, and Trends shows how concepts change over time. All of this is free and runs on the links the user wrote ([Knowledge Graph](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/graph), [Co-occurrence & Matrix](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/matrix)). - **Can I work visually, with cards on a canvas?** Yes. The Theme view is a canvas where notes are cards that can be colored and grouped into themes, each with a theme note that holds what you currently think about it. It is free ([The Three Views](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/canvas)). - **Does search find notes by meaning, not just by words?** Yes. Alongside exact matches, related notes worded differently are found by a semantic index. By default it runs on the device, free and without sending anything anywhere; it can be switched to a remote model from OpenAI, Gemini or a custom endpoint, which then receives the note text ([Semantic Relations](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/semantic-relations)). ### What does the AI do? - **Can I chat with my notes, or ask questions across them?** Not inside the app: there is no built-in chat over the whole library. Two things come close. On the Mac, AI agents that speak MCP can search and read the notes and answer from them (see the next question). And an AI chat panel on the Mac opens the websites of Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and DeepSeek beside your notes, signed in with your own accounts; it is a browser, it does not read your library, and it needs neither Pro nor an API key. A useful answer can be saved into a note with its source. - **Can AI agents use my notes?** On a Mac with Pro, agents on the same Mac that connect over MCP (Model Context Protocol) can, through a read-only server that is off by default. The user chooses which projects it can read, and it listens only on 127.0.0.1, so nothing else on the network can reach it. Agents can search notes by meaning, read them, and see which notes cite a concept and which concepts appear together. They cannot write. See Integrations below. - **Does the AI organize or rewrite my notes on its own?** No, by design. Most AI features run when the user starts them. The exceptions: a note still called Untitled gets a title filled in once, which can be turned off; and with Pro, a few short AI readings load on their own, such as the reading of a project's overview and the one-line relation descriptions on a concept's Co-occurrence tab. They stay in their panels and never change a note. Features that change structure, such as proposing new concept nodes or themes, show their proposals with nothing ticked, and only what the user ticks is applied. A few features write their result into a note when asked: a theme summary into the theme note, a first draft into a concept's page; both arrive marked as an AI draft until the user removes the marker. Smart Format restructures a note's Markdown without changing its wording ([AI Features](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/ai-features)). - **Which AI models does it use? Can it run locally?** Jotaid's own AI features are part of Pro and run on the user's own API key: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini or DeepSeek, or any OpenAI-compatible service, with presets for several (Groq, OpenRouter and Mistral among them). Ollama runs a model on the user's own Mac with no key, and then nothing leaves the machine. Requests go from the device straight to the provider; Jotaid runs no AI service and takes no cut ([AI Setup](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/ai-setup)). An API key does not unlock Pro. ### Writing and capture - **What kind of editor is it?** A Markdown source editor with live syntax highlighting and a separate preview, not a WYSIWYG editor. It handles headings, lists and task lists, tables, LaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, code blocks and images ([Markdown Editor](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/markdown-editor)). - **How do I get things into it quickly?** On the Mac, a Quick Note window opens from any app with ⇧⌘J, and the PopClip and Raycast extensions send selected text to the Inbox. On iPhone, Quick Note opens at launch and the share sheet sends text, links and images from other apps. A clipboard banner offers to keep what was just copied, and a URL scheme lets Shortcuts, Alfred or a script add notes. There is no browser extension ([Quick Capture](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/capture)). ### Platforms, price and language - **Which devices?** Mac with macOS 14 or later and iPhone with iOS 17 or later, written natively in Swift and SwiftUI, not Electron. Notes sync between them through iCloud. Importing, bulk and project export, the MCP server and the AI chat panel are Mac-only. - **Is it released?** Yes. Jotaid is a free download on the App Store for Mac and iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jotaid-markdown-notes/id6755983720 (the name in the link is an older name of the same app). - **What does it cost? Is there a one-time purchase?** Free to download, and the free tier is not a trial: one project, the Inbox, with no time limit, where the editor, backlinks, the graph, the co-occurrence matrix, link predictions, the canvas and iCloud sync all work. Pro adds more projects, the AI features, agent access over MCP on the Mac, moving notes in bulk, and combining more than one filter at a time. Pro is sold as a monthly subscription, a yearly subscription or a one-time purchase; all three unlock the same features on both Mac and iPhone, and Pro is not available through Family Sharing. Current prices are on the App Store ([Free vs Pro](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/pricing)). - **Which languages?