A desktop Sticky Notes app for Linux, built with Python and PyQt6 — frameless, glass-styled, outrageously pretty, and featherweight (~26 MB installed).
Jot down thoughts, ideas, and reminders right on your desktop with rich text, 7 color themes, and a one-click collapse-to-pill UI.
Notes save locally and are restored exactly where you left them between sessions.
- 🖊️ Create multiple sticky notes effortlessly via the
+button or tray menu - 🏷️ Editable note titles — click the title pill to rename; a smart default auto-fills from the first body line until you set a custom name
- 💾 Auto-saves note content, title, position, size, theme, and last-edited time every 5 seconds
- 🎨 7 color themes — Yellow, Green, Pink, Purple, Blue, Gray, Charcoal
- ✍️ Rich text formatting — Bold (
Ctrl+B), Italic (Ctrl+I), Underline (Ctrl+U), Strikethrough (Ctrl+Shift+S) - 📋 Bullet lists with nested sublists — Toggle with
Ctrl+Shift+L;Tabindents to a sublist (style cycles ●→○→■),Shift+Taboutdents;Entercontinues,Shift+Enterbreaks out - 🪄 Collapse / expand — double-click anywhere on the title bar outside the title to collapse a note to just its header
- 🖱️ Resizable from all 8 edges and corners — no OS chrome needed
- 🧩 System tray integration with a Show Note ▶ submenu listing open notes, sorted by most recently edited
- 👁️ "Show All Notes" support to bring all notes to the front
- 🚀 Launch on system startup — on by default for new installs; toggle in Settings to disable. The app auto-launches quietly to your tray on login, restores your saved notes, and never pops a blank window at you when there's nothing to show
- 🟢 Packaged as a Snap app for easy Linux installation
sudo snap install stickynotes-dabobroto-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/dstushar7/sticky-notes.git cd sticky-notes -
Create a virtual environment and install dependencies:
python3 -m venv stickyenv source stickyenv/bin/activate pip install -r requirements.txt -
Run the app:
python3 run_stickynotes.py
Once launched, a sticky notes icon appears in your system tray.
Right-click the tray icon to:
- 📝 New Note — creates a note in the default Yellow theme
- 👁️ Show All Notes — brings every note to the front
- 📂 Show Note ▶ — submenu listing each open note by title, most recently edited first; click an entry to jump straight to that note
- ⚙️ Settings — toggle "Launch on system startup"
- ℹ️ About Sticky Notes — version, license, source links, and contact
- ❌ Quit the Application
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| New note (same color) | Click the + button in the title bar |
| Rename note | Click the title text in the title bar; press Enter to commit, Escape to cancel, or click away |
| Color / delete | Click the ••• button → options panel |
| Bold | Ctrl+B |
| Italic | Ctrl+I |
| Underline | Ctrl+U |
| Strikethrough | Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Bullet list on/off | Ctrl+Shift+L |
| Continue list item | Enter |
| Break out of list | Shift+Enter |
| Indent (sublist) | Tab while in a list |
| Outdent | Shift+Tab while in a list |
| Collapse / expand | Double-click the title bar outside the title (disabled while collapsed) |
| Drag window | Click and drag the title bar outside the title |
| Resize window | Drag any edge or corner (16 px grab zone) |
Each note is a frameless, rounded-corner window with a drop shadow. The
+ / ••• buttons render as floating glass chips on top of the title
bar; the title itself is a click-to-edit pill, and the empty space
between is the drag / collapse target.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [+] ╭ Title ╮ drag area [•••] │ ← title bar (theme color)
├──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Your note text here… │ ← text area (body color)
│ │
│ [B] [I] [U] [S] [≣] │ ← format bar (theme color)
└──────────────────────────────────────────┘
Clicking ••• opens a floating options panel:
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🟡 🟢 🩷 🟣 🔵 ⬜ ⬛ │ ← color swatches (circle buttons)
│ 🗑 Delete Note │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
sticky-notes/
│
├── snap/
│ └── snapcraft.yaml # Snap packaging configuration
│
├── stickynotes/ # Main Python package
│ ├── __init__.py
│ ├── config.py # App constants, THEMES dict, sizing constants
│ ├── note_window.py # NoteTextEdit, EditableTitleLabel, DragHandle, TitleBar, FormatBar, OptionsPanel, StickyNote, AboutDialog, SettingsDialog
│ ├── widgets.py # FloatingButton — reusable glass-pill push button
│ ├── tray_manager.py # Tray icon, note lifecycle, dynamic "Show Note" submenu
│ ├── autostart.py # XDG autostart entry management
│ └── utils.py # Icon creation, get_theme(), apply_theme_to_window()
│
├── run_stickynotes.py # Entry script to launch the app
├── requirements.txt # Dependency list
├── .gitignore
├── LICENSE
└── README.md
- 🐍 Python 3.10+
- 🪟 PyQt6 6.5+
pip install -r requirements.txt| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+B |
Bold |
Ctrl+I |
Italic |
Ctrl+U |
Underline |
Ctrl+Shift+S |
Strikethrough |
Ctrl+Shift+L |
Toggle bullet list |
Tab |
Indent (sublist) inside a list |
Shift+Tab |
Outdent inside a list |
Ctrl+Z |
Undo |
Ctrl+Y |
Redo |
Ctrl+A |
Select all |
All formatting actions are also available via the bottom toolbar on each note: B I U S •. Buttons highlight when the cursor is in already-formatted text.
| Name | Background | Title Bar |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow (default) | #FFF176 |
#F9E44A |
| Green | #B5EBBF |
#8FD9A0 |
| Pink | #F9B8C6 |
#F48FAA |
| Purple | #D8B8F9 |
#BC8FF5 |
| Blue | #B3E5FC |
#80D0F5 |
| Gray | #E0E0E0 |
#BDBDBD |
| Charcoal | #4A4A4A |
#333333 |
Charcoal uses light text (#f0f0f0); all other themes use dark text (#1a1a1a).
- Python 3.10+
- PyQt6 for GUI
- Snapcraft for packaging and distribution
git checkout -b feature/your-feature
# make changes
git add .
git commit -m "feat: describe your change"
git push origin feature/your-feature
# open a pull requestThis project is licensed under the MIT License.
See the LICENSE file for details.
License © 2025 Tushar D. (@dstushar7) — Open for community contributions.
Tushar D. (@dstushar7)
🔗 GitHub Profile
Feedback and pull requests are always welcome — let's build together!