- Category
- Productivity
- Rank
- No. 1408Tools index
Previous survey · No. 1403 ·
- Pricing
- Open Source
- Type
- APP
- Builder
- badlogic
- GitHub
- 353 stars
- Latest release
- v0.1.3
- Date
About
Minimal self-hosted markdown editor with inline comment threads.
What it does
Jot runs a shared writing workspace on your own server. People edit Markdown together in a browser, see named remote cursors, discuss selected passages, and grant link holders viewing, commenting, or editing access. Agents can use the same notes through a command-line client or HTTP endpoints.
Why it's ranked here
The product shape is unusually coherent: browser collaboration, scoped sharing, agent-friendly commands, and ordinary Markdown exports all serve one review workflow. However, the repository’s own rewrite plan describes the collaborative editing core as mixed, incomplete, and broken. That makes Jot compelling to study or trial, but risky for important concurrent work without testing.
What's good
Sharing is practical rather than binary. A stable link can allow reading, commenting, or editing, and its permission can change without replacing the URL. Owner API keys cover every note, while shared links constrain agents to one note’s configured access. Markdown copies remain available for search, backup, and external tools.
Tradeoffs
Collaborative state lives in JSON sidecars, while Markdown files are derived copies rather than authoritative documents. Link possession acts as the credential for shared notes. The supplied package scripts contain no test command. Most importantly, the included engineering plan reports cursor drift, incomplete acknowledgement handling, state overwrites, and corruption risks in the collaborative path.
How to use it well
Use Jot for self-hosted drafts where people and agents exchange precise edits and comments around Markdown. Start with a disposable instance, exercise simultaneous typing in multiple tabs, and back up both JSON and Markdown data. It does not cover broader document management, and the supplied text does not establish production-ready collaboration reliability.
Technical notes+
package.json exposes the jot binary through cli/jot.mjs, compiles TypeScript with tsc, and packages dist, public, and cli. src/server.ts combines Express HTTP routes, WebSocket collaboration, authentication, API keys, Markdown rendering, HTML sanitization, syntax highlighting, Mermaid handling, and disk persistence. src/collab.ts stores stable character IDs with articulated, applies insert and delete mutations, and serializes collaborative state. public/collab-editor.js maintains confirmed server state plus pending mutations, replays pending work after canonical updates, and maps selections through IDs. public/collab-shared.js duplicates browser-side ID-list and mutation logic. plan.md explicitly characterizes the current collaboration path as broken and calls for a semantic rewrite.
Observed
- License
- MIT
- Languages
- TypeScript server code with JavaScript browser and CLI code
- Installation
- Global npm package @mariozechner/jot; a Docker control workflow is also documented
- Interfaces
- Browser UI, command-line client, HTTP API, and WebSocket collaboration
- Storage
- JSON collaborative state is authoritative; Markdown files are derived artifacts
- Access model
- Owner password and API keys, plus stable share links with view, comment, or edit permissions
- Platform support
- Self-hosted web application with documented mobile support
- Package scripts
- Development, build, and start scripts are present; no test script is declared
Read from README.md, package.json, src/server.ts, src/collab.ts, cli/jot.mjs, public/app.js, public/login.js, public/theme.js, public/components.js, public/collab-editor.js, public/collab-shared.js, plan.md.
What it can do
Create markdown documents
Text content → Markdown formatted document
Edit markdown files
Existing markdown document → Modified markdown document
Add comment threads to specific text sections
Selected text in markdown document → Inline comment thread attached to text
Reply to comment threads
Comment text and existing thread → Updated comment thread with new reply
Host markdown editing environment
Server configuration and markdown files → Self-hosted web-based editor interface
Render markdown preview
Raw markdown text → Formatted HTML preview
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Editorially curated, with community endorsements as a secondary signal. Corrections welcome.