Title:: Desktop Sticky Notes
URL:: https://nandomoreira.dev/en/lab/noctalia-desktop-sticky-notes

Desktop Sticky Notes

Plugin for Noctalia Shell that pins sticky notes to the desktop as widgets: each note can be dragged and resized, has a post-it color and Markdown text, opens an editor on click and can stay linked to a .md file on disk, updating when the file changes.

Problem

Quick reminders were scattered across files and apps, away from the screen where I work, and Noctalia had no notes pinned to the desktop itself.

Decisions

Each note is a desktop widget instance, with its own text, colors, size, position and scale, saved in Noctalia settings so they survive a shell restart. A click opens a panel with keyboard focus, because a desktop widget does not receive typing. A note can point to a Markdown file, which becomes the source of truth. The JavaScript logic is covered by Vitest tests; the Markdown renderer and the editor layout come from sapjax's sticky-notes plugin, also MIT.

Outcome

Working MVP on my desktop, tested on Noctalia 4.7.7, in English and Portuguese. Published under the MIT license and not yet submitted to the Noctalia plugin registry.

Shortcuts

Ctrl+S: saves the note and closes the editor
Esc: also saves and closes

Links

Repo: https://github.com/nandomoreirame/noctalia-desktop-sticky-notes

---
title: Desktop Sticky Notes
url: https://nandomoreira.dev/en/lab/noctalia-desktop-sticky-notes
collection: lab
tech:
  - QML
  - JavaScript
  - Noctalia Shell
  - Markdown
  - Vitest
date: 2026-06-09
---

# Desktop Sticky Notes

Plugin for Noctalia Shell that pins sticky notes to the desktop as widgets: each note can be dragged and resized, has a post-it color and Markdown text, opens an editor on click and can stay linked to a .md file on disk, updating when the file changes.

## Problem

Quick reminders were scattered across files and apps, away from the screen
where I work, and Noctalia had no notes pinned to the desktop itself.

## Decisions

Each note is a desktop widget instance, with its own text, colors, size,
position and scale, saved in Noctalia settings so they survive a shell
restart. A click opens a panel with keyboard focus, because a desktop widget
does not receive typing. A note can point to a Markdown file, which becomes
the source of truth. The JavaScript logic is covered by Vitest tests; the
Markdown renderer and the editor layout come from sapjax's sticky-notes
plugin, also MIT.

## Outcome

Working MVP on my desktop, tested on Noctalia 4.7.7, in English and
Portuguese. Published under the MIT license and not yet submitted to the
Noctalia plugin registry.

## Shortcuts

- `Ctrl+S`: saves the note and closes the editor
- `Esc`: also saves and closes

## Links

- Repo: https://github.com/nandomoreirame/noctalia-desktop-sticky-notes