Notepad

A faithful Windows 95/98 Notepad clone built with Tauri, Svelte 5, Vite, and 98.css.

Experience the nostalgia of classic Windows on your modern machine.

Philosophy

Gosh apps are built with a Linux-first mindset: simplicity, transparency, and user control.

We also provide Windows and macOS builds not as a compromise, but as an on-ramp. Many people are curious about Linux but still live on other platforms day-to-day. If these tools help someone get comfortable and eventually make the jump, we're happy to meet them where they are.

Features

• Authentic Windows 98 UI - Classic styling with sunken borders, 3D buttons, and system fonts
• Full text editing - Create, open, save, and edit text files (.txt and all file types)
• Find & Replace - Search through documents with find next/previous, case sensitivity, and replace functionality
• Go To Line - Jump to any line number instantly
• Font customization - Change font family, style, and size (settings do not persist across sessions)
• Word wrap toggle - Enable/disable word wrapping via Format menu
• Status bar - Shows current line and column position (toggleable via View menu)
• Dark mode support - Toggle dark theme from Format menu (does not persist across sessions)
• Native keyboard shortcuts - Ctrl+O, Ctrl+S, Ctrl+Shift+S, Ctrl+F, Ctrl+H, Ctrl+G, and more
• Unsaved changes detection - Prompts before closing with unsaved work

Not Implemented:

• Page Setup (menu item disabled)

Installation

Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Rust
• Node.js (18 or later)
• Platform-specific dependencies:
  • Linux: sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev librsvg2-dev patchelf
  • macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools
  • Windows: Visual Studio C++ Build Tools

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/goshitsarch-eng/Gosh-Notepad-Clone.git
cd Gosh-Notepad-Clone

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Build for your platform
npm run build

Development

Commands

npm run dev             # Run the app in development mode
npm run dev:ui          # Run only the Svelte/Vite frontend
npm run build           # Build for current platform
npm run build:ui        # Build only the frontend
npm run build:mac       # Build for macOS (Apple Silicon)
npm run build:win       # Build for Windows x64
npm run build:linux     # Build for Linux x64
npm run build:linux-arm64  # Build for Linux ARM64

Project Structure

Gosh-Notepad-Clone/
├── frontend/                 # Svelte 5 + Vite frontend
│   ├── index.html           # Vite entry HTML
│   ├── vite.config.mjs      # Vite configuration
│   ├── svelte.config.mjs    # Svelte configuration
│   └── src/
│       ├── App.svelte       # UI with menu bar and dialogs
│       ├── main.js          # App bootstrap
│       ├── lib/notepad.js   # Application logic and state
│       └── styles/
│           └── main.css     # Windows 98 styling and dark mode
├── src-tauri/               # Rust backend
│   ├── Cargo.toml           # Rust dependencies
│   ├── tauri.conf.json      # Tauri configuration
│   ├── capabilities/        # Tauri 2 permissions
│   │   └── default.json     # Filesystem and dialog permissions
│   └── src/
│       ├── main.rs          # App entry point
│       └── lib.rs           # FileResult struct, command handlers, and app initialization
└── package.json             # npm scripts and dependencies

Architecture

This is a Tauri 2 application with two main components:

1. Rust Backend (src-tauri/) - Native backend handling:

   • Window creation and lifecycle
   • File system operations via native dialogs
   • Platform-specific functionality

2. WebView Frontend (frontend/) - Svelte 5 UI handling:

   • Custom Windows 98-style menu bar
   • Modal dialogs (Find, Replace, Go To, Font, About, Unsaved Changes)
   • State management and keyboard shortcuts
   • Communication with backend via invoke()

Tauri Commands

The Rust backend exposes these commands to the frontend:

Tauri 2 Permissions

The app requests the following permissions via src-tauri/capabilities/default.json:

• Window: Set title, close
• Dialog: Open/save file dialogs
• Filesystem: Read/write access to home, documents, desktop, and downloads directories

Building for Distribution

macOS

npm run build:mac

Output located in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/

Windows

npm run build:win

Output located in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/nsis/

Linux

npm run build:linux        # x64
npm run build:linux-arm64  # ARM64

Output located in:

• src-tauri/target/release/bundle/appimage/
• src-tauri/target/release/bundle/deb/

Keyboard Shortcuts

Technologies

• Tauri 2 - Rust-based desktop framework
• Svelte 5 - UI framework
• Vite - Frontend build tool
• 98.css - Windows 98 CSS library

Known Limitations

• Font and dark mode preferences do not persist between sessions
• Page Setup functionality is not implemented
• Print uses the WebView's native print dialog (behavior may vary by platform)
• Unsaved changes dialog is rendered in HTML, not as a native OS dialog

Disclaimer

This application is an independent project and is not sponsored by, endorsed by, or affiliated with Microsoft Corporation. It's a personal project created for fun and learning purposes and is not intended to be confused with Microsoft / Windows Notepad. All Microsoft trademarks belong to Microsoft Corporation.

This software is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). It is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use at your own risk.

License

AGPL-3.0 - See LICENSE