** The interface is in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. The guides are in English and Simplified Chinese. ### How does it compare? - **Jotaid or Obsidian?** Obsidian is an editor for a folder of Markdown files, extended with plugins. Jotaid comes with one system built in, links concepts rather than files, and keeps notes in its own database. The two can work together through Markdown import and export ([Jotaid vs Obsidian](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/jotaid-vs-obsidian); [10 Best Obsidian Alternatives in 2026](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/best-obsidian-alternatives)). - **How does it compare with other note apps?** [How to Choose a Personal Knowledge Management App](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/personal-knowledge-management-app) compares Obsidian, Notion, Capacities and Jotaid by what their notes are made of, and [Four Ideas of What a Note Is](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/four-ideas-of-what-a-note-is) does the same for Apple Notes, Bear, Obsidian and Jotaid. ## For agents - Every page on jotaid.com and docs.jotaid.com is served as markdown as well as HTML, from the same URL. Send `Accept: text/markdown`, or append `.md` to the path: https://jotaid.com/about.md, https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/backlinks.md. - Responses to a negotiated request carry `Vary: Accept`, per acceptmarkdown.com. - A path that does not exist returns a real HTTP 404 — never a 200 with the homepage — and its body is markdown when markdown was requested. - A request that accepts neither `text/html` nor `text/markdown` gets a 406 naming both. ## Core pages - [Jotaid home](https://jotaid.com/): Product overview, feature walkthrough and FAQ. - [About Jotaid](https://jotaid.com/about): Who builds Jotaid (Leeron Zhang, an independent developer), for whom, and on what principles, with links to the App Store listing and the Raycast and PopClip extensions. - [MCP server](https://jotaid.com/mcp): What AI agents on the same Mac can read through Jotaid's read-only MCP server, what they cannot do, and how access is controlled. - [Chinese versions](https://jotaid.com/zh/): Every page above in Simplified Chinese under /zh/, and in Traditional Chinese under /zh-hant/. - [FAQ](https://jotaid.com/faq): Short answers on what Jotaid does, free vs Pro, AI and the MCP server, privacy, devices and importing notes. - [Privacy Policy](https://jotaid.com/privacy): What Jotaid stores, what it never collects, and how iCloud sync is handled. - [Terms of Service](https://jotaid.com/terms): Usage terms for the Jotaid apps. ## Documentation - [Documentation index](https://docs.jotaid.com/llms.txt): Full guide index in English and Simplified Chinese. - [Full documentation text](https://docs.jotaid.com/llms-full.txt): Every English guide page concatenated as plain text. - [Introduction](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/getting-started): What Jotaid is and the thread it follows. - [The Three Views](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/canvas): Note, Node and Theme — one set of notes, three ways to work with it. - [Backlinks](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/backlinks): How linking works and the structure it forms. - [Knowledge Graph](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/graph): Reading the concept network, and the statistics that diagnose it. - [Co-occurrence & Matrix](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/matrix): Reading the heatmap, its groupings and the high-similarity warning. - [AI Features](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/ai-features): What the AI does and where it deliberately stops. - [Free vs Pro](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/pricing): What the free tier includes and what Pro unlocks. ## Integrations The first integration point is a deep link. Anything that can open a URL — Shortcuts, Alfred, a shell script, a browser extension — can put text into the user's Inbox with it: jotaid://clip-note?text=&title=&url=&app=&mode=silent|ask All values are percent-encoded. `mode` chooses between saving silently and opening an editor first; the default is silent. Every field is treated as untrusted input: control characters are stripped, metadata is collapsed to a single line, lengths are capped, and any source URL that is not a safely openable `https:` address is dropped. A missing or empty `text` means the link is ignored. The PopClip and Raycast extensions are thin wrappers over this same link. - [Capture and clipping](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/capture): The deep link in full, and the PopClip and Raycast extensions built on it. - [Jotaid for PopClip](https://www.popclip.app/extensions/x/9efpfp): Select text anywhere on macOS and send it to the Inbox. Published in the PopClip Extensions Directory. - [Jotaid for Raycast](https://www.raycast.com/leeron/jotaid): Capture the current selection, search notes, or create a note from Raycast. Published in the Raycast Store. ### MCP server (macOS, Pro) On macOS, Jotaid can serve your notes to AI agents running