refactor: major README overhaul — branding, formatting, new tools, comparison table

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/report-issue.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+name: "Report an issue"
+description: "Report a broken link, outdated entry, or incorrect information"
+labels: ["bug"]
+body:
+  - type: input
+    id: tool
+    attributes:
+      label: Tool name
+      placeholder: "Which tool has the issue?"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+  - type: dropdown
+    id: issue_type
+    attributes:
+      label: Issue type
+      options:
+        - "Broken link"
+        - "Outdated description"
+        - "Wrong category"
+        - "Project abandoned/archived"
+        - "License changed"
+        - "Duplicate entry"
+        - "Other"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+  - type: textarea
+    id: details
+    attributes:
+      label: Details
+      description: "What's wrong and what should it be?"
+    validations:
+      required: true

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/suggest-tool.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+name: "Suggest a tool"
+description: "Suggest a new note-taking tool to add to the list"
+labels: ["suggestion"]
+body:
+  - type: input
+    id: name
+    attributes:
+      label: Tool name
+      placeholder: "e.g., Obsidian"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+  - type: input
+    id: url
+    attributes:
+      label: URL
+      placeholder: "https://..."
+    validations:
+      required: true
+  - type: dropdown
+    id: category
+    attributes:
+      label: Category
+      options:
+        - "Open Source — Native GUI"
+        - "Open Source — CLI"
+        - "Open Source — TUI"
+        - "Open Source — Editor Plugin"
+        - "Open Source — Electron"
+        - "Open Source — Tauri"
+        - "Open Source — Web UI"
+        - "Proprietary"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+  - type: textarea
+    id: description
+    attributes:
+      label: Description
+      description: "Brief description (1-2 sentences)"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+  - type: checkboxes
+    id: checks
+    attributes:
+      label: Verification
+      options:
+        - label: "I verified this tool is not already on the list"
+          required: true
+        - label: "This tool is actively maintained (last commit within 12 months)"
+          required: true

.github/pull_request_template.md

@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
-**By submitting this pull request, I promise I have read the [contribution guidelines](https://github.com/tehtbl/awesome-note-taking/blob/master/contributing.md) twice and ensured my submission follows it. 🖖**
+## What does this PR do?
 
-⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆
+<!-- Describe the change: adding a tool, fixing a link, updating an entry, etc. -->
+
+## Checklist
+
+- [ ] I have read the [contribution guidelines](contributing.md)
+- [ ] The entry follows the correct format: `- [icons] [Name](URL) - Description. \`LICENSE\` \`Tech\``
+- [ ] The tool is not already on the list
+- [ ] The tool is actively maintained (last commit within 12 months)
+- [ ] Icons are accurate (checked platform support, sync, encryption)
+- [ ] The link works and points to the official source
+- [ ] For open-source tools: license (SPDX) and tech stack are included
+- [ ] Added to the correct category

.markdownlint.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Markdownlint configuration for awesome-list format
+# See: https://github.com/DavidAnson/markdownlint/blob/main/doc/Rules.md
+
+# MD013: Line length — disabled because awesome-list entries can be long
+MD013: false
+
+# MD033: Inline HTML — disabled to allow badge divs and back-to-top links
+MD033: false
+
+# MD041: First line should be top-level heading — disabled because we use a div header
+MD041: false
+
+# MD007: Unordered list indentation — allow 2-space indentation for nested editor plugins
+MD007:
+  indent: 2

TODO-manual-steps.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Post-merge growth actions
+
+After the PR is merged:
+
+1. Submit to Hacker News as "Show HN: I curated 100+ note-taking tools with a comparison table"
+2. Post in r/selfhosted, r/ObsidianMD, r/productivity, r/PKMS, r/linux
+3. Open PRs to awesome-selfhosted and awesome-productivity linking to this list
+4. Reach out to top projects (Joplin, Logseq, SiYuan, etc.) to add an awesome-note-taking badge
+5. Verify the list is on sindresorhus/awesome master list

