ZappyNotes

Open-source, self-hosted note-taking built on Rails 8.

---

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Why It’s Open Source Now
3. What’s in the Box
4. Tech Stack
5. Use It as a Starting Point
6. Development Highlights

---

Overview

ZappyNotes is a self-hosted note-taking app I built when my Evernote subscription jumped in price. It’s a clean Rails 8 codebase with a WYSIWYG markdown editor, notebook organization, auto-save, image uploads, and a tiered subscription scaffold wired up to Stripe.

I’ve since put the project on hiatus and released it as open source under the MIT license. There’s no hosted version to sign up for. Anyone who wants the features can fork the repo and run their own.

GitHub: github.com/zapatify/zappynotes

Why It’s Open Source Now

I built ZappyNotes for myself, and once I shipped Marksmith and shifted focus to other projects, keeping a SaaS note-taking app online stopped making sense. Rather than let it rot on a Heroku dyno, I open-sourced the whole thing: Stripe billing, subscription tiers, admin panel, and all. It’s a working starting point for anyone who wants to host their own notes app or learn how a tiered Rails SaaS is wired together end to end.

What’s in the Box

• WYSIWYG Markdown Editor via Toast UI — real-time formatting with paste-or-upload image support
• Auto-Save — notes save on blur and on a 60-second timer
• Notebook Organization — color-coded notebooks for grouping notes
• Tiered Subscriptions — Free / Plus / Pro plans with notebook, note, and storage limits enforced server-side; Stripe billing already wired up
• Email Confirmation — verify email addresses on signup to prevent abuse
• Rate Limiting — Rack::Attack rules for DDoS protection
• Admin Panel — Motor Admin for full database management
• Responsive Design — works on desktop and mobile

Tech Stack

• Framework: Ruby on Rails 8.1.1
• Ruby: 3.3.8
• Database: PostgreSQL 18
• CSS: Tailwind CSS v4
• JavaScript: Importmap, Stimulus, Turbo
• Editor: Toast UI Editor
• UI Components: Flowbite
• Payments: Stripe
• Testing: RSpec, FactoryBot
• Security: Rack::Attack
• License: MIT

Use It as a Starting Point

The codebase is structured so you can fork it and either run it as-is or strip out the parts you don’t need. A few common starting points:

• Want a personal notes app? Disable Stripe, set everyone to the Pro plan, and you have a free self-hosted Evernote alternative
• Want a SaaS template? The subscription tiers, billing flow, usage tracking, and admin panel are all wired up. Swap out the “notes” domain for whatever you’re building
• Want a Rails 8 reference project? It’s a small but complete app that exercises Importmap, Turbo, Stimulus, ActionMailer, ActiveStorage, Stripe webhooks, and Rack::Attack

Development Highlights

This project demonstrates:

1. Full SaaS scaffolding in Rails 8 — subscriptions, billing, admin, rate limiting, email confirmation
2. Per-tier resource enforcement — server-side limits on notebooks, notes per notebook, and storage
3. Stripe integration — checkout, webhooks, plan changes, cancellation
4. Toast UI Editor integration — markdown editor with image paste and auto-save
5. Open-source release discipline — MIT license, contribution guidelines, and a codebase clean enough to hand off