I kept losing ideas in the four seconds it takes to open a notes app, so I built Jot

I built Jot because I kept losing my best ideas in the four seconds it takes to open a notes app.

You know the moment. You're deep in something and a thought shows up: a fix you'll forget by lunch, a name you need to keep, the one good line for the email you've been avoiding. To save it you have to leave what you're doing, find the right app, and by the time you're back the thought is gone and so is your place. A dozen times a day, that's a lot of good ideas gone.

Jot is the fix. Press Option+Space from any app and a small box opens over your work. Type the thought, press Command+Return, and it's saved to a searchable log on your Mac. The box disappears and drops you back exactly where you were. Later you can search all of it, click any line to copy it, or export the whole thing to Markdown.

A few things I chose on purpose:

• It stays on your Mac. Captures are a plain text file you own. There's no account and nothing to sync, and it works with the wifi off.

• It asks for nothing. No Accessibility prompt, no microphone, no screen recording. It runs the second you open it.

• It does less than it could. It skips folders, rich text, and AI, and just does capture, search, and export well. The restraint is the whole point.

• Native Swift, notarized by Apple, universal, macOS 14 and up.

It's $4.99 one-time (Product Hunt launch: 40% off with code PHLAUNCHJOT, limited availability). No subscription, free updates, good on up to 3 Macs. A Mac App Store edition is in review; for now it's a direct download with your license key by email.

One honest question for this crowd, because I doubt it's just me: how many thoughts do you lose in a day simply because catching one means stopping what you're doing? Curious how you deal with it.

Website: https://jot.arunbrahma.com