Having made many posts about my search for a note taking system that’s right for me, I will provide an update in this post about my current setup, even though my last update touching on the matter was only just last month!

In my previous post about my self-hosting setup as of January 2025, I said this:

…I can update that I use Octarine (which I previously wrote about in a post here) for all my note taking needs on desktop, with Markor being used as a temporary way of accessing the data on Android, until a dedicated Octarine Android app is developed.

However! So much has changed in just a month…

Octarine to Blinko

Although I do like Octarine, I was finding it very cumbersome to view and edit my notes on my phone without a more native application (I was finding it hard navigating my notes via Markor), and when I saw a post that the Pro pricing would be $50 without a mobile app yet, I decided I ought to look elsewhere.

At around the same sort of time, I started seeing people talk about self-hosted Blinko, a notes app that although does not have a native Android app, can be viewed as a progressive web application, which is also how I run it on my Mac, acting as a more native application though just loading up as a webpage. While I was initially hesitant of storing notes in a database app instead of having .md files I can actually see, I was reassured by the daily backup file easily downloadable and ability to export all the notes into .md files.

Blinko is organised into two separate areas, which I’ll go into in a moment. The Notes side was where I would, well, put my notes migrated over from Octarine. There are no folders for organisation, instead done via multi-level nestable tags, with the top level tag visible in the sidebar and lower tiers shown when clicked on - and as a nice bonus, can have emoji icons or any icon from the Iconify database! Additionally, notes can also be pinned to appear top of a tag page, there is also a search option to find notes, and a general Notes homepage where all the notes are shown.

The notes themselves are written in MarkDown with an editor toolbar for easy formatting, and interactive elements like checkboxes can be fully used, great for to-do lists or TV watchlists. Notes can be interlinked with the Reference button, which creates a mini pop-up of the note being linked to. Notes can also store recordings and file uploads, as well as utilising a camera, with these also being available to access via a Resources section in the sidebar. Also in the sidebar are a Recycle Bin, Archived notes, Settings, and Analytics - where you can review your note and word count as well as a tags distribution pie chart, active days and a heat map of notes.

Lastly, I want to mention that there is a neat feature where notes recently made are presented to you so you can review them, and that the options in the Settings page are extensive with lots to customise, including feature I have not touched on at all such as Spotify integration, SSO authentication, and the ability to setup object storage.

memos to Blinko

Onto the Blinko side, I read the documentation, so I knew Blinkos were more for temporary or initial thoughts, rather than something to be stored longterm in the Notes side, but I wasn’t sure what purpose that would serve me. That was until I realised this was what I was using memos for:

At a whim, I randomly decided to one day reinstall Memos and see if I, in combination with the Android app MoeMemos, could use this as the bridge, where I could send myself links and notes to later review at my computer - and it works! I’ve had this setup going for a few weeks now, and I’m satisfied with the result. I acknowledge that I’m not fully utilising the potential of Memos, nor using it for its intended purpose, but it works for me!

But there was one issue: there was no native Android application that I could use to send my links into Blinko, unlike with memos. However, I then recalled many years ago using an application on my phone called HTTP Request Shortcuts where I used it to send information to… something, I wish I could remember what it was! But anyway, I reinstalled it and poked around with the documentation on Blinko about its API and with lots of trial and error, found a way to create a similar experience based off adapting these instructions setting up an access token for companion application Blinko Snap:

HTTP Request Shortcuts Setup

1. Install HTTP Request Shortcuts.
2. Press on three dots to open the menu and press on “Variables”.
3. Press the + symbol and then on “Text Input”.
4. Enter shared_text as the “Name”.
5. Tick “Allow Receiving Value from Share Dialogue” and then save it.
6. Go back to the main screen and press on the + symbol.
7. Press on “Create from scratch”.
8. Name it as “Blinko”.
9. Press on “Basic Request Settings”, and change to these settings:
   1. Method: POST
   2. URL: http://your-blinko-url:and-port/api/v1/note/upsert
   3. (For example: http://128.0.0.99:1111/api/v1/note/upsert)
10. Go back and press on “Request Headers”, press the + symbol and then change to these settings:
    1. Header: Content-Type
    2. Value: application/json
11. Press “OK”, then go back and press on “Request Body / Parameters”. Change to these settings:
    1. Request Body Type: Custom Text
    2. Request Body: { "content": "ABC", "type": 0 }
    3. Where I have ABC, delete the text and then press on the variable button inside the box, it looks like: { }
    4. Select your “shared_text” variable, and it should then be inserted into within "" and coloured differently.
12. Go back and press on Authentication, change to these settings:
    1. Authentication Method: Bearer Authentication
    2. Token: [your "Blinko Access Token" from the Blinko settings page, it'll start with eyJ]
    3. (For example: eyJ333d69ac79cf455abaf1c7eeb7)
13. Go back, press on “Response Handling” and change to these settings:
    1. On Success: Show a custom message
    2. Message: Done!
    3. On Failure: Show a detailed error message
    4. Display Type: Toast Popup
14. Go back, press on “Trigger & Execution Settings”, and make sure “Allow receiving files from share dialogue” is ticked.
15. Go back, and press the top-right tick-mark to save.
16. To test, I went into my web browser (Firefox Focus), went to a random website and then pressed the Share button. Up pops a bunch of applications on the device, scroll, find and press on “HTTP Shortcuts Send To…”. If everything works correctly, a pop-up saying “Done!” Should appear and when you go to Blinko, the URL should be there as a new Blinko in your application.

With all this, I migrated everything over to Blinko, with no need for memos or Octarine anymore.

Conclusion

I’ve been daily driving these changes now for a few weeks, and I am very happy with the outcome. Not only has my system of using Blinkos like memos from my phone to computer worked really well, but I also really like the Notes side too, although haven’t even gone through all the settings yet to fully customise it! Although Blinko Snap is a nice mini companion desktop application for quickly sending quick notes into Blinko, I would still prefer a complete native Mac application, as well as a native Android app, as that’s just what I prefer, but as replacements for Octarine and memos, I’ve found this to be a great setup for my note taking - at least for now!