Jotnow in Codex.

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.

Add the MCP server

codex mcp add jotnow -- npx -y jotnow
codex mcp list

Restart your Codex session. In the CLI, /mcp shows active servers. The CLI, IDE extension, and desktop client share MCP configuration on the same host.

To configure it manually instead, add this table to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.jotnow]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "jotnow"]

If native Windows cannot launch npx directly, configure the command wrapper:

[mcp_servers.jotnow]
command = "cmd"
args = ["/c", "npx", "-y", "jotnow"]

Choose one configuration for this server. In WSL, use the Linux configuration and store the key from WSL. See the official Codex MCP documentation for project configuration, timeouts, and tool controls.

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.”

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.