# User guide

Welcome to librenotes — an open-source, multi-tenant notes app
with bi-directional links and Markdown.

## Getting started

1. Visit [https://librenot.es](https://librenot.es).
2. Click **Sign in with email** and enter your address.
3. Check your inbox; the magic link is valid for 15 minutes and
   can be used once.
4. Clicking the link signs you in and drops you into the app.

There is no password to remember. Each link is a one-time
credential; the session it creates lasts 24 hours.

## Notes are Markdown files

Each note is a single Markdown (`.md`) file scoped to your
tenant directory on the server. The first H1 line is the title;
the rest is content. You can edit notes in the web UI today; in
a self-hosted setup you can also drop files directly into the
data directory and they will appear in your notebook on next
sync.

```markdown
# Project ideas

A few directions worth chasing this quarter.

- Try [[graph-view]] for the dashboard
- Read [[zettelkasten-overview]]
```

### Bi-directional links (wikilinks)

Use `[[note-id]]` to link to another note. The target's backlinks
list will include the source automatically. If the target does
not exist yet, the link will create it on click. Note IDs are
short slugs: lowercase letters, digits, hyphens, underscores. A
note titled "Project Ideas" might have the ID `project-ideas`.

### Markdown syntax

Standard CommonMark is supported: headings, lists, links, code
blocks, fenced code with language hints, blockquotes, tables,
images. Inline HTML is sanitised on render.

## Keyboard shortcuts

| Action | Shortcut |
| ------ | -------- |
| New note | `Ctrl+N` / `Cmd+N` |
| Save current note | `Ctrl+S` / `Cmd+S` |
| Open note finder | `Ctrl+P` / `Cmd+P` |
| Toggle preview | `Ctrl+\\` / `Cmd+\\` |
| Toggle theme | `Ctrl+Shift+T` |
| Sign out | (header menu) |

## Offline use

librenotes works offline. The Progressive Web App caches the
shell so you can open the page without a network, and your notes
are mirrored into IndexedDB so they are readable and editable
offline. Edits made offline are queued and pushed when you come
back online; conflicts (when both you and another session edited
the same note) prompt you to keep one version or the other.

## Privacy

Your notes are stored on disk per-tenant, isolated by the
filesystem sandbox; no other user can access your directory. The
session token is held in `sessionStorage` so closing the browser
tab signs you out on shared devices. Per-user UI preferences live
in `localStorage` under a tenant-scoped prefix and are wiped on
logout.

For the full privacy policy see [/privacy.html](/privacy.html).

## Self-hosting

Want to run your own instance instead? See
[self-hosting.md](./self-hosting.md).