PinSlip Has Reached 200+ Downloads! Here’s How I Actually Use PinSlip Every Day

PinSlip Has Reached 200+ Downloads! Here’s How I Actually Use PinSlip Every Day

PinSlip recently passed 200 downloads!

Just a few days ago, I was really excited when it reached 100. And now, somehow, we’re already past 200.

For a small open-source project that started with “I just want a sticky note app that fits the way I work,” seeing other people download and try it still feels pretty special.

As more people started using PinSlip, I also started thinking more seriously about something: how do I actually use PinSlip every day?

So instead of writing another feature list or roadmap, I want to share what PinSlip actually looks like in my daily workflow — what I use it for, which features I rely on, and a few things I never expected when I first started building it.

TOP 1: I Use PinSlip as a “Middleman” When Working with AI

As an AI-focused developer, I spend a lot of time talking to AI these days.

When discussing a technical approach with AI, it can spit out a huge amount of content incredibly fast. Before you know it, there are hundreds or even thousands of words on the screen. Honestly, sometimes my eyes just can’t keep up.

Of course, as a fairly cautious developer, I’m not going to just let AI do whatever it wants. I still keep an eye on what it’s doing from time to time.

Sometimes I’ll glance over and notice that AI is doing something that makes me a little suspicious. When that happens, I’ll immediately open PinSlip and write it down, then come back to it when AI stops and we can discuss it.

Another situation is when AI is discussing a solution and suddenly throws a bunch of questions at me, or lists several things that I need to make decisions about.

I’ll usually copy those questions into PinSlip first, then go through them one by one and carefully write down my thoughts.

Once I’m done and happy with my response, I just click the copy button in the bottom-right corner and paste everything back into AI at once.

To be honest, when working with various CLI inputs and Agent chat boxes, I often accidentally send something before I’ve finished writing it. Especially when I’m trying to organize a complicated prompt, that can be pretty frustrating.

But since I started using PinSlip, this happens much less often.

I can put AI’s questions aside for a moment and slowly organize my thoughts. I can keep editing, deleting, and rearranging things in a note until I’m happy with what I want to say, and only then copy everything over.

In a way, PinSlip has become a little scratchpad between me and AI.

I think this works because the cost of writing something down in PinSlip is so low.

It really feels like grabbing a piece of sticky paper: just tear one off and write something down. If it turns out to be useful, keep it. If not, leave it there for a while or just delete it. There’s basically no mental overhead.

And, speaking of this use case, the one-click copy-all button was actually something I built specifically for this workflow.

Before that, I had to do Ctrl + A and then Ctrl + C. Now I can just click a button and copy the entire note. It might only save one small step, but when you’re doing this over and over throughout the day, that little bit of convenience really does make a difference.

TOP 2: I Save Things I Use Often but Don’t Want to Rewrite Every Time

There are also a lot of things I use repeatedly in my daily work.

For example, AI prompts, email templates, project commands, commonly used CLI commands, or specific procedures for a particular project.

They all have something in common: I don’t need them every day, but I know I’m going to need them again sooner or later.

I used to have these things scattered everywhere.

Sometimes they were in a .txt file, sometimes buried somewhere in a project README, and sometimes they were just sitting in a browser tab.

And when I actually needed one of them, I’d spend a while thinking, “Where did I put that thing again?”

Now I just turn these things into PinSlip notes and organize them into different folders based on what they’re for.

For example, one folder for AI prompts, another for project-related commands, and another for frequently used email templates.

When I need something, I can open the corresponding folder and find it pretty quickly.

If I just want to use it, I can copy it directly. If I need to make a small change first, I can edit it right there in the note.

Over time, this has turned into a very simple habit for me:

If I’m going to use something repeatedly, I don’t need to write it again. I can just save it as a note.

And because PinSlip supports Markdown, I can also keep these things reasonably organized.

For example, for an AI prompt, I can separate the background, requirements, and constraints. For a project workflow, I can keep the commands and their explanations together.

More interestingly, these notes aren’t always just for me.

When I need AI to understand a specific workflow I use regularly, I can simply copy the corresponding note and give it to AI, so it can follow the rules and process I’ve already worked out.

So over time, what I’ve accumulated in PinSlip isn’t just a collection of sticky notes. It’s also becoming a collection of my own work templates and habits.

TOP 3: For Everyday Editing, I Still Like Having Things Right on My Desktop

There’s another use case that’s actually very simple: everyday editing work.

For example, copying a piece of text from one place, comparing it with another piece of content, temporarily organizing some text, or repeatedly editing a small section of content.

