Supynote CLI

A simple, clean CLI tool to interact with your Supernote device.

Requirements

• Python 3.8.1+
• Supernote device connected to same local network
• Device must have "Export via LAN" enabled (Settings → System → Export via LAN)

System Dependencies (for PDF conversion)

PDF conversion requires the Cairo graphics library. Install it before installing supynote:

macOS:

brew install cairo pkg-config

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libcairo2-dev pkg-config python3-dev

Windows: No additional dependencies needed (pre-built wheels available)

Optional Features

• OCR: Requires additional dependencies (transformers, torch) - see Installation
• Apple Silicon: OCR automatically uses MPS acceleration on M1/M2/M3/M4 Macs

Features

• 🔍 Auto-discovery: Automatically find your Supernote on the network
• 📂 File listing: Browse files and directories on your device
• ⬇️ Download: Download individual files or entire directories
• 📄 PDF conversion: Convert .note files to high-quality vector PDFs
• 🌐 Web interface: Open the device web interface in your browser
• ⚡ Fast downloads: Multithreaded downloads for speed

Installation

From PyPI (Recommended)

# Basic installation
pip install supynote

# With OCR features
pip install supynote[ocr]

From Source (Development)

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/thopiax/supynote.git
cd supynote
pip install -e .

# With OCR features
pip install -e .[ocr]

Using uv (For Development)

uv sync  # Installs all dependencies including dev tools

Quick Start

# Find your Supernote device
supynote find

# List all files
supynote list

# List files in Note directory
supynote list Note

# Download Note directory
supynote download Note

# Download a specific file
supynote download Note/my-note.note

# Convert .note file to PDF (vector format)
supynote convert my-note.note

# Convert all .note files in a directory
supynote convert Note/

# Open device web interface
supynote browse

# Show device info
supynote info

Device Setup

Before using supynote, ensure your Supernote device is ready:

1. On your Supernote: Swipe down from the top to open the menu
2. Activate "Browse & Access" (middle top icon)
3. Ensure your computer is connected to the same network
4. Only one Supernote device should have "Browse & Access" active

Now you can run supynote find to locate your device.

Tips

• Use default note names: Supernote's automatic timestamp naming (YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS) allows notes to be grouped by day, creating a journal-like structure
• Markdown extraction: Structure your notes with specific patterns for better markdown output (see Markdown Integration)

Commands

supynote find

Scan the local network to find your Supernote device.

• --open: Open the device web interface after finding it

supynote list [directory]

List files and directories on the device.

supynote download <path>

Download files or directories from the device.

• --workers N: Number of parallel download workers (default: 4)
• --convert-pdf: Automatically convert downloaded .note files to PDF

supynote convert <path>

Convert .note files to PDF format (vector by default).

• --output DIR: Output directory or specific file path
• --no-vector: Use raster format instead of vector
• --no-links: Disable hyperlinks in PDF output
• --recursive: Process subdirectories (default: true)

supynote browse

Open the device web interface in your default browser.

supynote info

Show device connection information.

Options

• --ip IP: Manually specify device IP address
• --port PORT: Device port (default: 8089)
• --output DIR: Local output directory for downloads

Environment Variables

Configure supynote-cli behavior with these environment variables:

• SUPYNOTE_JOURNALS_DIR: Default directory for markdown journal exports (used by merge command)
• SUPYNOTE_IP: Default device IP (alternative to --ip flag)
• SUPYNOTE_OUTPUT_DIR: Default output directory (alternative to --output flag)

Example .env file:

SUPYNOTE_JOURNALS_DIR=$HOME/Documents/journals
SUPYNOTE_IP=192.168.1.100

Load with: export $(cat .env | xargs)

See examples/automation/.env.example for more configuration options.

Examples

# Find device and open in browser
supynote find --open

# Download with custom output directory
supynote download Note --output ~/my-notes

# Use specific IP address
supynote --ip 192.168.1.100 list

# Download with more workers for speed
supynote download EXPORT --workers 8

# Download and convert to PDF in one step  
supynote download Note --convert-pdf

# Convert with custom output directory
supynote convert Note/ --output ~/my-pdfs

# Convert single file with specific output name
supynote convert my-note.note --output my-document.pdf

Markdown Integration

Supynote can extract text from your .note files and organize them into markdown format for daily journaling workflows. The extraction recognizes specific patterns you can optionally use while writing:

Moment Markers (Section Headers)

As a personal preference, you can start pages with "moment markers" to create section headings:

• Pattern: m. 1, M. 2, me 3 (case insensitive, with or without dot)
• Can be preceded by - (e.g., - m. 5)

Example on Supernote:

m. 7 - Morning thoughts about the project

Becomes in markdown:

- ## m. 7
    - Morning thoughts about the project

This is entirely optional - use it if it fits your note-taking style.

Bullet Points

Lines starting with - or * are converted to indented bullet points.

Sub-bullets

Lines starting with ↳ become nested sub-bullets (indented one level deeper).

Daily Organization

Using the merge command with timestamp-named files (YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS):

• Groups all notes from the same day
• Creates one markdown file per day (e.g., 2024-01-15.md)
• Orders moments chronologically within each day
• Links to the corresponding merged PDF

This creates a date-based journal structure ideal for markdown-based note-taking tools.

Troubleshooting

PDF Conversion Errors

• Error: "cairo not found" or "pycairo build failed"
  • Install Cairo system dependencies (see System Dependencies section above)
  • macOS: brew install cairo pkg-config
  • Linux: sudo apt-get install libcairo2-dev pkg-config python3-dev
• After installing Cairo, reinstall supynote: pip install --force-reinstall supynote

Device Not Found

• Ensure device is on same network as computer
• Try manually specifying IP: supynote --ip YOUR_IP list
• Some networks block device discovery - use --ip flag with your device's IP address

OCR Not Working

• Install OCR dependencies: pip install -e .[ocr]
• First run downloads ML models (~500MB) - may take time
• Requires internet connection for initial model download
• On Apple Silicon, ensure MPS is available (macOS 12.3+)

Slow Performance

• Increase workers: supynote download --workers 30
• Use async mode (default in v1.0+)
• OCR is CPU/GPU intensive - fewer workers may help on older machines
• Check network connection quality

Permission Errors

• Ensure output directory is writable
• On macOS, you may need to grant Terminal full disk access
• Check firewall settings aren't blocking network discovery

For more help, see GitHub Issues

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Steps:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes with tests
4. Submit a pull request

Acknowledgments

• Supernote Team: For creating excellent e-ink tablets that inspire tools like this
• supernotelib: Unofficial library for .note file conversion - the foundation of PDF conversion in this tool
• Claude Code: This project was built with significant assistance from Claude Code, which handled much of the heavy lifting in development and refactoring
• TrOCR (Microsoft) and LLaVA: Powering the OCR capabilities for handwritten text recognition