HTML Clay

Simple Apps. One File.

A whole app in one local HTML file. Anyone can make one, because it's just HTML.

Download
Free. No account. Works offline.

A file you own

One file, start to finish

Email it, back it up, drop it in any folder. No account, no cloud, no app store. The file is the whole app, and it belongs to you.

Your changes stick

Jot a note, check a box, drag things around. It saves itself right back into the file. Reopen it next week and it's exactly as you left it.

Quiet and private

It runs entirely on your computer. No sign-up, no tracking, nothing leaves your machine. It even works on a plane.

How it works

Install HTML Clay

One small, free app. One time.

Double-click a file

Any .htmlclay file opens in your browser, in an ordinary tab. Same browser you already use, same shortcuts.

Just use it

Type, edit, organize. Changes go back into the same file, and most files save as you go.

It's just a web page

Rename it .html and it opens in any browser. HTML Clay only adds one thing: the ability for the page to save your edits back into the file.

What people make

Is it safe?

As safe as a web page. It runs in your browser's sandbox, and a page saves only into its own file. The one exception is a folder you explicitly trust: inside it, any HTML Clay file can change any other, which is what makes a project of linked documents work. Nothing outside your home folder opens at all. The one real risk is the same anywhere online: be cautious if a page asks you to download and run a separate program.

The long version of everything the app does, with this boundary stated exactly, is on the features page.

Download v1.8.0

macOS Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel), signed and notarized
HTMLClay-1.8.0-universal.dmg 00ca5f43e035c673fca6bded2040304574adc8bf04542b80609ed0fe108630a1
Windows 64-bit Intel or AMD, signed
htmlclay-windows-amd64.zip 93fbc9f9a9446ba62b94138699faad1591db7f3119a7d3732730e33197ef0e9f
Windows ARM64, signed
htmlclay-windows-arm64.zip df3903bde0b5b2655718bc07c627ebce74903c847e82b911e9ea354b467a2133
Linux x86_64
htmlclay-linux-amd64.tar.gz 198ab187fd4dadd16faf8626d612befff7fc9a058561731a7799d7c4e8cb1b38
Linux ARM64
htmlclay-linux-arm64.tar.gz 170603af72b3c81478c5332e84f1d03caf266e32d73ce644d6c4c1bda859b9bf

Opening it. On macOS, drag it into Applications. On Windows, unzip it and run htmlclay.exe once: it sets up .htmlclay files for your account, with no administrator prompt. On Linux, unpack the tarball and run bash install.sh, which installs into ~/.local/bin and never asks for sudo.

One thing Linux needs. Permission prompts are real desktop dialogs, drawn by zenity or kdialog. With neither installed, a file opened from outside a folder you trust is refused rather than asked about. Folders you trust work either way.

Checking what you downloaded. Every file's SHA-256 is listed in SHA256SUMS. Hash your copy and compare it with the matching line: sha256sum <file> on Linux, shasum -a 256 <file> on macOS, certutil -hashfile <file> SHA256 on Windows.

The simplest way to make and run software.