YANTA
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v2.4.0Now on Windows, macOS & Linux

The fast, keyboard-driven notebook for people who'd rather type than click.

No bloat. No lock-in. No noise. YANTA stores your notes as plain JSON you own, finds anything in milliseconds, and runs natively everywhere you do.

Download YANTAView source

Free & open sourceMIT licensedOpen the palette with ⌘K

~/.yanta · ⌘K command palette
YANTA's command palette open over the documents view, listing keyboard-driven actions like Go to Projects, Jump to Today's Journal, Export Document and Git Sync, each with its shortcut
Native & instantPlain-JSON vaultFull-text searchWorks with AI agents100% localMIT licensed

features

Everything you need. Nothing that gets in the way.

YANTA is a sharp command-line tool that happens to have a beautiful editor. Every capability is one keystroke away, and none of it fights you.

A command line, built in

Drive everything from the keyboard: a command palette, vim-style shortcuts, and a real command line at the bottom of every note. Your hands never leave home row.

❯documentpalette
  • ⌘KOpen command palette
  • :tagAdd a tag to this note
  • gdGo to dashboard
  • /Search the whole vault

Full-text search in milliseconds

Every note, tag, and code block is indexed on-device the moment you save it. Start typing and results appear before you finish the word.

Plain-JSON vault you own

Notes live in ~/.yanta/vault as plain JSON. No database lock-in, no proprietary format. Commit, sync, and back them up however you like.

Project-based focus

Keep work and personal notes in separate projects. Switch context instantly, without the clutter.

Tagging with autocomplete

Tag however makes sense to you. Autocomplete keeps things consistent as your vault grows.

Native speed, tiny footprint

Instant startup, sub-frame interactions, and a memory footprint that respects your machine. No browser engine hiding inside.

screenshots

A beautiful editor with a terminal's soul

Dark, focused, and fast. Here's what a day in YANTA actually looks like.

search

Search that keeps up with your thoughts

Full-text search across your whole vault with a query language built for it: project:alias, tag:name, title:text, phrases and boolean AND/OR. Focus it, type, jump to the match. All keyboard.

~/.yanta · search
YANTA search screen in its dark graphite theme

settings

Tuned to the way you work

Theme, density, interface scale, keyboard hints, background behaviour, backups, Git sync. Configurable and sensible by default. Set it once and forget it's there.

~/.yanta · settings
YANTA settings screen in its dark graphite theme

documents

A calm, keyboard-first home base

YANTA opens to a quiet canvas and a command bar. No dashboards, no clutter. Every note you create is plain JSON in a folder you own, from the very first keystroke.

~/.yanta · documents
YANTA documents screen in its dark graphite theme

your data

Your notes are just files. That's the whole point.

Most note apps trap your thinking in a database you can't read. YANTA writes plain JSON to a folder you control, so your notes outlive the app, the format, and any company.

No lock-in, ever

Plain JSON on your disk. If YANTA vanished tomorrow, every note would still open in any text editor.

Version it like code

Point git at your vault and get a full history of every note. Diff, branch, and roll back your thinking.

Sync your way

Dropbox, Syncthing, a private repo: your files, your rules. YANTA never phones home.

~/.yanta/vault/
work/
project-kickoff.json
standup-notes.json
personal/
reading-list.json
.git/
project-kickoff.json
{
  "id": "01H9X…",
  "title": "Project Kickoff Notes",
  "project": "work",
  "tags": ["meeting", "planning"],
  "updatedAt": "2026-07-01T14:12:09Z",
  "body": [ … ]
}

mcp server

Your AI agents, working in your vault

YANTA speaks the Model Context Protocol. Point Claude Code, Codex, opencode, or any MCP client at your notes and let it search, read, and write beside you. Every edit runs through the same engine as the app, so your search index, sidebar, and git-sync stay live and correct.

claude codeyanta mcp~/work
search_notes"kickoff" project:work
→ 3 documents
get_documentproject-kickoff
→ 1,240 words · 2 tags
create_documentwork · "Retro action items"
✓ saved · indexed · synced
add_tags_to_documentretro, followup
✓ tags updated
append_journaltoday
✓ entry added
~/.yanta · settings
YANTA's Settings screen showing the MCP Server panel: a running server on 127.0.0.1, an enable toggle, agent setup for Claude Code, and server credentials

Connect in one line

Any MCP client works. These three are the most common.

Register YANTA in one line:

claude mcp add yanta -- yanta mcp

Needs the yanta binary on your PATH, or connect over direct HTTP with no PATH setup.

Read & write

readwrite

Fourteen tools across notes, journal, projects, and tags.

  • search_notes
  • get_document
  • list_documents
  • list_projects
  • read_journal
  • list_journal_dates
  • list_tags
  • create_document
  • update_document
  • move_document
  • delete_document
  • append_journal
  • add_tags_to_document
  • remove_tags_from_document

Local and locked down

  • Loopback only

    Binds 127.0.0.1. Never a public interface.

  • Token on every request

    A bearer token gates every call, with an Origin check that blocks browser DNS-rebinding.

  • Off until you say so

    Disabled by default. Token and discovery files are written 0600.

install yanta

Start writing in under a minute.

Free, open source, and native on every desktop. We picked the build for your system, switch platforms any time. v2.4.0 is out now.

Windows

Windows 10 & 11 · 64-bit

Get it from the Microsoft StoreDownload installer (.exe)

The Store build keeps YANTA updated automatically.

Looking for a specific version or checksums? Browse all releases on GitHub →