Notepad.exe 1.2.1139
Notepad.exe is a native macOS application I've crafted with love to enhance your development experience. Built on a plug-and-play philosophy, it gets you coding instantly with zero setup, then scales with your needs. Whether you're prototyping Swift apps, experimenting with Python scripts, building iOS apps with automatic simulator support, or exploring new ideas, Notepad.exe provides a streamlined environment that grows with your expertise - from simple snippets to complex projects.
[…]
Write code and hit run. No project files, no configuration. Start simple, scale up with packages and iOS simulators when needed.
[…]
Local AI assistance that respects your code. What happens on your Mac, stays on your Mac.
It’s kind of like CodeRunner but with a more powerful editor (with inline compiler errors and local AI assistance) and more Swift-specific features and templates. It costs $99 for a lifetime license or $24.99/year.
Nowadays, Xcode Playgrounds seems to have deviated from its original purpose, and configuring VSCode can be overly complex for beginners. Against this backdrop, how can we easily set up an environment suitable for learning and testing Swift? Perhaps Notepad.exe, as introduced in this article, will provide a satisfying solution.
[…]
On the surface, Notepad.exe seems limited to single-code-file projects. However, this doesn’t prevent developers from thoroughly learning and testing functionalities. By simply adding
@mainto the code, Notepad.exe can run it as a complete macOS application. This allows developers not only to explore individual APIs but also to observe their behavior throughout a complete application lifecycle.
From my perspective, Swift Playgrounds were a great idea that didn’t really deliver. They’re weirdly heavyweight and slow and oftentimes just don’t work (though Xcode 26 seems to improve things). Notepad.exe is much more my style for doing quick experiments. If you use Little Snitch, be aware that Notepad.exe has very aggressive online activation. It won’t work without constant network access.
Previously:
- TextKit 2: The Promised Land
- Xcode 26 Beta 5
- Swift Playgrounds 4
- BBEdit 14
- CodeRunner 3
- Working Without a Nib
Update (2025-08-18): With the Notepad.exe 1.2.1148 update, it no longer needs constant network access after you activate your purchase.
15 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
The download seems to be hosted on GitHub, but it's not an open source project. Isn't that some kind of abuse?
Mike, no. (frankly, pretty common). GH doesn't distinguish commercial or open-source usage of its platform.
> If you use Little Snitch, be aware that Notepad.exe has very aggressive online activation. It won’t work without constant network access.
I understand small time developers feel the need to protect their work, but these types of solutions never work. They don’t work for Microsoft and Adobe, why would they work for a lone developer? It ends up only hurting your actually customers. For me, it’s an instant shut down in interest.
> but these types of solutions never work
it is needed, since it is managed by the billing system. It does not actually need constant network access, but it does need a network for activation. Not sure what's controversial about that.
@Marcin It doesn’t seem to save the activation. If I tell Little Snitch to give it network access for 1 minute, it will stop working when the minute is up. That’s why I wrote “constant network access.” Most other apps that do activation will continue working for a year or until I upgrade my Mac.
@Michael that looks like a bug on my side indeed. It is supposed to remember the state for a while. I need to look into it more. thanks!
@Marcin I’ve seen failures in these activation mechanisms of all kinds. Activation session cookie won’t save, activation thinks hardware changed after minor OS update, activation thinks hardware changed after USB or an SD card has been inserted, activation fails after it is unable to phone home a few times, activation fails after a system restore because it thinks it’s a new machine, etc. In the long run, these always end up coming to bite real customers, while arrr pirate mateys just take the cracked version that simply works.
@Léo if you're saying it should be free because you don't like activation tradeoffs, that is not a discussion I'm here for. If one prefers pirates, you do you, that's not a customer anyway.
@Marcin: I think the argument is more for activation schemes like Sublime Text or similar where it isn’t pinging some activation server regularly.
If I was paying for a piece of software like this and it decided that it wasn’t going to work because of the lack of a network connection for a while, I’d drop my subscription instantly.
WinRAR has been “free” for decades, yet is still profitable still, after so many years and countless “free” alternatives.
@gildarts: yes, and as I said, that is an implementation bug, and it should not ping constantly, and keep working offline.
@Leo: Thank you for the business advice. Priceless.
feel free to continue requests at the place more appropriate for such discussions https://github.com/notepadhq/notepadexe-public
@Charles - I believe there is a free trial available with some nag screens on it that you can use. See bottom left side of the screen on this: https://notepadexe.com/purchase/index.html
Thanks @rajs. I tried again. Indeed, if you click Activate on the nag window, it opens the preferences, and you can go back to the rest of the interface.
Alas, it's pretty much unusable even for testing, as far as I can tell. If you try to run a script, it triggers the nag window for instance. and then randomly almost all the time.
I think it's on purpose, as this seems consistent with what the author suggests on the website that "Access to core functionality with intentionally annoying popups that appear regularly. Figuring out how to deal with them is a puzzle you'll need to solve. Perfect for trying the app before purchasing... if you can handle the interruptions."
Thus still the same conclusion. It is not really possible to evaluate the app. Oh well :)
For whatever it is worth, I agree with Charles. The nag screens are aggressive enough that I haven't been able to figure out whether it would be useful to me or not. Which is partially why I haven't paid for it at this point.
