Smudge

A fork of Scratch — a minimalist, offline-first markdown note-taking app — with macOS file association support so it works as a default .md editor.

What's different from Scratch

• macOS file association — Register as an editor for .md files. Double-click any markdown file in Finder to open it in Smudge. Handles both cold-start (launch arguments) and warm-start (Opened events) file opens with robust fallback polling.
• Drag-and-drop — Drag .md files onto the app window or the dock icon to open them.
• Auto-import to notes folder — External files opened via file association or drag-and-drop are automatically copied into your notes folder so they're discoverable in the sidebar.
• Full edit and save — External files get the same WYSIWYG editor and auto-save as notes in your folder.
• Multi-select in note list — Shift-click for range selection, Cmd/Ctrl-click for individual toggle. Bulk delete via context menu or Delete/Backspace key.
• Quarantine handling — Automatically strips macOS Gatekeeper quarantine attributes so downloaded .md files open without issues.
• Patched tao dependency — Vendored tao crate to fix macOS file-open event handling for Tauri v2.
• Renamed — All branding, identifiers, and config paths updated from Scratch to Smudge.

Everything else from Scratch is preserved: offline-first storage, markdown-based notes, WYSIWYG editing, full-text search, git integration, AI editing via Claude Code CLI, and theme customization.

Installation

From Source

Prerequisites: Node.js 18+, Rust 1.70+, Xcode Command Line Tools (macOS)

git clone https://github.com/Runpoint-Partners/smudge.git
cd smudge
npm install
npm run tauri dev      # Development
npm run tauri build    # Production build

After building, copy src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/Smudge.app to /Applications/.

To avoid Gatekeeper warnings on the app itself:

xattr -cr /Applications/Smudge.app
codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/Smudge.app

Built With

Tauri · React · TipTap · Tailwind CSS · Tantivy

License

MIT