Ren

Problem

Capturing a quick thought while browsing means leaving what you're doing. You switch tabs, open another app, and lose your place in the thing you were reading.

Approach

It's a Chrome side panel extension, so the notepad opens beside whatever you're reading. V1 stayed deliberately small: multiple notes, instant search, markdown-style formatting shortcuts, full keyboard control, local storage only. The larger synced platform I first imagined can wait.

Key decisions

• A side panel rather than a new tab or a separate app, so the notepad is reachable without interrupting the page.
• Local-first, no accounts. Cutting cloud sync from the original concept is what made a focused V1 shippable.
• The editor is WYSIWYG with markdown shortcuts, so you never look at raw markdown source. Ren is a calm notepad; Obsidian and Typora are the editors for everything else.
• V1 shipped in vanilla JavaScript. The hand-built editor has real limits, and hitting them is what makes the case for a V2. Waiting on a rebuild first would only have delayed V1.

Outcome

Published on the Chrome Web Store in August 2026, with a 5.0 rating from early users.