Licence

When you build software that promises to respect its users, you have to be radically transparent about how that software is constructed.

At its core, StarJot is a bespoke, native application engineered for speed and privacy. When it came to building the actual text editor you use to write your notes—the engine that makes capturing your thoughts so fluid—we explored every possible avenue. We exhaustively tested everything from TinyMCE and ProseMirror to Quill and Lexical. We even strongly considered building our own editor entirely from scratch.

Ultimately, we arrived at the WordPress Block Editor (commonly known as Gutenberg) for a very simple reason: it is, hands down, the best text editor we have ever used. (It also makes us a bit of an anomaly, as we seem to be the only developers in the world who genuinely love building with it!)

The magic of FOSS

Gutenberg is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

The true magic of using FOSS is the freedom it provides. Because we do not have to spend thousands of hours reinventing the wheel—coding basic paragraph blocks or text cursors from scratch—we are afforded a massive strategic advantage. We get to take an incredibly robust, world-class editor and focus 100% of our engineering energy on the things that actually make a positive impact on your life.

Standing on the shoulders of giants allows us to pour all our time into the magic: the zero-data architecture, the instant load times, the local Apple Files integration, and the seamless backlinking.

The Mercedes-Benz approach

The GPL carries a specific philosophy. In short, it states that if you distribute software containing GPL code, you must also be willing to provide the source code of your application to anyone who purchases it.

Some companies view this as a threat to their business model. We view it as a brilliant standard.

Consider Mercedes-Benz. They are a massive champion of FOSS, actively using open-source software to run the cutting-edge infotainment systems in their vehicles. To comply with the licence and embrace the culture, if you buy a new Mercedes, they provide you with access to the source code for that software. We absolutely love that energy, and we are adopting the exact same philosophy here at StarJot.

Your right to our code

We are not precious about hiding our source code. We have been in this game long enough to know that it is great features that strike a chord with users, and genuinely solving a problem, that makes a great product.

In the world of software, execution, momentum, and delivering those great features matter far more than keeping secrets. The note-taking space is highly competitive, and our codebase evolves so rapidly that an exported copy of our source code today would be entirely outdated in six months anyway.

What truly makes StarJot special is not a hidden string of code; it is our uncompromising stance on privacy and the community of clear thinkers who use the app.

Therefore, in full compliance with the GPL: If you have purchased StarJot via the App Store and would like a copy of the source code, you are fully entitled to request it.

How to request the source code

If you are a developer, an open-source enthusiast, or just curious to see how we wrangled Gutenberg into a blisteringly fast local iOS app, we are happy to share it with you.

Simply send an email to support@starjot.com with your Apple App Store receipt proving your purchase. We will then securely send you a digital copy of the current source code.

No NDAs, no friction, no panic. Just good, honest software development.