Every notes app we tried fell into one of two traps: either it locked our files into a proprietary format we couldn't read without the app, or it bolted AI on as an afterthought — a chatbot floating in the corner with no real connection to what we were writing.
We wanted something different. An editor where the AI actually knows the page you're working on. Where it can draft a section, rewrite a paragraph, or summarize the whole thing — and you can apply the result with one click. But also an editor where your workspace stays portable and exportable.
So we built yoinko.
The architecture is intentionally simple: a Node.js server, a vanilla TypeScript client bundled with esbuild, and SQLite for everything. No framework on the frontend, no ORM on the backend. The AI layer is a thin proxy — your API key goes straight to your chosen provider (OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, Ollama, whatever). We never see it, never store it on our servers.
We built it around readable workspace exports because we believe the best tools are the ones you can move and own. If you ever leave yoinko, your work can leave with you.
We're just getting started. Version history, a tasks page, mobile readers, and a plugin API are all on the roadmap. But the core philosophy won't change: your notes, your workspace, your rules.