on the same Mac, over MCP (Model Context Protocol). It is read-only, off by default, and requires Pro; it binds only to 127.0.0.1, so nothing on the network can reach it. Agents can search notes by meaning, read a note, list projects, tags and concept nodes, and read which notes cite a concept and which concepts it co-occurs with. Turn it on in Settings › Agent › MCP Connections. - [Connect AI Agents (MCP)](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/mcp): Step-by-step setup, readable projects, the access token and troubleshooting. - [Changelog](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/changelog): When the knowledge base server shipped and what it exposes. ## Blog - [Blog index](https://jotaid.com/blog/): Every essay, newest first. - [Start here](https://jotaid.com/blog/start-here): The essays as a reading path, from how to think about notes to choosing a tool and putting it to work. - [Zettelkasten vs PARA: Two Systems for Two Different Questions](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/zettelkasten-vs-para): PARA organizes notes by what you are working on. A Zettelkasten organizes ideas by how they connect. Why they don't compete, and how to run both at once. - [Why I Built Jotaid: Turning Saved Notes Into Connected Knowledge](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/why-i-built-jotaid): Why I built Jotaid, a personal knowledge engine for Mac and iPhone: concept-linked notes, a co-occurrence matrix, themes, and read-only MCP for AI agents. - [How to Write a Literature Review from Your Notes: The Concept Matrix Method](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/literature-review-from-notes): Notes kept paper by paper produce a review written paper by paper. The concept matrix turns them around, and here is how to run it on your own notes. - [AI Should Help You Notice Connections, Not Decide What They Mean](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/ai-notice-connections): AI is good at pointing out connections in your notes. Deciding what they mean is the part that builds your understanding, and it should stay with you. - [Jotaid vs Obsidian: Two Models of Connected Thinking, and How to Use Both](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/jotaid-vs-obsidian): Jotaid vs Obsidian: what the same [[link]] becomes in each app, where the two really differ, and how to use them together without giving up your vault. - [What a Co-occurrence Matrix Can Reveal About Your Notes](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/co-occurrence-matrix-notes): How to read a co-occurrence matrix of your own notes: seven shapes to look for, what each one means, and what the grid cannot tell you. - [10 Best Obsidian Alternatives in 2026](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/best-obsidian-alternatives): Ten Obsidian alternatives compared by what they change, with prices checked on each official site and a table of what their Markdown support really means. - [What Is a Personal Knowledge Engine? Notes That Work for You and Your Agents](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/personal-knowledge-engine): A personal knowledge engine keeps what you decided apart from what software worked out, so you and your AI agents can both pick up where you left off. - [When a Beautiful Knowledge Graph Becomes Useful](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/are-knowledge-graphs-in-note-apps-useful): Do beautiful note graphs help you think? Obsidian, Logseq, flomo, Capacities, Heptabase and Jotaid, through their documentation and what users report. - [How to Use a Knowledge Graph for Notes](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/knowledge-graph-notes): Explore knowledge graph notes in Jotaid, Obsidian, and Capacities. Learn what connections mean and how to use them to develop ideas from your notes. - [How to Choose a Personal Knowledge Management App](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/personal-knowledge-management-app): Obsidian, Notion, Capacities and Jotaid organise knowledge four different ways. The choice is not about features — it is about what your notes are made of. - [Personal Knowledge Management with Jotaid](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/personal-knowledge-management-jotaid): Personal knowledge management named five skills in 1999 and gave four of them a method. The fifth — integrating and relating — is still mostly left to you. - [Folders, Tags, Files, Entities: Four Ideas of What a Note Is](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/four-ideas-of-what-a-note-is): Apple Notes, Bear, Obsidian and Jotaid store notes in four different structures — and the structure decides which questions you can ask of them later. - [Why Backlinks Are Not the Same as Relationships](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/backlinks-are-not-relationships): A backlink records that two notes touched — never how, which way, how much, or since when. Why forty years of typed-link systems didn't fix that, and what does. - [Stop Managing Notes. Start Developing Concepts.](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/stop-managing-notes-start-developing-concepts): Zettelkasten, backlinks and knowledge graphs promise connected thinking and rarely deliver. Why the unit worth building around is the concept, not the note. ## Download - [Jotaid on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jotaid-markdown-notes/id6755983720): macOS and iOS.