# How to send a private note that deletes itself after reading

> Paste the text, keep the view limit at 1, pick an expiry, and send the link. How to send a private note step by step, what the recipient sees, and the limits.

Source: https://evergist.com/blog/how-to-send-a-private-note/
Published: 2026-09-30

**Short answer:** a private note is text your device encrypts and turns into a link that stops working after it's read or after a set time. To send one with Evergist, paste the text on the [homepage](https://evergist.com/#new-note), keep the view limit at 1 view, pick an expiry, and send the link. The recipient opens it once, and the server deletes it on that read.

## What is a private note?

A private note is a piece of text that a server holds as ciphertext for a short time and releases only to someone with the link. People also call it a secret note, a self-destructing note, or a burn after reading note.

It differs from a chat message in two ways. The service that stores it can't read it, and the stored copy has an end date. A chat message stays in the archive and shows up in search years later. A private note that has been read once is gone from the server, so the link in that archive opens nothing.

## What should a private note tool do?

Check three properties before you paste anything into a note site.

| Property | Why it matters | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Encrypts before upload | If the server encrypts, the operator can read the note | The link carries a key after the `#`. The browser's Network tab shows ciphertext leaving, not your text |
| Expires or burns after reading | A note that lingers is one more copy to leak | You can set a view limit and an expiry, and a used link shows a "gone" page |
| No account, no logs | An account ties the note to you. Logs record who opened what | No sign-up, no cookies, and a published list of what the server stores |

Tools differ most on the first row. We compared eight tools, ours included, in [Private note sharing compared](https://evergist.com/blog/private-note-sharing-compared/), and we looked at the best-known one separately in [Is Privnote safe?](https://evergist.com/blog/is-privnote-safe/). If you want to know why the key sits after the `#`, read [URL fragment encryption key explained](https://evergist.com/blog/url-fragment-encryption-key-explained/).

Evergist meets all three. Your browser encrypts with AES-256-GCM, the key stays in the link, and we set no cookies and keep no request logs. [What the server stores](https://evergist.com/security/#what-the-server-stores) lists the full record, and the same page has four ways to verify it.

## How do I send a private note with Evergist?

Open [evergist.com](https://evergist.com/#new-note) and use the form at the top.

1. **Paste or type the note.** A counter under the box shows the size against the 512 KiB cap.
2. **Pick "Delete after".** The choices are 10 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days. The form starts on 7 days. For anything the recipient will read today, pick 1 hour or 1 day.
3. **Pick "View limit".** The choices are 1 view (burn after reading), 2 views, 5 views, 10 views, and no view limit. The form starts on 1 view. Leave it there if one person should read the note.
4. **Decide on "Password".** The choices are no password, "Generate one for me", and "Set my own". A password is mixed into the encryption key, so the link alone can't open the note.
5. **Click "Create encrypted link".** Ctrl+Enter or Cmd+Enter in the text box does the same. The browser encrypts, uploads the ciphertext, and clears the text box.
6. **Copy the link and send it.** The result page shows the link, the expiry, the view limit, and the generated password if you asked for one. Send the whole link. Everything after the `#` is the key.

If you set a password, send it through a different channel than the link. Text the password if you emailed the link, or say it on a call.

The result page also has a "Delete it now" button, for a link that went to the wrong person and hasn't been opened. The button exists only on that page, so decide before you click "Write another" or close the tab.

## What does the recipient see?

The recipient sees a page that says "Someone sent you an encrypted note", with the expiry time and the number of views left. Nothing has been spent at this point. The page checks the note's status first, and that check doesn't use a view.

What happens next depends on your settings:

- **One view left.** A warning says the note will be deleted as soon as they open it. They click "Open the note", the browser decrypts it, and the server deletes its copy. A notice tells them the page now holds the only one.
- **Password set.** A password field appears above the button. A wrong password shows how many attempts remain. The tenth wrong password deletes the note.
- **No view limit and no password.** The note opens straight away, with no button to click.

Once the note is open, the recipient can copy it, download it as a text file, or delete it from the server early.

Anyone who opens the link after the last view, after the expiry, or after a delete sees "This note doesn't exist anymore". A link pasted without the part after `#` shows "This link is missing its key", and the fix is to copy the full link again.

## Can an AI agent or a script send a private note?

Yes. The same note can come from a terminal, a CI job, or a coding agent, and the encryption still runs on the machine that creates it. There is no hosted endpoint that accepts plaintext.

From a terminal with Node.js 20 or newer, nothing to install:

```sh
# Create a note from a file, readable once, gone in an hour
npx -y evergist create note.txt --views 1 --expires 1h

# Check a link without using a view
npx -y evergist status "https://evergist.com/g/<id>#<key>"

# Read it (uses one view)
npx -y evergist read "https://evergist.com/g/<id>#<key>" > note.txt
```

For an agent that speaks MCP, add the local server once:

```sh
claude mcp add evergist -- npx -y evergist mcp
```

The agent then has `create_gist`, `read_gist`, `gist_status`, and `delete_gist`. Ask it to "send this privately" and it returns a link instead of printing the text into the transcript. The [agent guide](https://evergist.com/agents/) has the setup for Codex, Cursor, and other clients.

An agent that reads a note sees its contents, the same as a person would. The link keeps the text out of chat history and off our server. It doesn't hide the text from whoever opens it.

## What are the limits?

- **Text only.** A note holds up to 512 KiB of UTF-8 text. No files, no images. For those, pick a tool with attachments. Our [comparison](https://evergist.com/blog/private-note-sharing-compared/) names three.
- **30 days at most, and view limits in the form stop at 10.** The CLI and API accept 1 to 1,000 views.
- **The link is the key.** Anyone who gets the full link before the intended reader can open the note. A password sent separately closes that gap.
- **No recovery.** There are no accounts and no key backups. If you lose the link, the note is unreadable, for us too.
- **Deletion covers our copy.** Burn after reading removes the note from the server. It can't stop a recipient from copying, downloading, or photographing what they read.
- **You trust the page we serve.** The JavaScript comes from our server, as it does with every browser-based tool. The CLI runs code you can pin and read.
- **Rate limits.** One network can create 10 notes per minute and 120 per hour.

## Questions

### Can the people who run the service read my private note?

With Evergist, no. The browser encrypts before upload and the key never leaves the link, so we hold ciphertext with no way to open it. Some note sites encrypt on the server, which means the operator holds the key. [Onetime Secret works that way](https://evergist.com/blog/onetime-secret-alternative/), per its own audit document.

### What happens if someone else opens the link first?

They read the note, and the intended recipient sees "This note doesn't exist anymore". Treat that page as an alarm. If the note held a password or a key, change it. A one-view note can't prevent an interception, but it makes one visible.

### Does a link preview use up the only view?

Loading the page doesn't use a view. A note with a view limit waits for a click on "Open the note", and the status check before that click costs nothing. A note with no view limit and no password opens on load, but it has no views to lose. [Do link previews burn one-time links?](https://evergist.com/blog/do-link-previews-burn-one-time-links/) covers the cases in detail.

## Next steps

- Agent instructions, with every command: https://evergist.com/SKILL.md
- MCP server, CLI, and REST API setup: https://evergist.com/agents.md