A gorgeous, frosted-glass notepad for Windows that just gets out of your way.
Clean, distraction-free writing that looks right at home on your desktop.
Standard Notepad feels plain and dated, while modern writing apps can feel heavy, slow to launch, and hog your computer's memory.
Cathet gives you the best of both worlds:
- 🪟 Real Frosted Glass: Uses genuine Windows Acrylic blur to blend smoothly with your desktop wallpaper.
- ⚡ Instant Launch: Opens in the blink of an eye with zero loading screens or sluggish startup delays.
- 🍃 Featherweight on Memory: Uses a fraction of the RAM of typical text editors, keeping your PC cool, quiet, and fast.
- 🎒 100% Portable: Just a single
.exefile! No installer, no setup wizards, and no leftover clutter. Run it from your desktop or a USB drive. - 📝 Everyday Notes or Markdown: Use it for quick scratchpad thoughts, or press
Ctrl + Mto preview formatted Markdown with headers, bullet points, checklists, tables, links, and local or remote images. - 👥 Dual Pane Side-by-Side (
Ctrl + D): Work on two notes or markdown documents at once with proportional scroll synchronization, independent preview modes, and a draggable frosted glass splitter. - 📷 Smart In-Memory Images: Paste screenshots or images directly! Large clips are automatically optimized to WebP, and gigantic Base64 data URIs collapse into clean, interactive frosted glass badges.
- 📶 Works 100% Offline: All fonts, styles, and an interactive tutorial guide are built right into the app—no internet connection needed.
No installation required! You can be up and running in under 10 seconds:
- Head over to the Latest Downloads page.
- Pick the download for your device:
cathet-v...-x64.exe: For almost every standard Windows PC or laptop (Intel or AMD).cathet-v...-arm64.exe: For modern ARM devices (such as Microsoft Surface Pro Copilot+ or Snapdragon laptops).
- Double-click to open and start typing!
💡 Quick Tip: Right-click the
.exeand pick Pin to taskbar or Pin to Start so your glass scratchpad is always just one click away.
- 👥 Dual Pane Mode (
Ctrl + D): Split your window into two side-by-side panes to compare notes, write drafts, or reference files simultaneously. Features proportional bidirectional scroll synchronization (preserving relative scroll offsets or snapping 1:1), independent Markdown preview toggles, and an interactive draggable splitter. - 📌 Always on Top (
Ctrl + T): Pin Cathet to stay on top while watching a YouTube video, attending a Zoom call, or browsing the web. - 🪟 Frameless Window Controls: Clean, built-in Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons right in the header that look sleek and match Windows 11.
- 📷 In-Memory Image Optimization & Base64 Pills: Paste any screenshot or picture (
Ctrl + V). Clips over 500 KB are automatically downscaled and converted to WebP in memory, while massive Base64 strings in edit mode collapse into tidy, clickable frosted glass pills ([ 📷 WEBP ~245 KB ▾ ]). - 🖼️ Local & Remote Image Streaming: Preview relative (
./assets/...), absolute (C:/...), and web (https://...) images in Markdown with automatic broken-image fallbacks. - 📋 Smart Clipboard Pasting: Paste formatted HTML from browsers directly as clean Markdown, or paste spreadsheet rows from Excel/Google Sheets as ready-to-use Markdown tables.
- 📖 In-App Interactive Tutorial: Click the "📖 Open Tutorial" button in Settings to launch an offline guide with formatting tricks, shortcuts, and interactive examples.
- 🎨 Dark & Light Glass Themes: Easily flip between Dark and Light mode depending on your room lighting or mood.
- 🔤 Handpicked Fonts: Switch between beautiful, easy-to-read fonts (Inter, Roboto, Cascadia Code, JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, Consolas, Segoe UI, Noto Sans, and Arial).
- 🖱️ Sleek Right-Click Menu: Custom rounded glass menu with quick shortcuts for Cut, Copy, Paste, and Word Wrap.
- 🔍 Instant Web Search (
Ctrl + E): Highlight any word or sentence and pressCtrl + Eto look it up on Google immediately. - 📂 Drag & Drop Anything: Drag any
.txt,.md, or code file from your desktop straight into the window to read or edit. In Dual Pane mode, simultaneous dual drop targets light up beneath your cursor to show exactly which pane receives the file. - 🛡️ Read-Only File Protection: Automatically warns you if you attempt to save changes to a Windows read-only file, safely guiding you to "Save As..." to protect your work.
