Why it was made

A place to write without leaving the window you're in

Mote sits above whatever is on screen and appears with a single shortcut. Notes render as markdown while you type, math works out in place, and a terminal lives in the same panel. It can pause a YouTube video when you start typing, transcribe a meeting locally with speaker labels, clip selected web text, and read and write straight into an Obsidian vault.

It is not a cloud notes service or a subscription. Transcription happens on the Mac rather than in the cloud, files stay as plain markdown that open anywhere, and the app is sold once at $18.99 early-bird with a three-day trial that needs no card or account.