Sidenote

A lightweight, ADHD-friendly todo list that lives right next to your terminal window

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f506c214-92fc-4827-bcfa-19c170bb75f4

Why This Exists

The ADHD Problem: You're coding in your terminal, a task pops into your head, and by the time you open Notepad/Tudo/a new tab, it's gone. That 2-second context switch is enough for ADHD brains to lose the thought entirely.

Every other tool costs you that switch - open an app, run a command, find the window. Sidenote is already there, docked to your terminal. Shift+Tab, type, Enter. Three seconds, without ever looking away from what you were doing.

Why not existing tools

Notepad/Heavy apps: Requires Alt+Tab, finding the window, clicking - thought is gone Tudo/Tuxedo/Rondo: Need to run a command, switch context, navigate UI - thought is gone PowerShell scratchpad: Need to open it, switch focus - thought is gone Other terminal UIs: Require launching a separate app or command - thought is gone

Features

This isn't about rich features but simplicity. It's about zero-friction capture. When you have ADHD, the best todo app is the one that's already open and doesn't make you think.

Install

pip install sidenote
sidenote init
sidenote  

That's it - Shift+Tab toggles it from anywhere.

Optionally, sidenote init adds start-note / stop-note shortcuts to your PowerShell profile.

If sidenote isn't found after installing, your Python Scripts folder isn't on PATH - see Troubleshooting.

Usage

Add - type in the box, press Enter. Timestamped automatically. Check off - double-click a todo. It greys out and shows [x]. Double-click again to uncheck. Copy - right-click a todo to put its text on the clipboard. It flashes to confirm. Reorder - press and drag a todo up or down. Remove - select it and press Delete. Undo a delete - Ctrl+Z brings back the last todo (or Ctrl+Delete batch) you removed. Resize - drag the edge to widen it for longer notes; the width sticks until you restart. Add a tab - click + in the top-left, type a name, press Enter. Up to 5. Switch tabs - click a numbered tab button next to +. Rename a tab - double-click its name in the footer, type a new one, press Enter. Delete a tab - click the × next to its name in the footer, then confirm. Only shows once you have a second tab.

The ? button lists every action, so there's nothing to memorise.

Hotkeys

Commands

sidenote stop only ever terminates its own process - your dev servers, notebooks, and training runs are never touched.

Requirements

Windows 10/11, Python 3.7+, and a terminal (PowerShell, CMD, or Windows Terminal). Pulls in two small libraries: keyboard and pywin32.

Documentation

Full documentation →

FAQ · Troubleshooting · How it works · Data format · Upgrading · Uninstalling · Development

Contributing

Happy to take PRs for bug fixes, better terminal detection, performance, or cross-platform support. Run pytest first, and add a test if you're fixing a bug. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT - do whatever you want with it.

Built by a developer with ADHD, for developers with ADHD. If this resonates, you get it. If it looks like overkill, it's not for you and that's fine. 🧠⚡