Facts, boilerplate, screenshots, and a human who answers email. Press contact goes directly to the founder — replies same day during launch week.
WIP Notes is a local-first notes app for macOS built for active, work-in-progress notes. Notes are organized into Note Pads (workspaces) with groups, color labels, rich text, tables, and image attachments, and are stored in a local SQLite database — the app makes zero network requests, requires no account, and collects no data. WIP Notes ships with a built-in MCP server that lets AI assistants like Claude Desktop read and search notes directly from the local database, without anything leaving the machine. It is a one-time purchase of $27 with a 30-day full trial, made by Intique Software of Central Texas.
WIP Notes is a $27 one-time-purchase macOS notes app that never sends your notes anywhere — but still lets Claude read them, via a built-in local MCP server.
The anti-subscription datapoint. Nearly every notes app has moved to subscriptions; WIP Notes charges once and argues that an app with no server costs has no business charging rent.
Local-first and AI aren't opposites. The MCP integration means the assistant comes to the data instead of the data going to a cloud — a pattern piece, not just an app review.
The privacy claim you can verify. "Zero network requests" is testable with Little Snitch in five minutes. Few apps invite that test.
The indie angle. One designer, 20+ years in corporate design, building focused Mac software from Central Texas — no VC, no growth team, no roadmap-by-committee.
Michael Holdren is a designer with 20+ years in corporate design and the founder of Intique Software, a Central Texas indie studio making focused, design-led apps for macOS and iOS. WIP Notes is its first release.
There's nothing to justify a monthly fee. Your notes are on your Mac, the app runs on your Mac — I don't have server costs, so you don't have a subscription.
Michael Holdren, founder
People assume private and AI-connected are opposites. MCP flips that: Claude comes to your notes, your notes never go to Claude.
Michael Holdren, founder
WIP Notes is for the messy middle — the notes that exist between your head and the finished document.
Michael Holdren, founder
