Keep the answers you want to use again.

Set up your account

Install Node.js 22.13 or newer (Node 23 requires 23.4 or newer), and your coding client. Run these commands on the machine where the client starts its MCP servers.

1. Create a free Jotnow account and follow the confirmation email, or sign in to your existing account.
2. Open Settings → API keys and create a key.
3. Install the CLI and enter the key at its prompt:

npm install --global jotnow
jotnow key

The prompt validates your key online and saves it to ~/.jotnow/config.json. Your client can then start Jotnow without a key in its command or MCP configuration. Without a global install, use npx -y jotnow key.

Keep the key private. Do not paste it into a conversation, a note, or a shared config. Revoke an exposed key in Settings → API keys and run jotnow key with a new one.

Connect your agent

Follow the Claude Code setup or the Codex setup. Jotnow runs as a local stdio MCP process, which calls your account API online. Other MCP clients can use:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jotnow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "jotnow"]
    }
  }
}

Use your client’s instructions for its configuration file and Windows process launching. See the five-tool reference for inputs and results.

Save a fix. Find it later.

After an answer you want to keep, ask your agent:

Jot that down in Jotnow as “Worker environment fix”, with the explanation and commands.

The agent calls jot and reports the saved title, ID, and tags. Jotnow is an explicit notebook: it does not automatically capture your conversation. Say what should be saved; ask for the complete answer verbatim if that is what you want.

In a later session, ask:

Find my Jotnow notes about worker environment.
Read the Worker environment fix jot in full.

find_jots returns compact matches. Choose a note when several match; get_jot brings its body into context. You can also ask “List my recent jots.” On Pro, ask “Find my Jotnow notes by meaning about deployments using stale configuration.”

Free, Pro, and your own AI key

Saving, keyword search, reading notes, and listing recent jots are free in account mode. Pro adds recall_jots for semantic search, plus hosted Recall and AI tidying in the app. See pricing for the plan details.

Bring-your-own OpenAI or Anthropic keys work for Recall inside the app on any tier. They do not unlock the MCP recall_jots tool or other hosted Pro features.

Browser local mode and desktop local mode

You can use the web notebook without an account; those notes stay in that browser. MCP cannot write to that browser library. The Jotnow desktop app has a separate local library that the CLI can write to without an API key or network connection.

jotnow use local
jotnow where

Run the desktop app once so it creates the library. Only jotnow add and the MCP jot tool work locally. Search, Recall, reading notes, and recent notes are available in the app; the other four MCP tools require account mode. Run jotnow use account to choose your account again.

If something does not connect

• Check node --version and npx --version in the same environment as your client. Restart the client after changing PATH or its MCP configuration.
• Run jotnow where to see the chosen library. If an account key and a desktop library both exist, choose jotnow use account or jotnow use local. Jotnow refuses an ambiguous destination.
• If the key is rejected, replace it with jotnow key. An existing JOTNOW_API_KEY environment variable overrides the stored key.
• Account commands need network access and have no offline queue. Check connectivity before retrying. After an uncertain save, search your jots before saving a second copy.
• A write-rate error means wait a minute before retrying (60 writes per minute per key). A Pro error on recall_jots does not prevent free keyword search.

Windows and WSL have separate home directories and client environments. Store your key where the MCP process runs. A desktop local library must be accessible from that same environment; browser local-mode notes are not accessible through MCP.