Notes in Markdown
Hjarni Notes lets ChatGPT or Claude read and write Markdown notes you can edit and export. New here? Start with Getting started.
What a note is
A note has a title and a body written in Markdown. It can also have a summary, a source URL, tags, links to other notes, and file attachments.
You can put it in a container, tag it, and link it to other notes with wiki-links.
You write the body in the note editor, which shows headings, tasks, tables and links as they will look, and saves plain Markdown. Markdown in Hjarni lists exactly what a body can hold.
Keep notes small and focused. One idea, one meeting, one article summary. One note.
Save notes through your AI assistant
You can create and update Hjarni notes by telling ChatGPT or Claude what to save. You supply the facts; your connected assistant can organize them into Markdown.
- Connect Hjarni using the ChatGPT or Claude guide, then use a chat where the connection is available.
- Tell your assistant what to save in Hjarni. Include a title and destination folder if you have them in mind. Ask it to create the folder if it does not exist, or say “Save it in my personal Inbox” to save without a folder.
- Review any tool approval your assistant requests. Ask for a link to the saved note, open it, and check names, dates and commitments.
Create a note
Save a note in Hjarni titled “Website ideas” in my Ideas folder. Create the folder if needed. The idea is a page showing three customer projects, each with the problem, our approach and the result. Keep it as a proposal, not an agreed plan. Return a link to the saved note.
Update a note
Read “Website ideas” in my Ideas folder in Hjarni. Add that we should ask permission before using customer names. Keep the rest unchanged and give me the note link.
For an existing note, give its link or its title and folder, and say what should change. If several notes match, give the link to the one you mean. Ask your assistant to keep the summary in step with the body too.
Your assistant needs write access to the note and its destination. A connection without write access there cannot save edits. You can review changes in note history.
Speak instead of typing
Use keyboard dictation or speech-to-text to compose your request, check the transcript, then send it in a chat that can use Hjarni. Live voice modes may have different tool access. If a voice chat cannot save to Hjarni, send the same request in a text chat with Hjarni connected. Hjarni does not record or transcribe your conversation.
Check it in a later chat
Read “Website ideas” from my Ideas folder in Hjarni. What did I propose, and what permission do I need? Link to the note.
Connecting Hjarni does not save every conversation automatically. If your assistant only produces a draft, ask it to save through the connection. If a save fails, check the tool result for an access or account-limit message before retrying.
For a complete project example, read Create and update notes through ChatGPT or Claude.
Why Markdown
Portable
Markdown is plain text. You can open it anywhere, move it anywhere, and it will always be readable.
AI-friendly
AI models understand Markdown natively. No conversion needed. What you write is what your AI reads.
Structured enough
Headings, lists, links, and code blocks give you all the structure you need without a complex editor.
No lock-in
Your notes are never trapped in a proprietary format. Export your active notes as Markdown in a ZIP.
What a note can contain
Organize content with #, ##, ### headings.
Bullet lists, numbered lists, and task lists with checkboxes.
Standard Markdown links to external URLs.
An optional short summary for quick scanning, search results, and AI-friendly context. You or your connected assistant write it, and Hjarni never generates one in the background. If you edit the body without changing the summary, the note says so until you change the summary or mark it as still fitting.
A canonical source link for articles, references, docs, or anything captured from elsewhere.
Link to other notes with [[42:Note Title]] syntax for the most reliable linking, where 42 is the note's numeric ID. See wiki-links.
Attach images, PDFs, and other files to any note. Free includes 20 MB across five attachments in personal notes. See file attachments.
Add cross-cutting labels for filtering. See containers and tags.
Every note shows whether it is active, stale, or retired, so Claude and ChatGPT can tell a confirmed note from one that may be outdated. A note goes stale 180 days after it was created or last confirmed, and edits don't reset that. Confirm still true does. Claude or ChatGPT can also give a note a review date so it flags itself on a deadline.
Version history
Every content edit is recorded as a version, attributed to whoever made it. Each note shows who last wrote it, with a badge that tells you apart from an AI assistant at a glance.
Open a note's history to see every version in order, each with a plain-language summary of what changed and who changed it. Click any version to read the note as it stood then, or revert to it in one click. Reverting writes a new version rather than erasing anything, so the history stays complete and you can undo the revert.
Deleting a note is recoverable too: it moves to Trash, keeps its links, attachments, and full history, and stays restorable for 30 days before it is permanently purged.
This matters most when AI edits your notes. You always see exactly what changed, and edits and deletes can be undone. The one exception is removing a file attachment: that deletes the file for good, so no revert or restore brings it back.
Note history and Trash covers provenance, reverting, and the recoverable 30-day Trash in full.
Common questions
FAQ
Why Markdown instead of blocks?
Block editors create proprietary formats that trap your data. Markdown is plain text. Every AI model reads it natively. You can take your notes anywhere.
Can I export my notes?
Yes. You can export your active notes as Markdown files in a ZIP archive at any time. Archived and trashed notes are left out. See export and data ownership.
Can AI preserve my formatting?
Yes. Because Hjarni uses Markdown, AI assistants can read and write the same format. Your headings, lists, and links stay intact when AI edits a note.
Have a question about notes?
Email evert@hjarni.com
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