For people whose systems keep collapsing

Capture it before it's gone. Find it without remembering where.

Ariv is a local-first notes app with one job: get the thought out of your head fast, and hand it back when you need it. One keystroke captures from any app. Tags apply themselves. There is nothing to file and nothing to maintain.

Free forever Mac, Windows & Android No account required
Riv, Ariv's orange folded-paper mascot

Two ways a note fails

Capture and retrieval
Riv holding an open toolkit

The thought lasts about four seconds.

If getting it into an app takes longer than that, it is gone. Ariv puts a capture box on screen from anywhere on your machine, no window switching, no choosing a file first.

Quick Capture · Ctrl+Shift+NJot · Ctrl+Shift+JTask · Ctrl+Shift+Y

Type, hit enter, carry on. It lands in your Inbox. You deal with it later, or never, and nothing is lost either way.

Riv steadying a stack of plain paper notes

You shouldn't need to remember where you put it.

Search runs across everything you have written, including the things you captured and forgot. Or ask a question in plain language and get an answer drawn from your own notes, with the source note attached.

Filing was the step that broke last time. So Ariv reads what you wrote and applies tags from your own words. No folder decision at capture time, no taxonomy to design, nothing to keep consistent six months from now.

Not every thought is text

One app, several shapes
Riv holding a folded-paper brain

Some you write. Some you draw. Some you just say.

A sketch on a canvas, a voice memo in the car, a checklist, a note, a board. They live in the same app, so the thought goes where it fits instead of into whichever tool you happened to have open. That is one less decision at the exact moment a decision would cost you the idea.

CanvasVoice memosDaily notesTasksCalendarKanbanTemplates

You'll probably try something else eventually

And that's fine

Your notes will still be yours when you do.

They are plain Markdown files in a folder you picked. No proprietary format, no export flow to work out, no account to cancel. If you move to something else next year, open the same folder there and everything is where you left it.

Most apps treat you leaving as a problem to prevent. This one just doesn't hold your notes hostage.

Common questions

The honest answers

What if I stop using it for a month?

Nothing breaks. There is no streak to lose, no queue that piles up, no system that goes out of date while you're gone. Notes you haven't touched move to the background on their own and stay searchable. Come back whenever.

Do I have to tag or file anything?

No. Ariv applies tags from your own words. You can edit them, ignore them, or never look at them.

Is this a medical or treatment tool?

No. Ariv is a notes app. It makes no claims about treating, managing, or improving any condition. It is built so that capture is fast and retrieval doesn't depend on your memory, which is useful to a lot of people for a lot of reasons.

Do I need an account?

No. The app is free and works with no sign-up at all. Optional paid add-ons cover managed sync and managed AI, but every feature works without them, and you can run AI locally or with your own key for free.

Keep reading

Related pages
See everything Ariv includes →

Try it on the notes you already have.

Free, no account, nothing to configure. Point it at a folder, or let it make one.

Download Ariv
Questions? Pricing FAQ →