A simplified, editor-only version of Scratch — a minimalist markdown note-taking app.
ScratchLite strips Scratch down to its core: a distraction-free WYSIWYG markdown editor for individual .md files. No notes folder management, no sidebar, no git integration, no full-text search — just you and your markdown.
ScratchLite removes:
- Notes folder — No need to pick a notes folder; open individual
.mdfiles directly - Sidebar — No note list, folder tree, or pinning
- Git integration — No automatic version control
- Full-text search — No Tantivy search index
- Welcome screen — Starts with a blank unnamed file instead
Everything else — WYSIWYG editing, export, focus mode, themes, keyboard shortcuts, command palette, vim mode — remains intact.
- WYSIWYG markdown editing — Rich text that saves as plain
.md - Markdown source mode — Toggle to raw markdown (
Cmd+Shift+M) - Syntax highlighting — 20+ languages
- Mermaid diagrams — Flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and more
- KaTeX math — Block and inline math rendering
- Focus mode — Distraction-free writing (
Cmd+Shift+Enter) - Vim mode — Modal editing with Ex command bar (
:s,:nohl,:w) - Command palette —
Cmd+Pfor quick everything access - Export — Copy as Markdown, Plain Text, HTML; Print as PDF
- Customizable — Theme, typography, page width, RTL text
Download the .dmg from the releases page, mount it, and drag ScratchLite to your Applications folder.
If macOS blocks the app because it is not notarized, run this in Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/ScratchLite.appThis removes the quarantine flag set by macOS on files downloaded from the internet. You only need to do this once after the first download.
ScratchLite is a fork of Scratch by Eric Li. All credit for the original app and its design goes to Eric Li and the Scratch contributors. Please support the original project.
MIT. Based on Scratch © Eric Li.