PaperTodo

PaperTodo · A Sheet of Paper

Let a few quiet, useful, unobtrusive sheets of paper live on your desktop.
A lightweight, openly co-created Windows desktop sticky-note app.

Language: English | 简体中文
Official Website
User Manual · Changelog

Preview

Philosophy

• Paper first — Every paper is an independent window that lives directly on the desktop, with no layered management console to open first.
• Ready immediately — Write when you want, check things off when done; everything saves automatically and the interaction path stays short.
• No unnecessary management — PaperTodo deliberately avoids complex project-management models, reducing the mental overhead of everyday capture.
• Native & lightweight — Built natively with WPF, without a Web wrapper, for fast startup and low resource use.
• Restrained interaction — The UI stays clean and low-distraction: quiet when idle, immediately available when needed.

No unnecessary interaction layers. No unnecessary visual focus.

Core Features

1. Two Basic Paper Types

• Todo Paper: A clean, efficient checklist with drag-and-drop ordering, continuous swipe multi-selection, and smart splitting of multi-line paste; completed items can be cleared automatically or moved to the bottom.
• Note Paper: Lightweight Markdown and visual notes with three levels of real-time rendering, natural editing/reading flow, and support for pasting or dropping local images.

2. Edge Capsules & Live Preview Cards

• Collapse & Dock: Click the top-right button or press Ctrl+W to collapse a paper into a compact capsule that automatically docks to a screen edge and frees up desktop space.
• Hover Preview Cards (Preview): Hover an edge capsule to smoothly open a lightweight interactive preview card and inspect content without opening the full paper window:
  • Todo Preview: Scroll, check, or uncheck visible tasks directly in the hover card; click the card background to open the full paper.
  • Note Preview: Instantly renders Markdown body layout and image placeholders.
  • Intent Prediction & Seamless Handoff: Built-in pointer-intent prediction keeps transitions smooth while moving across adjacent capsules and retracts automatically when the pointer leaves.
• Multi-Monitor Flow & Master Capsule: Drag capsules across displays and edges; the master capsule at the top can collapse the whole queue and can be dragged to adjust the queue's starting height.

3. New Plugin System (Preview)

• Desktop Micro-App Expansion: Papers are not limited to notes—you can switch them into clocks, focus Pomodoro timers, review pools, and other rich plugins: a next-generation take on Windows desktop widgets.
• Deep Capsule & Top-Bar Integration: Plugins can collapse into dedicated capsules, provide edge-hover cards and custom top-bar actions, while keeping their data stored independently.
• Drop-in Use: Place a plugin folder in plugins/ and PaperTodo can recognize it directly. To build your own plugin, see the Plugin Development Manual.

4. Ultra-Smooth Native Experience & High-Refresh Tuning

• Full high-refresh optimization: Paper folding/unfolding, edge drawer motion, card handoff, and cross-monitor dragging are deeply tuned for frame pacing, with full support for 120Hz/144Hz/165Hz+ displays for a smooth, stutter-free feel.
• Pure native responsiveness: Built with .NET 10 and native WPF without Web-wrapper overhead, aiming for millisecond-level interaction, very low memory/CPU use, and unobtrusive always-on operation.
• Incremental rendering for long notes: Note input uses localized incremental parsing so long text-and-image notes remain responsive and IME input stays smooth.
• Smooth multi-monitor and mixed-DPI flow: Deeply adapted for multi-display setups with different scaling factors, keeping cross-screen dragging and edge docking precise without flicker or distortion.

5. Universal Todo Linking & Script Capsules

• Quick Launch & Universal Linking: Drag the link icon from another paper's top bar, or drop a file/folder from File Explorer onto a todo item, then click it to jump straight to the target.
• Script Capsules (PowerShell): Put !p or !power on the first line of a note to turn it into a script runner; when collapsed it becomes a lightning capsule that executes the script when clicked.

6. Advanced Labs Features (Preview)

• Local MCP Interface: Start PaperTodo with --mcp to expose a standard MCP service, allowing authorized external AI assistants such as Claude or Cursor to securely read, write, and manage todos and notes.
• Third-Party Window Tethering: Drag to attach a paper to any third-party app window so it follows that window smoothly as it moves, minimizes, and restores.
• Scheduled Reminders: Todo items support custom countdown reminders with tray notifications and alert sounds when due.
• Idle Behavior & Desktop Integration: Papers can auto-collapse into capsules on focus loss and compact their title bar while idle; global shortcuts can send papers behind other windows and enable mouse click-through for deeper desktop integration.

7. Customization & Data Ownership

• Appearance Customization: Follow system/light/dark themes, choose from Warm Paper, Ink, Forest, and Rosy palettes, use a custom font by placing papertodo.ttf, and switch between multiple UI languages.
• Local Control: Data and images stay in the application directory (data.json and note-assets.lmdb), with automatic snapshot backups before writes and full offline operation.

Common Operations & Shortcuts

Download & Run

PaperTodo is a portable single-file application and requires no installation. Download the version you need from Releases:

• PaperTodo-...-self-contained.exe (Recommended): Includes the .NET runtime and can be launched directly after download.
• PaperTodo-...-no-runtime.exe: Smaller download for systems that already have .NET 10 Desktop Runtime (x64) installed.

Tip: Keep the executable in a dedicated writable directory such as D:\Apps\PaperTodo\. Avoid read-only locations or temporary extraction folders. Place PaperTodo.ico in the application directory to use it as a custom tray icon.

On first launch, papers appear on the desktop and the PaperTodo tray icon remains available. If papers are covered or moved off-screen, double-click the tray icon to show and retrieve all papers.

