Notebook combines structured plans, searchable notes, and one checklist in a workspace. Its side chats let you work with an agent beside those modes. Notes sends the active note to chat; Plan offers a workspace-aware conversation beside the open document.
Where does Notebook keep your writing?
Notebook is one item in the navigation for that workspace. It gathers Plan, Notes, and Todo for the project you have open. In Aiola, a workspace means one project you are working in. The writing you add there stays with that project.
Select Notebook to open Plan at /plan. Each of the three modes has its own route in the workspace. Plan uses /plan, notes use /notes, and the checklist uses /todo. The Notebook item stays active on all three of those routes. After that first open, change modes with the switcher in the header.
What can you put in a plan?
Plan is the structured document mode you edit inside Notebook. Use headings for sections, lists for steps, and checklists for checkable items within the plan. Toggles hold collapsible content, while quotes and dividers provide visual structure. Drag and drop reorders blocks without changing to another mode.
| Block or control | Support |
|---|---|
| Text | Rich inline formatting |
| Headings | Structured sections |
| Bullets and numbered lists | Ordered and unordered items |
| Checklists | Checkable plan items |
| Toggles | Collapsible content |
| Quotes and dividers | Visual structure |
| Drag and drop | Reorder blocks |
You can create, switch, rename, or delete plans from the plan selector. Plans are grouped under This workspace inside the plan selector. That grouping includes their branch or worktree context. A new plan inherits the context of the plan you had selected. Aiola remembers the active plan and the selected worktree separately for each workspace.
How do you import an existing file?
You can import a Markdown file or a plain-text file into Plan. New plan creates a separate plan from that file. Append to current plan adds the imported blocks after the current content. Replace current plan replaces every block in the selected plan.
Choose the destination before importing: a separate document, additional blocks, or a complete replacement. For a separate document, choose New plan rather than either current-plan option. Check the selected plan before appending or replacing, because both choices act on that document.
How do notes stay easy to find?
Notes are separate documents stored under aiola/notes/, as the Notebook guide describes. You can create a note, then select, rename, or delete it. Search finds a note, and you can pin the ones you want close. Unpinned notes are grouped by date when you scan the list. The list title can differ from the words written inside the note.
Aiola remembers which note you last selected inside each workspace. If nothing was selected yet, the most recently updated note opens. Select the workspace containing your note before choosing it from the list.
Typing autosaves after you pause, and the note shows its save state.
An @ in a note mentions a file from the workspace. A # mentions a task or a project record in the note. Use either mark when the note should name work that already exists.
Quick Note is always available. Its default shortcut is Command+Shift+J on macOS and Ctrl+Shift+J on Windows. You can change that shortcut in Central Settings under Keybinds.
How does the checklist work?
Todo is one checklist, and the file is aiola/todos.json. Press Enter to split the row and create the next item. Backspace at the start of a row merges it into the row above. A blank row stays ready for the next line you want to add.
Click a checkbox when you want to toggle that single item. Shift-click another checkbox to apply the new state across the range. Clear completed permanently removes every completed row from the list. Non-empty rows autosave while you are editing the checklist. The hide-completed preference is remembered for every workspace you use.
How do you split a feature across modes?
For a feature plan, create a document with headings and checkable steps in Plan. Use the plan selector when the work needs another document in the same workspace. Check its branch or worktree grouping before creating a related plan, which inherits the selected plan's context.
Switch to Notes for a separate document containing background or decisions. Name it in the list, then use search or pinning to find it again. Add workspace file mentions with @, or task and project record mentions with #.
Switch to Todo for the workspace checklist. Enter creates the next item; checkboxes track completion. Use Shift-click when several adjacent items need the same state. Choose Clear completed only when you want all completed rows permanently removed.
How do you work with an agent?
Each mode has a side chat, opened from the message button in the header. On Plan, that chat is workspace-aware and sits beside the open plan. Open that side chat to discuss the plan with an agent. Notes sends the active note into the Notes side chat.
Todo reloads changes an agent made after a turn. Refresh the page when another thread has edited the files. Do that too after an automation or an editor changes them. Those automations run only while the Aiola desktop app stays open.
You can run Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok CLI, OpenCode, or Antigravity in the desktop app. Claude Code is one of those agents and can work beside the open workspace. Your own subscriptions are what those agents run on. Aiola does not add a token markup on top of those subscriptions.
Try it in Aiola: download the desktop app, then open Notebook in a workspace. It runs on macOS 12 or later and on Windows 10 or later. There is no Linux version of the desktop app you can install. The desktop app is free to download.
