project quicknotes

QuickNotes

System Text-to-Speech Ready
Slide: 0:00 / 0:00
Slide 1 of 0Interactive Deck

Full Lesson Reference

A macOS menu bar app for jotting down quick notes.

Platform note: This project requires macOS and Xcode. Windows users: check out the web projects (LinkPreview, Weather, Portfolio, Playground) for cross-platform alternatives.

What You'll Build

A Mac app that:

  • Lives in your menu bar
  • Opens a small note-taking window when clicked
  • Saves notes automatically
  • Launches at startup (optional)

A tool you'll actually use every day.

Why This Project

Menu bar apps are one of the most practical things you can build on a Mac. This project teaches:

  • SwiftUI on macOS
  • Menu bar (status bar) apps
  • Text editing and storage
  • App lifecycle and persistence

Same workflow as ColorDrop. Different kind of utility.

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

  • Xcode installed (from the App Store)
  • Claude Code running

No iOS device needed — this runs on your Mac.

The Steps

  1. Starting — Create the Xcode project
  2. Menu Bar — Set up the menu bar icon
  3. Note Editor — Add the text editing view
  4. Persistence — Save notes automatically
  5. Polish — Refine the experience

Technical Notes

Menu bar apps work differently from regular apps. They don't have a main window — they have a popover or panel attached to the menu bar icon. Claude handles the SwiftUI setup for this.

If You Get Stuck

See Getting Unstuck for troubleshooting tips.

Let's Start

terminal
cd ~/Desktop
mkdir QuickNotes && cd QuickNotes
claude

Exercises

  1. Run the three setup commands above to create the QuickNotes folder and launch Claude Code inside it.
  2. Write a one-sentence description of how you'd use a menu bar notes app in your own daily workflow — this clarifies the intent you'll prompt with.
  3. Confirm Xcode is installed and opens, so you're ready to create the project in Step 1.