- 🎯 Set as Default App: Make Cathet your default notepad with one click in Settings. If you ever move the file to a different folder, it automatically fixes itself!
- 🔄 One-Click Updates: Cathet gently notifies you when a new update is out and updates seamlessly without breaking your shortcuts.
| What you want to do | Press |
|---|---|
| Toggle Markdown Preview | Ctrl + M |
| Toggle Dual Pane (side-by-side) mode | Ctrl + D |
| Pin / Unpin window to stay on top | Ctrl + T |
| Open Settings & Personalization | Ctrl + , (or click the ● dot in the top-left) |
| New window | Ctrl + N |
| Open a file | Ctrl + O |
| Save your document | Ctrl + S |
| Save as a new file | Ctrl + Shift + S |
| Paste text, tables, or auto-optimized images | Ctrl + V |
| Bold / Italic / Underline | Ctrl + B / Ctrl + I / Ctrl + U |
| Quick Google search on selected text | Ctrl + E |
| Toggle Word Wrap on / off | Alt + W |
| Zoom text in / out | Ctrl + Mouse Wheel |
| Close window | Esc |
Click the circular dot (●) in the top-left corner (or press Ctrl + ,) to open Settings:
- Appearance: Switch between sleek Dark glass and bright Light glass.
- Typography: Choose your favorite font family and preview how it looks.
- Window Controls: Toggle persistent "Always on Top" pinning.
- Markdown Preview Default: Choose whether files open directly in formatted preview mode while keeping blank scratchpads in immediate edit mode.
- Dual Pane Snap Scroll: Choose whether scroll sync snaps to an exact 1:1 match or preserves relative proportional offsets between documents.
- Offline Tutorial: Click "Open Tutorial" to explore markdown formatting and features directly in the editor.
- Default Application: Register Cathet as your default text app with a single click.
- Updates: Check for new releases with one click.
- About: View version information, meet the creator, or send feedback.
Does Cathet need an internet connection to work?
No! Cathet is 100% self-contained. All styling, fonts, and the interactive tutorial are built directly into the app, so it works completely offline and never tracks your notes.
How does Cathet handle images and screenshots?
Cathet features a built-in in-memory image engine. When you paste an image or screenshot (`Ctrl + V`), clips larger than 500 KB are automatically downscaled and converted to WebP in memory to keep document sizes small. In Edit mode, long Base64 strings collapse into compact frosted glass pills so your text remains readable. In Preview mode (`Ctrl + M`), Cathet seamlessly renders local relative (`./img.png`), absolute (`C:/...`), and web images.
Where are my files saved?
Cathet saves standard text and Markdown files (`.txt`, `.md`, etc.) directly to your computer wherever you choose—no proprietary file formats, no lock-in.
Can I take Cathet with me on a flash drive?
Yes! Because Cathet is a single portable executable, you can copy it to any USB thumb drive and run it on any Windows 10 or 11 PC without installing anything.
How do I uninstall or remove Cathet?
If you ever want to remove it, simply open Settings, click "Unregister Default App" (if enabled), and delete the `.exe` file. That's all!
🛠️ For Developers & Builders (Compiling from Source)
If you'd like to build Cathet locally from source:
# 1. Clone repository & install frontend modules
git clone https://github.com/Crlyzd/Cathet.git
cd Cathet
npm install
# 2. Live development with hot-reload
.\build.ps1 -Live
# 3. Build optimized release binary
.\build.ps1 -BuildX64 # Windows x64 (~3.7 MB -> release/cathet-v<version>-x64.exe)
.\build.ps1 -BuildArm64 # Windows ARM64 (~3.5 MB -> release/cathet-v<version>-arm64.exe)
.\build.ps1 -All # Both targetsAll release binaries are placed into release/ as versioned architecture-specific binaries (cathet-v<version>-x64.exe and cathet-v<version>-arm64.exe) optimized for minimal footprint (opt-level = "z", stripped symbols, native Windows Schannel TLS).
Cathet is free, open-source, and made with love.
- ⭐ If you like Cathet, please give the repo a star on GitHub!
- 🐛 Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue.
- ☕ Support the creator via Saweria or PayPal.
Cathet is open-source software licensed under the MIT License.