Constraints sharpen the work
Jun 15, 2026 · Quotes · Orson Welles interview
creativityconstraints
"The enemy of art is the absence of limitations." A small canvas often produces a clearer picture than an endless one.
A modern commonplace book
Everything worth keeping, in one place.
xotes is your modern commonplace book. Capture a quote, an idea, or an observation, and watch it sort itself into a library you'll actually return to.
New to the term? A commonplace book is simply one place to keep what matters: the quotes and ideas worth saving, and the everyday notes you would otherwise write in a journal.
Capture
"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts." Marcus Aurelius. A reminder that attention is a practice, not a mood.
xotes files it
Philosophy
On the quality of your thoughts
"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts." A reminder that attention is a practice, not a mood.
Philosophy · Marcus Aurelius
Dated June 15, 2026 · Added June 18, 2026
This is what your book becomes.
A quote, an idea, an observation, a note to someone you love. Each one filed, titled, and tagged, ready when you return to it.
Quotes
Constraints sharpen the work
"The enemy of art is the absence of limitations." A small canvas often produces a clearer picture than an endless one.
Quotes · Orson Welles interview
Dated June 15, 2026 · Added June 18, 2026
Ideas
A reading queue that reads itself
What if my notes resurfaced on their own, a few each morning, chosen by theme rather than date? Less of an archive, more of a conversation with my past thinking.
Dated June 15, 2026 · Added June 18, 2026
Observations
The cafe was quietest at 7am
Noticed the best ideas arrive before the room fills up. The first hour belongs to me; the rest belongs to everyone else. Worth protecting that window.
Dated June 15, 2026 · Added June 18, 2026
Letters
For her someday
A note for my daughter to read when she is older. You taught yourself the bike today. You fell all week, kept getting back on, and by the end you did not want my help, you just wanted me watching. I hope you always have that.
Dated June 15, 2026 · Added June 18, 2026
Write it down. xotes files it.
It comes back titled, sorted, and filed, in your exact words.
What you write
rough day but i kept my cool when the toddler lost it in the cereal aisle. didnt used to be able to do that. want to remember im getting better at this
Reflections
Getting better at this
rough day but i kept my cool when the toddler lost it in the cereal aisle. didnt used to be able to do that. want to remember im getting better at this
Dated June 15, 2026 · Added June 18, 2026
A book worth returning to.
Switch to reading mode and your entries flow together like one long, quiet article, in the order you've arranged them. Every date, category, and source still there. No clicking in and out, just you and the thoughts you kept.
A reading queue that reads itself
Jun 15, 2026 · Ideas
productmemoryhabits
What if my notes resurfaced on their own, a few each morning, chosen by theme rather than date? Less of an archive, more of a conversation with my past thinking.
The cafe was quietest at 7am
Jun 15, 2026 · Observations
routinefocus
Noticed the best ideas arrive before the room fills up. The first hour belongs to me; the rest belongs to everyone else. Worth protecting that window.
Bring the pages you already love.
Not all your best thinking lives in this app yet. Photograph a book page, an old journal, or a note, and xotes reads the text and files it into your book.
One photo, many notes? xotes can split a single page into a separate entry for each quote, idea, or observation, sorted and ready.
A page you photographed
"The unexamined life is not worth living." Plato
what if memory worked more like a garden than a filing cabinet? tend it and it grows
"No man ever steps in the same river twice." Heraclitus
Philosophy
The unexamined life
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
Philosophy · Plato
Dated June 15, 2026 · Added June 18, 2026
Ideas
Memory like a garden
what if memory worked more like a garden than a filing cabinet? tend it and it grows
Dated June 15, 2026 · Added June 18, 2026
Quotes
The same river twice
"No man ever steps in the same river twice."
Quotes · Heraclitus
Dated June 15, 2026 · Added June 18, 2026
Your thinking, reflected back.
A quiet dashboard that shows the shape of what you collect.
24
Day writing streak
Your longest yet. Keep it going.
Themes you return to
attentioncreativitystoicismdesignhabitsmemoryfocussimplicity
Top categories
- Philosophy
- Ideas
- Quotes
- Observations
People have kept commonplace books for centuries. Marcus Aurelius, Leonardo da Vinci, and John Locke all kept one. A single place to collect the words and ideas worth holding onto. xotes brings that practice into a form that fits how you read and think today.
Your words stay yours.
Most journaling apps mine what you write. xotes does the opposite.
- Never trains AI on your entries
- Never sells your data
- Never rewrites you
'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
A calm, private place for your own thinking.
Simple pricing.
Unlimited journaling on every plan. We only ever limit AI usage, never your words.
Free
Free
Get started with the essentials.
- Unlimited entries & writing
- The Book, your full library
- Search by keyword, text & tag
- Insights dashboard
- Entry backdating
- Dark mode
- Split scans into multiple entries
AI USAGE
- AI Sorts: 15 / month
- Scans: 2 / month
Core
$7/month
More room to think, plus split scans.
- Unlimited entries & writing
- The Book, your full library
- Search by keyword, text & tag
- Insights dashboard
- Entry backdating
- Dark mode
- Split scans into multiple entries
AI USAGE
- AI Sorts: 200 / month
- Scans: 40 / month
Pro
$10/month
Unlimited capture and early access to new features.
- Unlimited entries & writing
- The Book, your full library
- Search by keyword, text & tag
- Insights dashboard
- Entry backdating
- Dark mode
- Split scans into multiple entries
- Early access to new features
AI USAGE
- AI Sorts: Unlimited
- Scans: Unlimited