It started with a very boring afternoon
Picture a desk with two screens. On one, an embedded Linux device. On the other, a PC. And a pile of links that had to get from one to the other, with no shared clipboard and no easy way across.
So the links went into an online notepad. Paste on the device. Switch to the PC. Refresh. Copy. Next link. Paste, switch, refresh. Paste, switch, refresh. For about half a day.
Somewhere in the middle of all that refreshing came a little thought: what if the page just updated by itself when I changed it on the other side? That would be cool.
That little thought is ShareNotes. One note, open on as many screens as you like, changing everywhere the moment you type. No refresh, no account, nothing to install.
From a side idea to something people use every day
The very first version came together at the end of December 2025, described as a
"real-time note sharing app". Live sync was there from day one, and so were the friendly addresses made of words,
like sharenotes.dev/blue-fox-42. If you have ever typed a link on a second
device, you know why.
Then you started using it, and it kept growing. PINs to lock a note came in January.
In May, notes learned to delete themselves on a timer, got QR codes for handing a link to
a phone, and learned to highlight code. In June, a free API let you send text from a
terminal or a script. August brought view-once notes that survive chat-app link previews,
clipboard rooms you join with a short code, and the Suggestion box. And October brought
dark mode, AI assistants that can create and read notes for you, and a rescue for Ubuntu users whose
pastebinit had stopped working.
5,000 notes!
This October, our counter ticked past 5,000. 🎉 Honestly, the real number is a little higher: the counter only starts from the notes we still had stored in mid-October. We are very happy to under-count this one.
The part that makes us proudest is how people find ShareNotes. Most of you arrive because someone sent you a link to a note. No ad brought you here. A person needed to move some text, used ShareNotes, and you were on the other end. Every note you share is how the next person discovers us. That is the best kind of growth there is, and it is all thanks to you.
Thank you for your patience
We have not got everything right on the first try. There were promises on our pages that the code was not keeping yet, a few holes we found and closed in our own code, and comparison pages we had to correct. Each time, we fixed it properly and told you what happened. Thank you for sticking with us while we learn.
Your messages make ShareNotes better
Nothing helps us more than hearing from you. In September someone sent a three-word request through the Suggestion box, asking for dark mode, with a smiley at the end. A few days later, the app and every page on the site had a dark mode.
We read every message, and every real request so far has been acted on. So if something annoys you, breaks, or is missing, tell us in the Suggestion box at the top of the page. Your feedback really does shape what we build next.
A small team with some clever helpers
ShareNotes is made by a small team. To keep up and serve you better, we work with AI agents alongside us. They help us research what people need, check our pages, and keep an eye on how the site is doing. The decisions about what to build, and the care that goes into it, are ours.
Here's to the next 5,000
This is only the beginning. We will keep improving ShareNotes, one careful release at a time, so it serves you a little better every month. And the idea that started it all, a note that changes on every screen as you type, is still the heart of it. Stay tuned: live editing is going to get even smoother, especially when a few of you are typing in the same note.
From all of us: thank you for the first 5,000 notes. We can't wait to build what comes next, together with you. 💜