NoteTrace is a self-hosted alternative to Google Keep, Evernote and Apple Notes: notes, checklists and reminders in a card grid, on your own server. AGPL-3.0, a single Docker container, a web app that works offline, a native Android app, and a Wear OS app. No telemetry, no cloud. This is the first stable release.

Part of the TraceApps family: NutriTrace (nutrition), CookTrace (recipes / pantry / shopping), LiftTrace (strength / lifting).

What it does

• Notes and checklists. Pins, colors, nested labels, archive, trash, version history, and full-text search that also finds words in voice transcripts and in photos.
• Reminders and Tasks. Repeating reminders that keep their local time, exact alarms on Android, and one view of everything that's due.
• Offline everywhere. The installed web app keeps editing with no connection and syncs later; Android and the watch work offline too.
• Wear OS. Tick off lists, read notes, see what's due, and speak a note ("call the plumber tomorrow at nine" sets the reminder), with a tile and a watch face complication.
• Voice notes and drawings. Record with the screen off and get a transcript you can tap to jump to.
• Bring your notes with you. Import from Google Keep, Evernote, Memos, Blinko and Markdown vaults; export everything as Markdown with images.
• Optional AI. Tidy up, summarise, or turn a note into a checklist, with the provider of your choice. Off unless you set it up.

Links

• Repo: https://github.com/TraceApps/notetrace
• Docs: https://traceapps.github.io/docs/notetrace/
• Release notes + signed APKs (phone and watch): https://github.com/TraceApps/notetrace/releases/tag/v1.0.0
• Docker: ghcr.io/traceapps/notetrace:latest (mirror: traceapps/notetrace:latest)

AI Disclosure

Per Rule 7 / [AIP] disclosure requirements AI was used during development as a coding assistant. Level per category:

• Design (architecture, system design): Hint: I make the architectural calls; AI suggests trade-offs and edge cases I might have missed.
• Implementation (production code): Pair: roughly 50/50. AI drafts, I review, adjust, test on real hardware, and only commit what I've verified. Every commit is manually reviewed before it goes to my dev repo.
• Testing (writing tests, test plans, QA): Assisted: real-device testing is manual (I test on my own PC and mobile devices before every release). AI helps draft test plans and think through edge cases.
• Documentation (docs, comments, README, CHANGELOG): Pair: release notes and changelog entries are drafted with AI then edited for tone; comments and code docs are mostly Pair as well.
• Review (code review, PR feedback): Assisted: I'm the reviewer; AI helps with security sweeps, audit passes on complex changes, and consistency checks.
• Deployment (CI/CD config): Hint: Docker/GitHub Actions/release pipeline is largely conventional; AI-suggested improvements only.

Google Keep is my white whale of self hosted apps. The vibe coding aspect gives me pause as I have been burned before but it is too promising to turn down so I'll give it a shot!

Please do! Google Keep was my go to, and for self hosting i did enjoy Blinko. I feel this is the best of both worlds! Let me know your thoughts. I do my best to continue to improve my apps and implement bug fixes, new features, and be as responsive as time allows me.

Hi, is there shared notes with family members? If both family members are on the same file, does it live update?

Yes. You can share any note or checklist with other people on your server, with view or edit access. Pins, labels, colors and reminders stay personal to each person, so a family member can pin the grocery list without it jumping to the top of your grid.

It isn't live yet, though. Changes sync rather than stream. The Android app syncs every 30 seconds and whenever you open it, so a checked-off item shows up on the other phone within about half a minute. In the web app, changes from someone else show up when you refresh, reopen the note, or pull down on the list.

If you both edit at the same time:

• Checklists merge item by item. You can both tick things off or add items in the same list and nothing gets lost, which covers the usual shared shopping list case.
• For text notes, the last save wins, and the other version is kept in the note's version history, so nothing is ever thrown away.

Live updates, where a tick or edit shows up on the other person's screen within a second or two, are very doable, and I'd like to add them. If you open a feature request for it, it goes on the list and you'll get a notification when it's in: https://github.com/TraceApps/notetrace/issues/new?template=feature_request.yml

A couple of lines about how you'd use it (for example, two phones on one shopping list at the store) will help me with envisioning how this should work.

Good eye, but I find that part of the rule to be rather odd. It's like saying you can't seed your own Blu-ray rip before seeding someone else's Blu-ray rip first, when it's actually the spreading of the movie itself that everyone wants. At least in my mind.

Is there a good rationale for this part of the rule?

Thanks for sharing. I'm trying it out as a Google Keep replacement.

I just spun up a container and works well. Same story for the Android app. Are there plans to put the app on an F-droid repository? Currently I keep it updated with Obsidian. Also, are there plans for Kanban support?

Overall I'm a big fan. I might replace my Vikunja container with this in the weekend!

Also to nitpick: the purple top bar looks perfectly at home on the Android app, but it does feel out of place on desktop when accessing the website

Glad you are liking it so far! Yes i have thought about adding Kanban support, but i am not sure if its the right fit to implement in the app. Will surely continue to think about and consider it for the future! I've been thinking about putting all my apps on F-Droid, so i will say coming soon!. With respect to the color... you can change it to literally whatever you want in Settings under Apperance, so you are not stuck to the purple if you prefer something else.