Sticky Notes

Create persistent notes and Markdown checklists from the Noctalia bar. Use classic sticky colors or blend them with the current wallpaper palette.

Plugin

Field	Value
ID	ahmedhossamdev/sticky-notes
Entries	Bar widget: bar; panel: panel; service: service

Requirements

The plugin uses the standard mkdir and sh commands to create and resolve the save folder, and xdg-open to open a web link explicitly stored in a note. The new-note service event uses the noctalia command to open the editor.

Usage

1. Enable Sticky Notes in Settings → Plugins.
2. Add the bar widget to a bar section.
3. Click its note icon to open the panel, then use + to create a note.
4. Click a note to edit it. Done saves it; an empty note is deleted.
5. Use the star to pin a note, and drag its ≡ handle to reorder it.
6. Use a note's eye button to hide only that note, or the header eye to hide every note at once.
7. Use a note's archive button to put it away, then the header archive button to open the archive. Archived notes are read-only: Restore returns one to the notes list, Delete removes it for good.
8. Use the settings button in the panel header to open the plugin's settings.

Open or close the panel directly:

noctalia msg panel-toggle ahmedhossamdev/sticky-notes:panel

Quick capture

Create a note and open its editor with keyboard focus:

noctalia msg plugin ahmedhossamdev/sticky-notes:service all new-note

This works with the panel closed or already open. An existing empty note is reused, and any nonempty draft in the current editor is saved before switching. The new note uses default_color. Done, Back, or closing the panel saves the text; leaving the note empty removes it.

To toggle quick capture open and closed, add this binding inside Niri's binds block. Pressing it again closes the capture panel and saves the draft:

Mod+Alt+N { spawn "noctalia" "msg" "panel-toggle" "ahmedhossamdev/sticky-notes:panel" "new-note"; }

Other compositors can bind the same command. With auto_blur enabled, existing previews stay hidden while the empty note opens for capture.

Checklists

Use standard Markdown task-list syntax. Up to three tasks appear as clickable checkboxes on a note card, with a completion count beside its timestamp.

- [ ] Buy milk
- [x] Send the report

Archive

The archive keeps reference notes out of the notes list without deleting them. Archived notes cannot be edited, pinned, reordered, or blurred: restore one first and it returns to the top of the unpinned notes. The archive is stored in the same notes file, so it travels with your notes.

Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
default_color	select	yellow	Colour assigned to a new note.
use_wallpaper_colors	bool	false	Blends the seven classic colors with Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary colors generated from the current wallpaper.
no_colors	bool	false	Uses one neutral shell surface color for every note. It overrides wallpaper blending without changing saved note colors.
font_size	int	13	Preview and editor text size, from 10 to 20 px.
show_count	bool	true	Shows the number of notes beside the bar icon.
auto_blur	bool	false	Hides note contents whenever the panel opens.
save_shortcut	bool	true	Enables Ctrl+Enter to save and close the editor.
blur_strength	select	medium	Visual weight of the privacy overlay.
save_path	string	~/Documents/sticky-notes	Folder where the notes file is stored.
file_format	select	md	Storage format: Markdown, plain text, or JSON.

Notes

• Notes are stored in notes.md, notes.txt, or notes.json in the selected save folder. The plugin creates that folder when needed and writes only that file.
• The Markdown file includes note metadata in HTML comments; preserve those comments if you edit the file outside Noctalia. An archived note carries an "archived":true flag in that metadata, and in the JSON format.
• A plain text file written by this version adds an archived: field to each note header. Older plugin versions cannot read that field and would show an empty list, so back the file up before downgrading.
• Archived notes stay in the notes file. They are not included in the notes list and not counted by the bar badge.
• Archiving a blank note deletes it, like leaving any empty note.
• Wallpaper-color mode changes only how colors are rendered. It uses noctalia msg wallpaper-get to locate the active wallpaper when the plugin API does not provide it, then runs the local noctalia theme command to resolve its palette. Turning the setting off restores every note's original saved color.
• No colors mode gives every card the same neutral shell color. It takes priority over wallpaper-color mode, and turning it off restores the selected classic or wallpaper-blended colors.
• Per-note blur hides only the selected previews. The header privacy control hides every preview without clearing individual blur choices.
• Hidden notes cannot be edited and do not expose or open their links until they are revealed again.
• The plugin has no network calls. It only invokes xdg-open for a validated http://, https://, or www. link that the user placed in a note.