Rnote: A Vector Drawing App Built for People Who Actually Use a Stylus

If you've ever tried to take handwritten notes on a tablet, you know the frustration. Most note-taking apps treat stylus input as an afterthought, bolting it onto an interface designed for a mouse and keyboard. You end up fighting the software instead of focusing on what you're writing. Rnote takes a different approach: it's a vector-based drawing app built from the ground up around stylus input, written in Rust and GTK4.

What It Does

Rnote is an open-source vector drawing application for sketching, taking handwritten notes, and annotating documents and pictures. It's aimed at students, teachers, and anyone who owns a drawing tablet. The app handles PDF and image import, letting you annotate existing documents, and supports export to SVG, PDF, and Xopp formats. Individual pages and selections can also be exported to SVG, PNG, and JPEG.

The technical foundation is Rust paired with GTK4, which gives it a native feel on Linux while remaining portable to macOS and Windows. Documents are saved in a native .rnote file format, though the README notes that this format is still unstable and may break compatibility between versions. The app also includes a CLI for automation, tabs for working on multiple documents simultaneously, autosave, and printing support.

Why It's Cool

• It's designed for the stylus first. The adaptive UI is focused on stylus input, with pressure-sensitive support and configurable stroke styles. You're not getting a mouse-centric interface with pen support tacked on—the whole thing is built around how you actually write and draw.

• The canvas options are genuinely flexible. You can choose between fixed pages, continuous vertical scrolling, or an infinite canvas that expands in every direction. Background colors, patterns, and sizes are all customizable, along with page formats. This matters because different tasks call for different layouts—annotating a PDF works differently than brainstorming on a blank surface.

• The selection tool does real work. You can move, rotate, resize, and modify existing content. That's the kind of editing capability that separates a serious drawing tool from a simple sketch pad.

• Small details add up. Optional pen sounds, reconfigurable stylus button shortcuts, an integrated workspace browser for quick access to related files, and drag-and-drop plus clipboard support. These aren't headline features, but they're the kind of things that make daily use smoother.

• It exports to formats you probably already use. SVG, PDF, PNG, JPEG, and Xopp. That last one is the Xournal++ format, which means you're not locked into Rnote if you want to move your work elsewhere.

• Written in Rust and GTK4. If you care about performance and memory safety, this is a solid stack. GTK4 also means it fits naturally into Linux desktop environments while still being cross-platform.

How to Try It

Rnote is available on all three major platforms. Here's how to get started depending on your system.

Linux: The official Flatpak is available on Flathub. You can install it directly from there, or use the command line:

flatpak install flathub com.github.flxzt.rnote

macOS: Thanks to a community contributor (dehesselle), there's an app bundle available. Check the repository or download the latest release directly.

Windows: Download the installer from the latest release, or install via Winget:

winget install flxzt.rnote

One thing to keep in mind: because the file format is still unstable, downgrading to a specific version might occasionally be necessary. If you're on Flathub, you can list past versions and pin a specific commit:

flatpak remote-info --log flathub com.github.flxzt.rnote
sudo flatpak update --commit=<commit-hash> com.github.flxzt.rnote

The project has a website at rnote.flxzt.net and the source is on GitHub.

Final Thoughts

Rnote is a focused tool for a specific audience: people who use a stylus and want software that respects that workflow. It's not trying to be a general-purpose note-taking app or a full illustration suite. It's a vector drawing app for handwritten notes and document annotation, and it does that job with a thoughtful feature set. The unstable file format is worth noting if you're planning to rely on it for long-term storage, but for day-to-day use, it's a solid option—especially if you're on Linux and already invested in the GTK ecosystem. If you've been looking for a stylus-first drawing app that doesn't get in your way, this one's worth a look.

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