How to Install and Run Standard Notes on Windows 10

Standard Notes is a free, open-source, and end-to-end encrypted note-taking application that prioritizes user privacy and security. This tutorial will guide you through the process of self-hosting and running Standard Notes on Windows 10.

Prerequisites

Before we proceed, ensure that your system meets the following requirements:

  • Windows 10 operating system (64-bit version)
  • Node.js LTS version (recommended version 14.x)
  • Yarn package manager

Step 1: Download the Standard Notes Source Code

To download the Standard Notes source code, you need to install Git on your Windows 10 system. Follow these steps to download the Standard Notes source code:

  1. Open the Command Prompt by pressing the Win + R keys and typing cmd.
  2. Navigate to the directory where you want to store the Standard Notes source code by using the cd command.
  3. Type the following command to clone Standard Notes from the official GitHub repository:
git clone [email protected]:standardnotes/web.git standard-notes
  1. Once the clone process is complete, navigate to the Standard Notes directory using the cd command.
cd standard-notes

Step 2: Install Standard Notes Dependencies

Before you can run Standard Notes on your Windows 10 system, you must install all its dependencies. These include Node.js modules and external libraries.

Follow these steps to install Standard Notes dependencies:

  1. Open the terminal inside the Standard Notes directory.
  2. Type the following command to install the required Node.js modules.
yarn install

Yarn will automatically download and install all the required modules from the internet. This process may take some time depending on your internet connection speed.

Step 3: Configure Standard Notes

Standard Notes requires some configurations before it can run on your Windows 10 system. Here are the steps required to do this:

  1. Navigate to the config directory inside the Standard Notes directory.
cd config
  1. Copy the example.env file and rename it to .env.
cp example.env .env
  1. Open the .env file using a text editor.
notepad .env
  1. Modify the following variables as required:
# Node environment
NODE_ENV=production

# Port to bind the web application
PORT=3000

# URL of the Standard Notes Send Server
SEND_URL=https://send.standardnotes.org

# URL of the Standard Notes API Server
API_URL=https://api.standardnotes.org

# Secret session key used in user session encryption and decryption
SESSION_SECRET=
  1. Save your changes and close the text editor.

Step 4: Build the Standard Notes Application

To build the Standard Notes application, run the following command:

yarn build

This command will start the build process, which may take some time depending on the performance of your system. Once the build process is complete, you should see a success message, and the Standard Notes application will be ready to run.

Step 5: Run Standard Notes

You can now start Standard Notes by running the following command:

yarn start

This command launches the Standard Notes application on your Windows 10 system. Open your web browser and enter the URL http://localhost:3000 in the address bar to access Standard Notes.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed and run Standard Notes on your Windows 10 system. If you encounter any issues during the installation or configuration process, you should consult the official Standard Notes documentation or seek help from the Standard Notes community.