Documentation & Advanced Guides

• Full User Manual: Includes a three-minute getting-started guide, advanced Todo/Note usage, multi-monitor capsule management, the full settings reference, script rules, device-migration guidance, and FAQ.
• Plugin Development Manual: Learn the PaperTodo paper-body plugin extension model, protocol details, and example index.
• Changelog: Review release changes and fixes.

Build & Dependencies

Local builds require Windows and the .NET 10 SDK:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/snownico0722/PaperTodo.git
cd PaperTodo
dotnet build -c Release

If you cloned without submodules, initialize them first:

git submodule update --init --recursive
dotnet build -c Release

Feedback & Community

• Bugs & suggestions: GitHub Issues

Thanks to the linux.do community for the support.

PaperTodo · 一张纸

让桌面上有几张安静、可用、不打扰人的纸。
一个轻量、自由共创的 Windows 桌面便签。

语言：简体中文 | English
官方网站
用户手册 · 更新日志
QQ 交流群：551612664——奇奇怪怪的魔法研究基地

预览

设计理念

• 纸片优先 — 每张纸都是独立窗口，直接常驻桌面，无需打开层级复杂的管理后台。
• 即时使用 — 想记就写，勾选即完；所有内容自动保存，操作路径极短。
• 无需管理 — 不刻意承载复杂的项目管理逻辑，降低日常记录的心智负担。
• 原生轻量 — 基于 WPF 原生开发，拒绝 Web 套壳，启动快速且资源占用低。
• 交互克制 — 界面干净低干扰，该安静时安静，需要时随时呼出。

拒绝长出非必要的交互层级和视觉焦点负担。

核心特性

1. 两种基础纸片

• 待办纸（Todo）：清爽高效的任务清单。支持拖拽排序、连续滑动多选、多行粘贴智能拆分；已完成项支持自动清除或置底。
• 笔记纸（Note）：轻量 Markdown 与图文备忘。支持常用 Markdown 语法与三档实时渲染，编辑与浏览自然融合；支持粘贴或拖入本地图片。

2. 边缘胶囊与实时预览卡片

• 折叠贴边：点击右上角或按 Ctrl+W 将纸片折叠为小胶囊，自动靠在屏幕边缘，彻底释放桌面空间。
• 悬停预览卡片（Preview）：鼠标悬停在边缘胶囊上，即可平滑展开轻量、可交互的预览卡片，无需打开完整大窗口即可即时速览：
  • 待办预览：直接在悬停卡片上滚动查看、勾选完成或撤销，点击卡片背景呼出完整纸片；
  • 笔记预览：即时渲染 Markdown 正文排版与图片占位；
  • 意图预测与顺滑接续：内置鼠标移动意图预测，在相邻胶囊间连续滑动时平滑过渡切换，离开后自动收回。
• 多屏流动与主胶囊：支持多显示器拖拽换边；顶部主胶囊可一键收拢整列入口，拖动可调节队列起始高度。

3. 全新插件系统（Preview）

• 桌面微应用扩展：便签不仅能记笔记，还可一键切换为时钟、专注番茄钟、复盘池等丰富插件，下一代的windows桌面小组件。
• 深度融入胶囊与顶栏：插件同样支持折叠为专属胶囊、边缘悬停卡片与专属顶栏按钮，且数据独立安全保存。
• 即放即用：将插件文件夹放入 plugins/ 目录即可直接识别。如需自行开发插件，可查阅 插件开发手册。

4. 极致流畅与全链路高刷调优

• 全面适配高刷新率：无论是纸片折叠展开、边缘抽屉滑出、卡片顺滑接续还是跨屏拖拽，全链路动效均经过深度帧率调优，完美适配 120Hz/144Hz/165Hz+ 高刷屏，细腻丝滑、完全不掉帧。
• 纯原生极速响应：基于 .NET 10 与 WPF 原生构建，拒绝任何 Web 套壳的性能开销，毫秒级即点即开，内存与 CPU 占用极低，常驻后台毫无负担。
• 长笔记增量渲染：笔记输入采用智能局部增量解析，面对长篇图文依然流畅跟手，彻底杜绝输入法卡顿。
• 多屏与混合 DPI 顺畅流转：深度适配多显示器与不同缩放比例环境，跨屏拖拽与边缘停靠计算精确，不闪烁、不形变。

5. 待办万物互联与脚本胶囊

• 快速启动与万物关联：从另一张纸片顶栏拖出关联图标，或直接从文件管理器拖入文件/文件夹至待办项，点击即可一键直达。
• 脚本胶囊（PowerShell）：笔记首行写入 !p 或 !power，便签即可化身脚本运行器；折叠后显示闪电胶囊，点击直接执行脚本命令。

6. 实验室深度能力（Preview）

• 本地 MCP 接口：支持通过 --mcp 模式启动标准 MCP 服务，允许外部 AI 助手（如 Claude、Cursor 等）按授权安全读写与管理待办和笔录。
• 第三方窗口绑定：可拖拽绑定至任意第三方软件窗口，随目标窗口一同平滑移动、最小化与还原。
• 定时提醒：待办支持设置自定义倒计时提醒（到期托盘通知与提示音）。
• 静置与桌面融入：支持失焦自动收起为胶囊、静置收拢标题栏；支持快捷键一键置底并开启鼠标穿透，彻底融入桌面壁纸。

7. 个性化与数据安全

• 外观定制：跟随系统/浅色/深色主题，内置暖纸、墨、林、霞四套配色；支持自定义字体（放置 papertodo.ttf 即可生效）与多语言界面。
• 本地自主可控：数据与图片完整存放在程序所在目录（data.json 与 note-assets.lmdb），写盘前自动快照备份，完全离线运行。

常用操作与快捷键速查