StickySync

A modern, sync-ready sticky-notes app for macOS — like the built-in Stickies, but with iCloud sync across your devices, on-note color and font controls, and a cleaner UI.

Status

• Local app — done: borderless rounded notes, hover-revealed color palette and font/size pickers, drag / resize / double-click-to-roll-up, soft-delete, persistence.
• iCloud sync — working: notes sync across your Macs via CloudKit (NSPersistentCloudKitContainer). Window geometry stays device-local.

Layout

.
├── Package.swift          # NotesKit Swift package (model + stores)
├── Sources/NotesKit/      # platform-agnostic: Note, NoteStore, palette, fonts
├── Tests/NotesKitTests/   # round-trip tests (swift test)
└── StickySync/            # the macOS app (Xcode project)
    ├── StickySync.xcodeproj
    └── StickySync/        # AppKit UI; links NotesKit; carries the entitlements

NotesKit is a Swift package (Foundation + CoreData, no UI framework) so the Mac app — and a future iOS app — reuse it unchanged. Persistence sits behind a NoteStore protocol with two implementations: JSONNoteStore (local) and CloudKitNoteStore (Core Data + CloudKit). The Xcode app links the NotesKit library product and supplies the AppKit UI.

Two deliberate model decisions: window geometry is device-local (never synced); colors and fonts are stored as stable tokens (not values/indexes) for light/dark theming, palette reorder-safety, and cross-device font fidelity.

Build & run

open StickySync/StickySync.xcodeproj   # then ⌘R, destination: My Mac

For sync, the app target needs (already configured):

• iCloud → CloudKit capability, container iCloud.design.wooj.StickySync
• Push Notifications capability
• App Sandbox → Outgoing Connections (Client)
• the CLOUDKIT flag in Active Compilation Conditions (Debug + Release). Without it the app falls back to the local JSONNoteStore.
• the Mac signed into iCloud.

Test the model layer without Xcode:

swift test     # NotesKit round-trip tests

Distributing it to someone else

A direct-download Mac app must be signed with a Developer ID Application certificate and notarized by Apple, or Gatekeeper blocks it. High level:

1. Make sure CLOUDKIT is set for the Release config too.
2. Deploy the CloudKit schema to Production (CloudKit Console → Deploy Schema Changes) — distributed builds use the Production environment, not Development.
3. Xcode → Product ▸ Archive → Distribute App ▸ Direct Distribution (Developer ID). Xcode signs, uploads for notarization, and staples.
4. Export the notarized .app, zip or wrap it in a .dmg, and host it.
5. Each recipient signs into their own iCloud account; their notes sync across their own devices (shared notes would be a later CloudKit-sharing feature).

The Mac App Store is a separate path (App Store Connect + review).

Roadmap

• iPhone app on the same NotesKit.
• CloudKit sharing — share a note with another person.