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DopePad

DopePad is a tiny GUI notepad for quick notes, todo dumps, random ideas, and all that "I need this saved right now" stuff.

Hit a hotkey, type, done.

It is fast, keyboard-first, and intentionally simple.

Why it exists

• open in a flash (especially with the background daemon)
• write with markup that stays visible, styled in place
• daily note + one-off notes without building a second brain
• also opens normal .txt / .md when you need a plain file
• looks at home on a dark Murasaki setup

What you get

• native GTK4 / libadwaita window
• paper-first UI (chrome stays out of the way)
• daily notes and loose notes under ~/.local/share/dopepad/notes/
• .dpad files with light frontmatter (hidden while you write)
• DopeSyntax inline styles — markers stay in the file
• autosave
• note picker (Ctrl+P) and find in note (Ctrl+F)
• single-instance app + optional --daemon so hotkeys feel instant

Install

Deps (Debian / similar):

sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config \
  libgtk-4-dev libadwaita-1-dev

Then:

./scripts/install.sh

What it does:

• builds a release dopepad
• links it into ~/.local/bin
• installs a desktop entry
• sets up PATH in your shell profile if needed

Then just run:

dopepad

Uninstall

./scripts/uninstall.sh

Optional full cleanup (including your notes):

./scripts/uninstall.sh --purge-data

Run

dopepad                 # today's daily note
dopepad --daily         # same
dopepad --new           # brand new loose note
dopepad something.txt   # plain file, saved as-is
dopepad note.dpad       # managed note
dopepad --daemon        # warm in background (no window)

Notes storage

Managed notes live here:

~/.local/share/dopepad/notes/
  daily_YYYY-MM-DD.dpad
  note_YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS.dpad

On disk a managed note looks roughly like this (frontmatter is hidden in the UI):

---
kind: daily
created_at: 2026-07-09T00:00:00-03:00
updated_at: 2026-07-09T00:00:00-03:00
---

# Daily · 2026-07-09

Window titles:

DopePad · Daily · 2026-07-09
DopePad · Note · 2026-07-09 02:14
DopePad · readme.txt

Plain files

Open any path. If it is not a DopePad note, the buffer is the file.

dopepad ~/Notes/ideas.txt
dopepad README.md

Niri / hotkeys

Suggested binds (config lives on your machine; DopePad does not rewrite it for you):

spawn-at-startup "dopepad" "--daemon"

Mod+Alt+N   { spawn "dopepad" "--daily"; }
Mod+Shift+N { spawn "dopepad" "--new"; }

The daemon pays the GTK tax once at login. After that, hotkeys should feel snappy.

DopeSyntax

Markers stay in the file. The editor just paints on top.

you type	you see
# Title	big heading
## Section	medium heading
### Sub	smaller heading
- item	bullet
- [ ] task	open task
- [x] task	done (muted + strike)
> quote	thought / quote
! alert	callout
==highlight==	highlight
**bold**	bold
`code`	code
@tag	tag

Keys

key	what
Ctrl+S	save now
Ctrl+N	new note
Ctrl+D	daily
Ctrl+P	search notes in the vault
Ctrl+F	find in this note
Esc	close overlay / find
Ctrl+Q	quit
Alt / hover top	peek header

Autosave kicks in shortly after you pause typing.

Speed check

cargo build --release
./scripts/bench-launch.sh --daily

Cold process without a daemon is mostly GTK waking up. Keep --daemon on session start if you care about hotkey feel.

Dev

cargo fmt
cargo test
cargo build --release

Stack

Rust, GTK4, libadwaita, plain TextView / TextBuffer.