Lepton
A lean desktop app for organizing code snippets stored in GitHub Gists or GitLab snippets.
- Stars
- 10.3k
- Forks
- 479
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- JavaScript
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Lepton is a desktop app for saving and organizing small pieces of code and notes. Instead of storing snippets only on your computer, it syncs them with GitHub Gist or GitLab personal snippets. It supports tags, language groups, Markdown and Jupyter Notebook content, search, and light and dark themes.
- Save and tag code snippets in a desktop app that syncs to your GitHub Gist account
- Write and store Markdown notes alongside code
- Search across your snippets with the Shift + Space shortcut
- Customize the theme, shortcuts, and proxy through a .leptonrc file
Great for
- Developers who already keep snippets as GitHub Gists or GitLab snippets
- People who want a desktop editor for their existing snippet collection
- Users who want Markdown or Jupyter notebook snippets in one place
- Users who need a proxy or GitHub Enterprise support
Not ideal for
- People who want fully offline storage, since the README describes syncing with GitHub or GitLab
- Users who need real GitHub login without setting up their own OAuth client ID and secret, since the README says the dummy config will not support real login
- Teams looking for shared or collaborative snippet editing, which the README does not describe
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: Homebrew (macOS, optional) · Snap (Linux, optional)
macOS install via Homebrew
brew install --cask leptonLinux install via Snap
snap install lepton - 2
Run it
- Install Lepton using Homebrew on macOS, Snap on Linux, or download a package from the releases page on any platform
- Open the app and sign in with your GitHub or GitLab account
- Create a new snippet with Cmd/Ctrl + N
- Press Cmd/Ctrl + S to submit your changes
- Press Cmd/Ctrl + R to sync snippets with your provider
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Create a .leptonrc file in your home directory to change the theme, editor, shortcuts, or proxy settings
- Use the Dashboard (Cmd/Ctrl + D) and Immersive mode (Cmd/Ctrl + I) for different views
- Use search (Shift + Space) to find snippets by content, as described in the Search FAQ
- Set i18n.locale in .leptonrc to use one of the eight listed interface languages
Downloads
Strengths
- Free and MIT licensed, with a Free feature listed in the README
- Works on macOS, Windows, and Linux
- Customizable through a documented config file and a range of built-in themes
Trade-offs
- Setup for development requires registering a GitHub OAuth application and adding its credentials to a local config file
- The README says the smoke tests are non-blocking CI checks and that fixtures do not verify OAuth, snippet CRUD, or sync
- Depends on GitHub or GitLab services for storage
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lepton (this) | 10.3k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who already keep snippets as GitHub Gists or GitLab snippets |
| dash | 24.5k | Framework | intermediate | 6 days ago | Python developers who want to share data analysis as an interactive web app |
| ZY-Player | 14.5k | App | beginner | 3.7 years ago | People who want a desktop player for online video sources without ads |
| PicGo | 27.5k | App | beginner | 17 days ago | Bloggers and note-takers who paste screenshots into Markdown editors |
| electron-vue | 15.3k | Learning resource | intermediate | 4.8 years ago | Developers who already know Vue and want to build a desktop app |
| reactide | 10.5k | Dev tool | intermediate | 3.8 years ago | Developers who build React apps and want the editor, preview, and terminal in one window |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.