Jot

Handwrite annotations on PDFs in Obsidian with your Apple Pencil. Strokes are stored in a tiny JSON sidecar (<file>.jot.json) next to the original file — the original PDF is never modified — so annotations sync via Git or iCloud alongside the rest of your vault.

I built this to annotate musical scores during rehearsal with our vocal band: things like breath marks, "watch out for thise note", etc.

Status: early, working. PDFs only for now.

Features

• Pressure-sensitive ink with Apple Pencil
• Pen, highlighter, and eraser; seven configurable colors; four widths
• Radial palette opens on long-press; remembers your last pen and highlighter settings
• Per-PDF undo/redo
• Merge annotations into a flattened PDF (overwrite or save a copy)
• Cross-device sync via the sidecar JSON — edit on iPad, see it on desktop

Installing

1. In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins → Browse.
2. Search for Jot, install, and enable it.

Beta builds

To try unreleased changes, install BRAT and add https://github.com/bverbeken/jot as a beta plugin.

Using it

1. Open a PDF in Obsidian.
2. Long-press anywhere on the page with the Apple Pencil, or hold two fingers on the page, to open the radial palette. Pick a tool, color, or width.
3. Draw with the Apple Pencil. Rest your palm freely — touch input is ignored once a pen stroke starts.
4. Two-finger hold dismisses the palette. The palette also auto-dismisses after a brief confirmation animation when you pick a color.
5. Run the Merge notes into PDF command to bake annotations into a flattened PDF. Run Clear annotations on this PDF to wipe all strokes (undoable).

Set your handedness, the pen hold duration, and the seven palette colors under Settings → Jot. If the palette opens while you write, raise the hold duration or turn off Open palette with pen hold to use only the two-finger hold.

Development

npm install
npm run dev     # watch build into dev-vault/.obsidian/plugins/jot/
npm run build   # production build at the repo root (for release uploads)
npm test        # vitest

Open dev-vault/ as a vault in Obsidian to test. The dev vault is gitignored and is not your real notes vault.

Testing on iPad

1. Cut a GitHub release (npm version patch then git push origin <tag> — the release workflow uploads main.js, manifest.json, styles.css).
2. On the iPad, install BRAT into a separate dev vault — never your real one.
3. In BRAT, add this repo as a beta plugin. BRAT pulls the release and installs it.