Noted

A modern, real-time collaborative note-taking platform built with React and Hono. Think Notion meets Obsidian — with live collaboration baked in.

Features

• Real-time Collaboration — Multiple users can edit the same document simultaneously with live cursor presence, powered by Yjs and Hocuspocus
• Rich Text Editor — Block-based editor with support for text formatting, headings, lists, code blocks, and more (BlockNote)
• File Embeds — Drag-and-drop or upload PDFs, DOCX files, and images directly into notes with inline previews
• Workspaces & Organizations — Create shared workspaces, invite team members, and manage access
• Hierarchical Pages — Organize notes in a tree structure with nested pages and drag-and-drop reordering
• Tags — Categorize and filter notes with a flexible tagging system
• Tasks — Track to-dos directly within your notes
• Search — Full-text search across all your notes
• Daily Notes — Calendar-based daily note view for journaling and planning
• Dark Mode — Light, dark, and system theme support

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 19, Vite, Tailwind CSS 4, shadcn/ui
Backend	Hono, Bun
Database	PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM
Auth	Better Auth
Collaboration	Yjs, Hocuspocus
Editor	BlockNote
Deployment	Docker, Railway

Project Structure

noted/
├── apps/
│   ├── api/          # Hono API server + Hocuspocus collaboration server
│   └── web/          # React SPA with Vite
├── packages/
│   ├── db/           # Drizzle ORM schema and migrations
│   └── shared/       # Shared types and utilities
└── scripts/          # Setup, start, and stop scripts

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Bun (v1.0+)
• Docker (for PostgreSQL)

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/NCompasBusiness/Noted.git
cd Noted

# Run the setup script (installs deps, starts PostgreSQL, creates .env)
./scripts/setup.sh

# Start all services
./scripts/start.sh

The app will be available at:

• Web app: http://localhost:5173
• API server: http://localhost:3001

Manual Setup

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Start PostgreSQL with Docker
docker run -d \
  --name noted-postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=noted \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=noted \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=noted \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  postgres:16

# Copy environment variables
cp .env.example .env

# Push the database schema
bun run db:push

# Start development servers
bun run dev

Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env and configure:

Variable	Description	Default
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string	postgresql://noted:noted@localhost:5432/noted
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET	Secret key for authentication (change in production)	—
BETTER_AUTH_URL	API server URL	http://localhost:3001
APP_URL	Frontend URL	http://localhost:5173
UPLOAD_DIR	Directory for file uploads	./uploads
HOCUSPOCUS_PORT	Internal collaboration server port	3002

Available Scripts

bun run dev          # Start all development servers
bun run dev:api      # Start API server only
bun run dev:web      # Start web app only
bun run build        # Build all packages
bun run db:generate  # Generate database migrations
bun run db:migrate   # Run database migrations
bun run db:push      # Push schema changes to database
bun run db:studio    # Open Drizzle Studio (database GUI)

Deployment

Both apps include Dockerfiles and Railway configuration for easy deployment.

# Build and run API
docker build -f apps/api/Dockerfile -t noted-api .
docker run -p 3001:3001 --env-file .env noted-api

# Build and run Web
docker build -f apps/web/Dockerfile -t noted-web .
docker run -p 3000:3000 noted-web

See the Railway documentation for one-click deployment.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guide before submitting a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.