Kinetik Notes is a free, open-source sticky notes widget for Windows 11 and Windows 10 that shows a folder of Markdown files on your desktop, one note per file. Point it at an Obsidian folder (a to-do list, a project folder) and the notes follow it live: edit a file anywhere and the note updates; tick a task on the note and the file changes.
It's a small portable app with no installer and no account. It's a companion to Kinetik Stats, the taskbar system monitor, and Kinetik Calendar, and shares their look.
About this project: I made this for my own desktop and decided to share it in case anyone else finds it useful. If you run into a bug or have an idea for a feature, please open an issue.
Part of the Kinetik apps, with Kinetik Stats (the taskbar monitor, called just Kinetik until its v4.0), Kinetik Hub and the other desktop widgets.
- Settings in Kinetik Stats' layout: a title on each page, rows that join into cards, and switches, drop-downs and buttons in the app theme instead of Windows' own.
- App theme: one theme and accent colour for every Kinetik app's windows and menus: Match Windows, Graphite, OLED black, Midnight, Nord, Mocha, Forest, Light or Paper, with a Sky, Violet, Mint, Amber, Rose or Coral accent or your Windows accent. Pick it in Settings → General, under App theme in the right-click menu, in Kinetik Hub or in Kinetik Stats, and every app follows.
- Widget themes: new OLED black and Mocha, and Match app theme, which uses the app theme and accent colour.
- New icon in the Kinetik apps' "Graphite glass" style.
- One note per Markdown file in a folder you choose (optionally including subfolders), followed live as files change
- Tick off tasks (
- [ ] …) right on the note; the change is written back to the file - Task count, progress bar, due dates and tags on each note
- Per-note options in front matter, so Obsidian sees them too:
color: pink,title: …,pinned: true,due: 2026-10-20,tags: [web, marking] - Sorting by file name, title, last changed, due date or most open tasks, with pinned notes first
- Filtering: only notes with a tag, hide finished tasks, hide notes whose tasks are all done, hide or collapse individual notes
- New notes from the tray or right-click menu, optionally from a templates folder
- Double-click a note to open it in Obsidian, your default editor or File Explorer
- Themes: pastel and vivid paper, dark themes, or Auto to match Windows; six note colours; custom font, width, columns, rounding and opacity
- Show / hide all notes with Ctrl+Alt+N, lock position, snap to screen edges, run at startup
- Settings backup next to the exe, offered again on a fresh Windows
- Download
KinetikNotes.zipfrom Releases and extract it anywhere. - Run
KinetikNotes.exe. It opens Settings so you can choose your notes folder. - Right-click a note or the tray icon for the menu.
Settings are kept in HKCU\Software\KinetikNotes. Nothing is sent anywhere: the app only reads and writes the Markdown files in the folder you pick.
Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) with .NET Framework 4.8, which ships with both.
No SDK needed: build.bat compiles KinetikNotes.cs with the .NET Framework compiler that ships with Windows. build.bat package also makes KinetikNotes.zip for a release.
KinetikNotes.exe --demo runs a separate copy with made-up notes in a temporary folder that reads and saves no settings, which is how the screenshots were made. Add --theme Navy (or any theme name) to pick its theme.
python tests/run-tests.py runs the regression checks (no window opens). build.bat package builds the exe and makes the release zip, checking every file in it against its SHA-256 hash. The shared support code (SuiteSupport.cs) is compiled into the exe, so there's no extra DLL.
When you tick a task, Kinetik Notes keeps the note's previous version in a .kinetik-recovery folder beside it. If the file changed after the note was shown (in Obsidian, say), the tick is refused: refresh and try again.
GPL-3.0-or-later. Copyright © 2026 Akila Sella Hennedige.