Your words · Your rock · Your key
Skerry keeps every note as a plain Markdown file on your own device, sealed with a key that never leaves your hands. No account to make. No server to trust. No company that can lose your words or be made to hand them over. Not even us.
macOS and iOS. One email when it lands, nothing else.
The problem
Notion, Evernote, Apple Notes, even Bear once it syncs. Your words sit on someone else's servers, in a format only their app can open, under terms they can change. They can read them, lose them, or be made to hand them over. Skerry is built so none of that is possible.
Every note is a real Markdown file in a folder you control. Delete Skerry and your words are still there, readable in any editor.
Encrypt a note or the whole library with a master key only you hold, plus a recovery code only you keep. Title, file name, and body all become ciphertext.
Nothing to sign up for. Your notes and your key never touch our machines, because we do not have any.
How it works
Point Skerry at any folder and it becomes your library. Every note is a real Markdown file inside it, readable with or without Skerry.
Encrypt one note or the whole library with a key only you hold. The title, tags, and file name are sealed along with the body.
Send an encrypted snapshot to iCloud, a NAS, or your own bucket. Nothing touches our servers, because we do not have any.
What it does
01
Live highlighting, syntax that hides around the cursor, tap-to-check task lists, and wiki links between notes.
02
Full-text search and a jump-to-anything palette across every note, from the first keystroke.
03
Choose ciphertext with a passphrase, or a simple gate behind Face ID when you only need a lock.
04
Sealed snapshots to iCloud Drive, a NAS over WebDAV, or S3 storage like iDrive e2. What leaves your device is always ciphertext.
05
Markdown, HTML, Rich Text, or PDF, or copy straight to the clipboard. Print from your phone.
06
An open, documented file format any future app can read. The format is the contract, not the app.
07
Import from Bear, Obsidian, or Apple Notes. Your Markdown, your #tags, and your titles come across as plain files.
08
Turn on encryption and get a one-time code that unlocks your notes if you forget the passphrase. Lose both and no one can help, by design.
09
Auto-lock re-seals the vault after a set idle time, so stepping away never leaves your notes open on screen.
Backup
Point Skerry at storage you already have and it keeps encrypted snapshots there. Every backup is sealed before it leaves your device, so the server only ever holds ciphertext, even for notes you never encrypted yourself. Restore pulls a snapshot back and decrypts it in place.
iCloud Drive, a Dropbox folder, an external disk, or anywhere in the Files app. Pruned to the newest snapshots automatically.
Synology, a home server, or any WebDAV endpoint on your own network. Your box, your bytes, your control.
iDrive e2, Backblaze B2, Amazon S3, or any S3-compatible bucket. Your keys, your bucket, sealed before upload.
Always encrypted · Automatic or on demand · Newest snapshots kept, the rest pruned
The moat
Seal a note and the file becomes an opaque envelope. Its title, tags, dates, and body are encrypted together, the file takes a random name, and it drops out of the search index. On a synced drive or a stolen backup, all anyone learns is that a note exists.
--- id: 7A0E38D2-4CBB-4E30-9A57-2A9F3D1B6C11 encrypted: true --- c2FsdG5vbmNlY2lwaGVydGV4dGFuZHRhZ2Jhc2U2NGtl eXNhbmRzZWNyZXRzc3RheW9ubGx5b25kaXNr...
Don't trust us. Read the code. The encryption and the file format are open source and documented, byte for byte. The app stays ours; the security you rely on is public.
Read the crypto on GitHub →The key hierarchy
A random 256-bit key encrypts your notes. That key is sealed by your passphrase with 600,000 rounds of PBKDF2, so guessing is punishingly slow.
Change your passphrase and only the wrapper changes, never the notes. Your recovery code is a second, independent way to the same key.
What we can see
No account, no server, no analytics. Skerry has no way to see your notes, your key, or that you exist.
Your passphrase lives in the Keychain behind Face ID and never leaves your device.
The threat model
A lost or stolen device. A synced drive someone else can reach. A breached backup. A subpoena to a company that holds nothing.
In every case a sealed note is an opaque envelope. All anyone learns is that it exists.
Questions
Use any file sync you already trust: iCloud Drive, Dropbox, or a NAS. Skerry rides on top of it and never needs its own account. Encrypted notes stay encrypted the whole way, at rest and in transit.
You get a recovery code the moment you turn on encryption. It is shown once, held only by you, and unlocks your notes on any device. Lose both the passphrase and the code and no one can help, because that is the point.
Nothing happens to your notes. They are plain Markdown in an open, documented format. Open them in any editor, forever. There is nothing to export and nothing to rescue.
Yes. Every backup is sealed on your device before it leaves. iDrive, Backblaze, a NAS, or iCloud only ever hold ciphertext, even for notes you never encrypted one by one.
No. There are no accounts, no analytics, and no servers anywhere in Skerry. It could not track you if it wanted to.
Coming soon
No spam, no account. One note from Skerry when it is ready to stand on.