Independent experiment · Native Mac app

Luna

A small Mac app for thinking out loud.

Overview

I built Luna for the moments between a sticky note and a full code editor: a quick file change, a rough calculation, or an idea to explain on screen. It combines recoverable notes, ordinary text files, inline math, and presentation mode in a native Mac app.

RolePersonal project — product direction and hands-on iteration, built with Codex

Background

Luna started with three small frustrations: changing one line in a file, capturing a thought before it had a name, and explaining an idea on screen. I was moving between Stickies, TextEdit, and a full coding environment. Apple Notes, Bear, Obsidian, and Notion offer useful ways to write and organize; Luna explores a particular combination of scratch notes, ordinary file editing, inline calculations, and presentation. The question was whether those everyday moments could feel at home in one small Mac app.

Where Luna fits

Luna brings quick file editing, temporary notes, and on-screen explanation together. The overlaps describe product intent, not market share or feature rankings.

Process

I worked with Codex on research and implementation, then tested and shaped the app through use. We chose Apple’s native text system after researching performance and visual flexibility. An early large-note test traced slow editing to sidebar-title generation; reading a smaller part of the note resolved the measured bottleneck. As calculations and rich content grew, I refined the boundaries: currency lookups became opt-in, pasted links offered explicit choices, and redundant controls came out. Each addition became another chance to test what belonged in a small tool.

Make it, use it, question it

Build a native prototype, use and measure it, then decide whether friction remains. Revise and test again when it does; otherwise release and bring new observations into the next prototype.

Final solution

Luna is a public Mac preview where a temporary thought can become a calculation, a formatted note, or something to present. Scratch notes recover locally; existing files save back only when asked. Inline answers become ordinary text when accepted, and presentation mode gives the same note more room. Markdown, media, and visual customization extend that workspace. Signed in-app updates carry it forward. The focus remains personal Mac work: cloud sync and real-time collaboration are not built in, and accepted calculations do not behave like live spreadsheet cells.

One note, different ways to work

A scratch note or existing file enters editing. An inline calculation can be accepted as text. Presentation changes the view and returns to the same editable note. Recovery is local; saving an original file remains explicit.

Media and prototypes

03 items

An inline suggestion calculates $18 × 8. Tab accepts $144 as text, then presentation mode hides the shelf. An 18-second silent desktop demo using fictional workshop notes.

Luna presentation view showing a workshop plan and $144 calculation with larger text and no notes shelf. — Give the same thought room to be seen. Presentation mode changes the view without creating a separate slide deck.

A formatted workshop guide with a checklist, a materials table totaling $144, and a short quotation. — Markdown preview turns source text into a readable guide. This companion demo note was written separately from the workshop plan.

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