These things sound simple, but having to constantly switch between several windows can still be a little annoying.

Especially when I’m browsing a website or working in a development tool, sometimes I just want to jot something down temporarily. I really don’t want to open a full-blown note-taking app just for that.

This is where PinSlip becomes really convenient.

I can simply pin a note to the desktop and keep it always on top.

Then I can look at the original content while editing the note in PinSlip.

Need to copy something? Just copy it. Need to change something? Just edit it. No need to keep switching between windows with Alt + Tab.

Sometimes I’ll even keep two or three notes open at the same time, put content from different sources into each one, and compare them directly on my desktop.

This experience actually fits pretty well with how I think a desktop sticky note should work.

It shouldn’t require me to open an app, find a note, and then start working.

I just want a small piece of content to stay in front of me, so I can grab it whenever I need it.

That’s also why I’ve always felt that PinSlip and knowledge management tools like Notion or Obsidian are solving quite different problems.

The latter are great for keeping knowledge organized and stored properly. PinSlip is more like “I need this thing right here, right now.”

TOP 4: I Use It to Keep Track of Small Things I Might Forget

Of course, I also use PinSlip for its most traditional purpose.

To-do lists, temporary reminders, random things that pop into my head, and even bugs I encounter while using PinSlip itself.

A lot of these things aren’t really worth creating a dedicated task for or putting into some complicated project management tool.

But if I don’t write them down at all, I’ll probably forget them.

So I just open a note and write them down.

If something is related to a specific project, I’ll usually add a tag to it as well. Later, when I actually need it, I can simply search for it and find what I wrote before.

This is also one of the reasons I like having Markdown support in PinSlip.

Before, my sticky notes would easily end up looking like this:

Fix login issue
Update documentation
Check API
Test Windows version
Release new version

It doesn’t look like much, but after some time, I might not even remember which ones I’ve already finished.

Now I’m more likely to use a task list directly:

- [x] Fix login issue
- [ ] Update documentation
- [ ] Check API
- [ ] Test Windows version
- [ ] Release new version

Combined with Markdown formatting like strikethroughs, headings, and lists, I can turn a very casual sticky note into something reasonably organized without spending much time on it.

PinSlip also has dedicated buttons for things like task lists and strikethroughs, so I don’t even need to remember the Markdown syntax most of the time. I can just click a button and move on.

This is actually why I added Markdown support to PinSlip in the first place: writing something down should be really fast, but once it’s written down, it shouldn’t become so messy that even I can’t understand it later.

TOP 5: When There Are Too Many Notes, I Just Make Them Smaller

Of course, once you start using sticky notes a lot, another problem appears:

You start getting a lot of sticky notes on your desktop.

At first, you might only have two or three, and everything looks nice and clean.

Then you add an AI prompt, another TODO, and maybe another temporary task...

Before you know it, there are sticky notes everywhere.

Even worse, sometimes they start covering the window I’m actually trying to work with.

But closing them isn’t really what I want either, because then they’re no longer there when I need them.

This is why I personally really like PinSlip’s collapse feature.

If I don’t need to see the full content of a note for a while, I can simply collapse it and leave only a small title area.

The note is still there. It hasn’t been closed or disappeared. It just takes up much less space on the desktop.

And when I have a lot of notes, I can also group multiple notes together.

A bunch of notes that would otherwise take up a large part of my desktop can be reduced into a much more compact area.

When I need them, I expand them again. When I don’t, I just leave them there.

I think this design actually fits the idea of a sticky note really well.

I don’t necessarily want to delete it, and I don’t necessarily want to put it away in a folder. I just don’t want it to take up that much space right now.

So for me, collapsing isn’t really a “hide the note” feature. It’s more like a way to make some room on my desktop while keeping the information within sight.

200+ Downloads Later

Looking back, PinSlip started with a very simple idea.

I just wanted a desktop sticky note app that fit the way I work.

But after actually using it every day, I’ve started to realize that there’s probably more to desktop sticky notes than I initially thought.

It can be a quick scratchpad, a middleman in my AI workflow, a place to keep things I use repeatedly, or simply a quiet little reminder sitting on my desktop.

And these are also the kinds of use cases I’ve gradually discovered while building PinSlip.

Now PinSlip has passed 200 downloads.

It’s still a very small number for an open-source project, but it’s already enough to make me feel that this little thing I originally built for myself is slowly being discovered by more people.

I’ll keep improving PinSlip based on the way I use it, while also paying close attention to how other people use it.

Maybe the next interesting way of using PinSlip won’t be something I come up with myself.