Highlight text in vibrant colors, write rich Markdown notes, and keep your web research organized in one place—100% private and stored on your device.
A better, simpler way to highlight websites and take notes without giving up your privacy.
Select any text and start highlighting, commenting, or taking notes. Open the sidebar to see all your annotations.
In an era dominated by centralized cloud services, local-first software restores data ownership to the user. By prioritizing on-device storage with native IndexedDB, applications guarantee instant responsiveness and zero network latency.
When researchers annotate complex documents, multi-tier text anchoring algorithms ensure that highlights survive dynamic Single-Page Application (SPA) routing, whitespace shifts, and dynamic DOM mutations.
Try selecting any word or sentence in this paragraph to trigger Webnora's floating toolbar. You can highlight in 5 semantic colors, add rich Markdown comments with live preview, and search across your entire library in the sidebar drawer on the right.
Everything you need to capture, organize, and recall web insights with zero compromises.
Highlight text in 5 curated pastel colors with customizable semantic labels like Key Point, Evidence, or To Research.
Write comments in formatted GitHub Flavored Markdown with instant Write / Preview tabs, code blocks, lists, and quotes.
Draft top-level document notes and research summaries for any page without needing a specific text selection.
Assign #tags to highlights and notes. Filter and group related research
instantly via interactive tag pills.
Search notes across "This Page" or search your entire research library grouped by domain with 1-click jump links.
Toggle off all highlight overlays with a single hotkey for distraction-free reading, and restore them anytime.
Zero cloud databases, zero servers, zero telemetry. All data is saved on your device
in native IndexedDB (webnora_db).
Extension UI renders inside <webnora-root> Shadow DOM, guaranteeing
zero style leaks or collisions with webpage CSS.
Install Webnora in your browser or run it locally in under 2 minutes.
Requires Node.js 18+ and npm 9+.
git clone https://github.com/viveknimbolkar/webnora.git
cd webnora
npm install
Starts WXT development server with Vite hot module reloading:
npm run dev
1. Open chrome://extensions/ (or edge://extensions/).
2. Enable Developer mode (top-right toggle).
3. Click Load unpacked and select the .output/chrome-mv3 folder.
npm test # Runs 49 Vitest unit tests
npm run compile # Strict TypeScript typecheck
npm run build # Production Manifest V3 bundle
Work faster with intuitive hotkeys designed for keyboard-driven workflows.
| Keystroke | Action | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Shift + Enter | Save Comment / Note | Comment popover, toolbar, or sidebar note composer |
| Esc | Cancel / Close | Floating toolbar, popover card, or sidebar drawer |
| Alt + H | Quick Highlight | Active text selection on any webpage |
| Alt + C | Add Markdown Comment | Active text selection on any webpage |
| Alt + S | Toggle Sidebar Drawer | Global webpage shortcut |
| Alt + V | Toggle Clean Reading Mode | Hides / restores all highlight overlays on the page |
Built on standard Manifest V3, Webnora runs seamlessly across modern web browsers.
