Apr 15, 2026

Subject: When the crisis comes & Scratch is a minimalist markdown scratchpad for macOS

Hi,

Welcome to Creativerly 372! I’m Philipp, and in this issue, I share some personal reflections about reading and writing—two sides of the same coin that fuel creativity and idea generation. Lately, I’ve struggled with motivation to read and write, but simply writing this intro has already sparked some energy.

Here are some highlights from this week:

• Capacities introduces Image Analysis (early access)

  This new AI-powered feature analyzes your screenshots, documents, and photos to extract searchable text, color palettes, descriptions, and categories, including handwritten notes. This makes organizing and finding image content so much easier.

• Scratch: A minimalist markdown scratchpad for macOS

  Scratch is an offline-first, keyboard-optimized markdown notes app by Eric Li. It’s design-centric, AI-friendly, and stores notes locally as .md files. With WYSIWYG editing, customizable themes, AI integrations (Claude Code, Codex, Ollama), and a focus mode for distraction-free writing, Scratch is a pleasure to use. Best of all, it’s free, open source, and requires no sign-up.

• Mental Wealth Insights

• “When the crisis comes” explores how we don’t have to feel overwhelmed or paralyzed by constant crises if we approach them with mindfulness and leadership.
• Reflections on 20 years of writing, including thousands of essays and multiple books.
• Thoughts on coding speed problems—the real issues might be larger than just writing code quickly.

• A “30 days of writing” project wrap-up, highlighting diverse topics from side projects to personal finance.

• Don’t miss out

  Discover Amadine, a vector editor for Apple devices, Setapp’s task-solving subscription, and Fathom’s privacy-first website analytics with a special trial offer.

• Quick bits & news round-up

  Coverage of timely topics such as AI model releases, tech strikes, geopolitical events, policy changes, and innovations in sustainable energy.

If you find value in Creativerly, forward this newsletter to a friend or support by buying a coffee to help keep it going.

Thanks for reading!

Philipp

P.S. You can explore all the curated tools, products, and more at creativerly.com.

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[Get started with Meco app for distraction-free newsletter reading]

[Download Scratch free from Eric Li’s GitHub]

View online version: Creativerly 372

Stay Well!