Mare

Mare for Linux

A native markdown notes app for Linux

One native program, written in Go, with no Electron and no web view inside. Your notes are plain markdown files in a folder you choose.

Download for Linux

Checking for the latest release.

Needs x86-64 with glibc 2.38 or newer: Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, Fedora 39, Arch, or anything newer. Nothing else to install.

Ballast the seal on the dock, smiling at a laptop with a note open on it

Install it in three steps

  1. Download the tar.gz and unpack it.
  2. Run ./install.sh in the unpacked folder. It installs Mare into ~/.local, so you don't need root.
  3. Start Mare from your launcher and pick a folder for your notes.

The first time you open Mare

A folder for your notes
Mare asks where to keep your notes and creates your first workspace there. You can set up sync later.
The one-minute tour
Handwritten notes with arrows point at the few things worth knowing. Each one is ticked off as you try it. Skip the tour if you like. You can start it again from Preferences.
The Logbook note
The Logbook of the sloop Probably Fine shows everything the editor can do. Scribble on it all you like. The next update restores it.
Mare on its first start: a handwritten sticky note with an arrow pointing at the new note button, and a checklist card titled A quick look around
The tour starts automatically, once.

Other ways to get it

  • AUR

    mare-bin, for Arch and the distros based on it. pacman updates it instead of Mare.

    Coming soon
  • Nightly

    Built every night from the main branch. You get new features first, and now and then a broken one.

    Checking

What you get on Linux

  • One program, installed just for you

    The download is a tar.gz with the program, an icon, a launcher entry and install.sh. The script installs Mare into ~/.local for the current user, so you don't need root.

  • Asleep until you type

    Mare redraws the window only when something changes. An open note you're not touching uses no CPU.

  • Git sync is built in

    Point a workspace at a git remote and sync from the sidebar. One button creates an SSH key for your computer and copies it, ready to paste into your git host. Google Drive, SFTP, S3 and a plain folder work too.

  • Plain files in a folder

    Every note is one markdown file in a folder you choose, with your pictures next to it. You can open them in any text editor, with or without Mare.

What it needs
An x86-64 computer with glibc 2.38 or newer. That covers Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, Fedora 39, Arch and anything newer. Mare needs OpenGL for drawing and nothing else. It keeps each workspace's history in git, and git is built in. There's no ARM build.
Fitting into your desktop
File dialogs come from the desktop portal, with zenity or kdialog as the fallback. Mare stores passwords and keys through git's libsecret helper, so they go into your desktop's keyring. Mare sets its window name on X11 and Wayland, so launchers and docks show it with its own icon.
Updates
After the first install, Mare updates automatically. When a new version is ready, a small card in the corner offers to relaunch. There's a nightly channel as well as the stable one.
The same notes on your other computers
Mare also runs on Windows and macOS. A workspace synced from Linux opens there unchanged, with its tags, pictures and history.