contributing.md

@@ -1,11 +1,67 @@
 # Contribution Guidelines
 
-Please note that this project is released with a [Contributor Code of Conduct](code-of-conduct.md). By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.
+Please note that this project is released with a
+[Contributor Code of Conduct](code-of-conduct.md). By participating in this
+project you agree to abide by its terms.
+
+## Adding a new tool
+
+Please ensure your pull request adheres to the following guidelines:
+
+### Entry format
+
+```
+- [icons] [Tool Name](URL) - Brief description ending with a period. `LICENSE` `Tech/Language`
+```
+
+**Examples:**
+
+```
+- 📖🔁 [Joplin](https://joplinapp.org/) - Open source note-taking with sync and E2EE support. `AGPL-3.0` `Electron/TypeScript`
+- 📕🤖🔁 [Taskade](https://www.taskade.com) - Collaborative note-taking and task management with AI. (Proprietary)
+```
+
+### Icon reference
+
+| Icon | Add when... |
+|:----:|:------------|
+| 📖 | Notes are stored in plain text (Markdown, org-mode, wiki, etc.) |
+| 📕 | Notes are stored in a database or proprietary format |
+| 🤖 | The tool has an Android app |
+| 🍎 | The tool has an iOS app |
+| 👍 | You have personally used it for years and recommend it |
+| 🔁 | The tool provides built-in multi-device sync |
+| 🔒 | The tool supports end-to-end encryption |
+| ⚠️ | Project is archived or no longer actively maintained |
+
+### Checklist for new entries
+
+- [ ] The tool is primarily for note-taking or knowledge management
+- [ ] The description is concise (1-2 sentences) and ends with a period
+- [ ] The link goes to the official website or GitHub repo
+- [ ] Icons are accurate (check platform support, sync, encryption)
+- [ ] For open-source tools: license (SPDX) and tech stack are included
+- [ ] The entry is added to the correct category
+- [ ] The entry is not a duplicate of an existing entry
+- [ ] The tool is actively maintained (last commit within 12 months)
+
+### Categories
+
+Pick the **single most appropriate** category:
+
+- **Native GUI** — Desktop apps with native UI (Qt, GTK, SwiftUI, Flutter, etc.)
+- **CLI** — Command-line tools
+- **TUI** — Terminal user interfaces
+- **Editor Plugin** — Plugins for text editors (VS Code, Emacs, Vim, etc.)
+- **Electron** — Desktop apps built with Electron
+- **Tauri** — Desktop apps built with Tauri
+- **Web UI** — Web-based or self-hosted applications
+- **Proprietary** — Closed-source commercial tools
 
 ## Updating your PR
 
-A lot of times, making a PR adhere to the standards above can be difficult. If 
-the maintainers notice anything that we'd like changed, we'll ask you to edit 
-your PR before we merge it. There's no need to open a new PR, just edit the
-existing one. If you're not sure how to do that, [here is a guide](https://github.com/RichardLitt/knowledge/blob/master/github/amending-a-commit-guide.md)
+If the maintainers notice anything that we'd like changed, we'll ask you to
+edit your PR before we merge it. There's no need to open a new PR, just edit
+the existing one. If you're not sure how to do that,
+[here is a guide](https://github.com/RichardLitt/knowledge/blob/master/github/amending-a-commit-guide.md)
 on the different ways you can update your PR so that we can merge it.

docs/evaluation/README.md

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+# Project Evaluation Framework
+
+This directory contains tools to systematically evaluate all projects
+in the awesome-note-taking list.
+
+## Files
+
+- `parameters.md` — The 30 evaluation parameters used to compare projects
+- `evaluator-prompt.md` — Claude/LLM system prompt to run the evaluation
+- `projects.txt` — Auto-generated list of all projects (pipe-delimited)
+
+## How to run an evaluation
+
+1. Copy the system prompt from `evaluator-prompt.md`
+2. Paste `projects.txt` as the input data
+3. Follow the instructions in the prompt for batched or single-pass processing
+4. Save results to `results/` directory
+
+## When to re-evaluate
+
+- Before major refactors
+- Quarterly (to catch abandoned projects)
+- When adding a large batch of new tools