Forget-Me-Note

A calm, colorful notes web app built with Python, Flask and SQLite, made to practice CRUD, text handling, search and data modeling. 🌼
Little notes, never forgotten.

Screenshots

Your notes as a grid of pastel cards. Pinned notes stay on top, checklists show their progress, and you can tick boxes right on the card.

The editor: write, split or preview	Search with highlighted matches

On a phone	Dark mode (Rose theme)

Profile and themes	Tags

Features

• Accounts: sign up, log in and log out. Each person sees only their own notes.
• Notes: create, edit, copy and delete. A note needs a title or some text, not both.
• Welcome tour: four short steps the first time you log in (take a note, #tags, [[links]], finding things). You can replay it from your profile.
• Autosave you can trust: the editor saves as you type. The status stays calm (a check, then "Saved 2 min ago"), only says "Saving…" when a save is slow, and if a save fails it says so, retries by itself and offers a Retry button.
• Markdown, written by hand (no library): # headings, **bold**, *italic*, ~~strike~~, `code`, code blocks, bulleted and numbered lists, - [ ] checkboxes, > quotes, links and ---. Write, Split or Preview mode. Your text is escaped first, so nothing in a note can run as code.
• Checklists: tick boxes on the card or in the preview, and see the progress bar fill up.
• Tags: type them in the tag box (chips with suggestions), or write #tags anywhere in the text (they show in the box as dotted "from text" chips). Click one in the sidebar to see its notes. The Tags page renames and deletes tags and updates the #tags in your text too. A rename first shows the notes it will change, and warns clearly when it will merge into a tag you already have.
• Full-text search with SQLite's FTS5: the best matches come first (exact words before word starts), matches are highlighted, and bud already finds budget while you type. Filter chips under the heading (Pinned, Has checklist, Color, Tag) switch filters on and off, and a mistyped filter like tags:work gets a "Did you mean tag:work?" (Without FTS5, a simpler search does the same job.)
• Suggestions while typing: type [[ to pick a note to link, or # to pick a tag.
• Links between notes: [[Note title]]. A link to a note that doesn't exist yet offers to create it, and every note lists the notes that link to it (Linked From, with a count, folds away).
• Drag and drop: drag cards into your own order (it's saved), between Pinned and Others to pin or unpin, or onto the sidebar's Pinned, Archive, Trash or a tag. Works with a mouse, with a finger (press and hold, then drag), and with the keyboard (Alt ↑ / Alt ↓). Esc cancels a drag.
• Sort in your own custom order, or by last edited, date created or title (pinned notes stay on top). Your choice is remembered. Jump Back In to the notes you opened last.
• Templates: start a checklist, meeting notes, a daily journal or an idea from From Template.
• Select mode: pin, archive, tag or trash many notes at once.
• Focus mode (Ctrl Shift F): just you and the note.
• Copy a note as Markdown or as plain text, and Export All as a zip of .md files.
• Pin notes to the top, give them one of 8 pastel colors, and archive the ones you want out of the way.
• Trash: deleting moves a note to the Trash, with an Undo snackbar that stays for 10 seconds (and waits while you reach for it). Each note in the Trash shows how many days it has left. Restore it, delete it forever, or empty the Trash: only those last two ask "Are you sure?", since they can't be undone.
• Checklists that feel good: tick boxes on the card or in the preview, watch the bar slide along, and get a little burst of petals at 100%.
• Note stats: word count, reading time and checklist progress.
• Import and export: download a note as a .md file (with its title and tags at the top), or import .md files.
• Profile: pick a picture (an emoji), set the name your greeting uses, change your username or password, and choose a theme: Forget-Me-Not (the default), Lavender, Rose, Mint, Marigold or Ink, in light, dark or matching your device. The logo and app icon always stay the same.
• Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl K or / search, N new note, ↓ ↑ Enter move through notes, Ctrl B/Ctrl I bold/italic, Ctrl Z undo (formatting too), Ctrl E preview, Ctrl Enter save and close, Esc back, ? the list (grouped, with a search box).
• Accessible: visible focus rings, labels on every icon button, sheets that keep keyboard focus inside them, 44px tap targets on touch screens, less motion for people who ask their device for it, and a test that checks text contrast on every note color.
• Nice touches: a greeting (you can turn it off in Profile), a quick "Take a note…" box, lists that continue when you press Enter, a bottom bar on phones that steps aside for the keyboard, and sheets you can drag down to close.

Setup (Windows, PowerShell)

& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Python\Python313\python.exe" -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Run

.venv\Scripts\flask --app notes run --debug

Then open http://127.0.0.1:5000. The database (instance/notes.sqlite) is created on the first run.

To make a demo account full of example notes, run .venv\Scripts\flask --app notes create-demo and type a username and password. Run it again to put fresh examples back. To delete every note and account, run .venv\Scripts\flask --app notes init-db --reset.

Tests

.venv\Scripts\python -m pytest

Deploy (PythonAnywhere)

PythonAnywhere runs Flask apps for free and keeps the SQLite file between restarts.

1. In a Bash console:

   git clone https://github.com/jcatibog014/notes_app
   cd notes_app
   python3.13 -m venv .venv
   .venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
   # Check that this SQLite has full-text search (the app falls back to a simpler search if not):
   .venv/bin/python -c "import sqlite3; sqlite3.connect(':memory:').execute('create virtual table t using fts5(a)'); print('FTS5 ok')"

2. On the Web tab, add a new web app with Manual configuration and Python 3.13. Then:
   • Virtualenv: /home/<username>/notes_app/.venv
   • Static files: URL /static/ → directory /home/<username>/notes_app/notes/static
   • WSGI configuration file: replace its contents with:

     import os, sys
     sys.path.insert(0, "/home/<username>/notes_app")
     os.environ["SECRET_KEY"] = "paste-a-long-random-string-here"  # never commit this
     from notes import create_app
     application = create_app()

     (Make a random key with python3.13 -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))".)
3. Optional: .venv/bin/flask --app notes create-demo in the Bash console.
4. Click Reload and open https://<username>.pythonanywhere.com.

To update later: cd notes_app && git pull, then Reload on the Web tab.

Project layout

notes/
  __init__.py     the app factory
  db.py           database connection and setup
  schema.sql      tables: users, notes, tags, note_tags, note_links
  schema_fts.sql  the full-text search index and its triggers
  auth.py         sign up, log in, log out
  notes.py        the home page, editor, trash, import/export
  markdown.py     the hand-written Markdown renderer and text helpers
  search.py       filters, full-text search and highlighting
  tags.py         saving tags, and the Tags page
  profile.py      the profile page
  validation.py   checks for every form
  demo.py         the create-demo command
  templates/      the pages
  static/         style.css, app.js, logo.png, logo.svg
tests/            pytest tests