Building Scratch: A Minimalist Note-Taking App Focused on Flow

Kaushlendra Parmar — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 17:36:39 +0000

Hey 👋🏻 😊 everyone!

I'm working on a side project called Scratch — a digital notebook app designed for writers, students, and thinkers who want to stay focused without all the clutter most apps throw at you.

Instead of dozens of menus, templates, and distractions, Scratch is designed around pure, unbroken writing flow.

Why I'm Building This

While using popular note-taking apps, I noticed a few recurring problems:

Breaking flow: Adding a new page interrupts your thinking.

Visual fatigue: Pure white backgrounds + high-contrast UIs make long writing sessions tiring.

Too many steps: Creating a new notebook often means choosing covers, templates, settings, etc. before you even start writing.

Feature overload: Most apps cram too much into one screen.

I wanted something that just gets out of your way — and lets you think.

Core Features of Scratch

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One-tap “Add Page”: Seamlessly adds more writing space and auto-scrolls — no disruption.

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Page Breaks Anywhere: Cleanly split sections mid-stream without starting a whole new document.

Built-in Diagram Library: Insert commonly used diagrams (flowcharts, mind-maps, graphs) without leaving your notebook.

Smart “For You” Suggestions: Files surface automatically based on your time and usage patterns.

Minimal & Eye-Comforting UI: Soft off-white canvas, muted pen colors, minimal toolbars — optimized for long writing sessions.

Palm Rest Layout: Canvas shifted slightly left to maximize space and reduce hand strain.

Built-in Focus Timer: Start a Pomodoro-style session without switching apps.

Current Status

✅ Home UI & Canvas UI front-end is almost done
✅ Google form to collect feedback and emails is live
🚧 MVP (local notes saving) is in progress
🚧 Backend/cloud sync planned later after MVP
🚀 Launching early access soon

I Need Your Feedback

I'm looking for early feedback on:

Which features feel most useful?

What would you expect from a minimalist writing app?

What would make you switch from your current note-taking tool?

If you’re interested, you can fill out my quick feedback form https://forms.gle/dfC9bwGKQHSHiA159
or DM me here / on Twitter https://x.com/Tech_by8/status/1911419813227868226?t=794IADBleeCVLcqWhBZYbw&s=19.

Also, if you're a Flutter developer passionate about smooth UX and clean code, and want to collaborate as a technical co-founder — let's talk!

Thanks for reading!
Excited (and a little nervous) to finally share this project publicly.

buildinpublic #flutter #productivity #uxdesign #showdev

DEV Community: Kaushlendra Parmar

Building Scratch: A Minimalist Note-Taking App Focused on Flow

buildinpublic #flutter #productivity #uxdesign #showdev