Docs
This page is a note in the same editor. Sections:
Quick start
Brutal runs in your browser. Nothing to install, no account required.
- Open the app. It loads online or off.
- Click + New note in the rail or the notes panel.
- Give it a title and write. Edits autosave to this device.
An account is optional. It does two things: syncs notes across devices, and publishes them to the web. Writing works the same either way.
Scan handwriting
Turn a photo of a handwritten page into clean vector ink, right inside a note. Drop the caret on an empty line, open the + menu, and pick Scan.
- Choose a photo, or take one with your camera.
- Brutal Docs downscales it in your browser, then traces the writing into vector outline paths. The result is a faithful reproduction of your own hand, not typed text, so it stays crisp at any size.
- Crop to frame just the writing. The default is the writing's bounding box; drag a freehand lasso to crop to any shape.
- Insert. The ink becomes a segment you can fit to the column, widen, or break out full-bleed, exactly like an image.
No account needed. The photo is traced on the fly and never stored on the server. Scanning is the one step that needs a connection; everything else works offline. Published notes render the scanned ink too.
Segments & the + button
A note is a stack of segments, like a Medium post. Drop the caret on an empty line and a floating + appears next to it. Click it, pick a type.
The menu has headings, lists, TODOs, quotes, code blocks, horizontal rules, tables, images, video, Mermaid diagrams, and a nav block. Press Esc to close it.
Code blocks
Pick Code from the + menu, then paste a snippet or start typing. The language is auto-detected; override it from the dropdown on the right. Indentation is preserved, which matters for runbooks and pasted shell output.
Diagrams
Pick Mermaid and write Mermaid markup: flowcharts, sequence diagrams, ER diagrams. Hover the diagram and click Edit to open a side-by-side editor; the SVG re-renders as you type. Diagrams follow the app's light/dark theme.
For sketches there's also an in-line SVG canvas: rectangles, ellipses, diamonds, lines, arrows, freehand pen, and text. Stroke and fill colors, move/resize/delete. The drawing is stored inside the note.
Tables
Tab walks the cells without spawning a trailing row. Hover the table to add or delete rows and columns from the floating toolbar.
TODO lists
One checkbox per line. Click the box, or hit Space with the caret on the item, to check it off. Checked items strike through and dim. They stay in the note.
Images, video & YouTube
Three segments, three jobs.
- Images. Drag a file in, or paste from the clipboard. The file uploads in the background. The hover toolbar fits the image to the column or breaks it out full-bleed.
- Video. Same drag-and-drop as images. Plays inline with native controls.
- YouTube. Pick Video from the
+menu and paste a YouTube URL. The player embeds.
Image and video uploads require an account so the file has somewhere to go. Drop one while signed out and the app asks you to sign in.
Offline-first storage
Brutal writes every keystroke to your browser's local storage first. The app opens instantly and works with no connection.
- Notes stay on the device you wrote them on until you sign in.
- Deletes apply immediately on this device and propagate on the next sync.
- Anonymous notes are per-browser. They won't show up on another device until you create an account.
Clearing site data erases locally-stored anonymous notes. Sign in to keep a synced copy.
Sign in to sync
Signing in turns the local store into a synced one. Notes pull from the cloud, edits push back up, and every device you sign in on shows the same notebook.
- Click the account icon at the bottom of the left rail and choose Sign in.
- Register with an email and password, or log in.
- Anonymous notes already on this device get adopted into the account on your first sign-in, but only if the account has no notes yet. Otherwise they stay local.
Signing out clears synced notes from this device. Anonymous local-only notes stay. Sync is last-write-wins by edit time; the most recent edit across devices is the one kept. There's no live co-editing yet.
Cloud notes are unlimited and free. Prefer to stay offline? Don't sign in.
Publish a note
Publishing turns a note into a read-only web page anyone with the link can open. Readers don't need an account.
- Click the Private chip in the top-right of the editor. (Publishing uses the cloud, so you'll be asked to sign in first.)
- Choose a Visibility from the dropdown.
- Copy the generated link, or click Customize permalink to set the slug yourself.
- Set the note back to Private to take it down.
| Visibility | Who can read it |
|---|---|
| Private | Only you. No public link exists. |
| Public | Anyone with the link. |
| Protected | Anyone with the link and the password. |
Edits to a published note push to the public page automatically as you write. There's no separate "republish" step.
Password protection
Choose Protected when publishing and set a password. Readers see a password prompt before any content loads.
- The password is checked on the server. The note's content isn't sent to the browser until it's unlocked.
- Change the password any time from the share dialog. Old visitors will need the new one.
- Switch to Public to drop the password, or Private to remove the link.
Pretty links & analytics
Set a handle on your account, and published notes get a URL like brutaldocs.com/@yourhandle/your-slug. The slug is derived from the note's title and can be renamed from the share dialog.
Older short links (/s/{token}) keep working. They 301 to the pretty URL once a handle is set.
The Analytics button in the rail (signed-in only) shows page views per published note: unique visitors over 24h / 5d / 30d windows, plus a per-page breakdown. Your own views aren't counted.
Themes
Light and dark. Toggle with the sun/moon icon at the bottom of the left rail. The icon shows the action it'll perform, not the current state. Your choice is remembered per browser; the app follows your system preference until you pick one.
FAQ
Is it really free?
Yes. Every segment type, both themes, offline storage, cloud sync, and publishing are free.
Do I need an account?
No. You only need one to sync across devices or publish notes.
Where are my notes stored?
In your browser (IndexedDB) first. If you sign in, a copy syncs to the cloud.
Can people edit a note I share?
No. Shared notes are read-only.
What about live collaboration?
Not yet. Concurrent edits to the same note across devices resolve last-write-wins by edit time.
Stuck on something not covered here? Send a note. Otherwise, go write something.