Yank Note: an extensible Markdown editor that gives up file safety for it

Files ending in .c.md are encrypted in the front end, with no recovery path

Yank Note treats a note as encrypted when its filename ends in `.c.md`, and the encryption does not leave the machine. The documentation is explicit that both encrypting and decrypting are completed in the front end. The password can be set separately for each file, which is the useful part for anyone keeping an account number or similar in a note they sync. The same passage carries the warning that follows from that design: remember the password, because once it is lost the file can only be cracked by force. That is a data recovery limit rather than a remark about encryption strength, and it belongs in your decision before you store anything that matters.

Extensibility is bought with command execution on every file you open

The project states its own trade in plain terms: for more extension, Yank Note sacrifices security protection around command execution and arbitrary file reading and writing. That is a coherent price for runnable code blocks and HTML applets, both of which need to reach outside the document to do anything. It also means the editor should not be pointed at a Markdown file whose origin you cannot vouch for without reading it first, which is what the notice about foreign files asks you to do. For a team that treats notes as untrusted input, for instance anything arriving through a shared repository or a download, this is the deciding constraint rather than one item in a list of trade-offs.

The Monaco kernel sets the editing feel, and a plugins folder sets the rest

The editing surface is the Monaco kernel, tuned for Markdown, so selection, line handling and shortcuts behave the way they do in VS Code rather than the way a textarea behaves in a wrapper. Extension happens on two levels. The extension point is file based: JavaScript plug-ins go in the `plugins` folder under the home directory, with the development guide kept in the repository under help/PLUGIN.md. A runtime dependency explains the search side of the product: `@vscode/ripgrep` is a direct dependency, and Quickly Open is documented as opening files, tagged files and full text searching of file contents from one shortcut panel.

Runnable blocks and applets turn a note into a program

The feature list is where this stops being a Markdown reader. Code running is documented for JavaScript, PHP, nodejs, Python and bash, and macro replacement lets an embedded JavaScript expression swap document content dynamically. Around that sit HTML applets, PlantUML, Drawio, ECharts, Mermaid and Luckysheet tables, LaTeX expressions, and a mind map drawn from a nested list. The repository description adds Reveal.js to that set. Export goes a different route: multiple format export uses pandoc as the converter, so output formats are produced by an external tool rather than by a renderer inside the app. Each embed is another path from document text to something executing on the machine that opens it, which is the same concern the security notice raises, one layer down. An integrated terminal rounds that picture off, since it opens a shell in the editor and lets you change the current working directory for the notes you are editing.

Version history and auto-save overlap, and encryption is the exception

Document history covers backtracking through earlier versions of a note, which is the part of version control most people want inside an editor rather than in a separate client. Auto-save then writes files after editing and marks unsaved ones with an orange title bar, so an editor and a version controlled workflow overlap in the same window. The exception is the encrypted case: `.c.md` files are not saved automatically. That keeps an unsaved secret off disk on its own, at the price of depending on you to save. One more axis sits alongside, since multiple data locations can be defined so notes are classified across directories instead of living in one tree, and the copy title link and document link features are built for moving between those files.

Five packaged artifacts per release, and a separate step for the terminal

Yank Note ships as an Electron application, and the build is visible in the repository rather than hidden. The renderer is built by vite after a vue-tsc type check, the main process by tsc targeting es2021, with electron-builder.json driving packaging. Release v3.93.1, published on 2026-10-17, offered five artifacts: a Windows executable, macOS arm64 and x64 disk images, a Linux AppImage and a Linux deb. That release also upgraded Electron to 41.10.6 and updated dependencies including MCP SDK, KaTeX, Markdown-it and Undici, alongside a security fix. The integrated terminal brings its own requirement, since a rebuild-pty script exists for node-pty.

Two different AI integrations, and a data layout that stays as files

The AI side arrives in two shapes. One is a Copilot style assistant for text completion, text generation and image generation, listed as compatible with OpenAI, Ollama, Gemini, Kimi, Tongyi Qianwen and Flux.1, so the choice is a backend rather than a single vendor. The other is an OpenCode AI Agent for coding assistance inside the editor. On data, the README is explicit about where it lives: notes are saved as local Markdown files, extension functions are implemented in original Markdown syntax as far as possible, and the export path runs through pandoc.

Editorial conclusion

Yank Note fits a writer who wants one file format, an integrated terminal and runnable examples in the same window, and who controls where the notes come from. It does not fit anyone opening Markdown received from strangers, because the editor gives up protection around command execution and arbitrary file reading to get its extensions. Before adopting it, decide how encrypted notes will be saved, since `.c.md` files are held back from auto-save and a lost password can only be brute forced, and check whether your work runs on a machine where the plug-in folder under the home directory is your own. Check the AGPL-3.0 terms against how you intend to distribute a modified build before shipping it outside your own team.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. License: AGPL-3.0
2. Project website
3. purocean/yn on GitHub
4. README
5. Releases