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Curio 34 Press Kit

Capture More Than Notes

Curio is a freeform notebook for macOS that gathers your notes, research, and documents into a single local project file, with integrated tools for brainstorming, outlining, mind mapping, and task tracking.

Download Press Kit (ZIP) Curio Home Page Mac App Store
Curio 34 Release Notes Curio 34 Docs

28 MB · updated July 30, 2026

What’s in the Kit

Everything on this page, bundled into a single download. All images are unframed, full-resolution captures — crop and scale them as you like.

  • Screenshots — the device-framed hero image, plus six full-resolution, unframed PNG captures of Curio 34 at 2880 × 1800.
  • Curio 34 — feature captures of Kanban boards, the Curio CLI, macOS widgets, table formulas, and more.
  • Brand — the Curio app icon at 512, 256, and 128 pixels, plus the Zengobi logo as PNG and SVG.
  • README.txt — fact sheet, boilerplate, and press contact.

Curio screenshots and app icons may be reproduced in articles, reviews, and roundups about Curio without asking us first. If you need something that isn’t here — a specific feature capture, a higher-resolution asset, a review license, or a walkthrough — just ask.

Fact Sheet

App
Curio 34
What it is
Curio is a freeform notebook for macOS that gathers your notes, research, and documents into a single local project file, with integrated tools for brainstorming, outlining, mind mapping, and task tracking.
Platform
macOS 15 Sequoia through macOS 27 Golden Gate, on Apple silicon or Intel (universal binary)
Curio 34 release
September 1, 2026
First released
Curio 1.0 shipped in 2004 and has been in continuous development since.
Price
License keys from $79.99 to $119.99 (one-time, includes a year of updates). Mac App Store subscriptions from $5 per month billed yearly. Free 2-week trial; free mode afterward.
Editions
Curio Standard and Curio Professional. Curio Pro sustainers — customers with an active subscription or a license still inside its update year — also get the Curio CLI and MCP server.
Developer
Zengobi, Inc., North Carolina, USA
Website
https://www.zengobi.com/curio/
Mac App Store
https://apps.apple.com/app/curio/id1475550603
Documentation
https://www.zengobi.com/curio/docs/34/
Release notes
https://www.zengobi.com/curio/releasenotes/?v=34
Videos
https://www.zengobi.com/videos
Press contact
George Browning, Founder, Zengobi, Inc. — george@zengobi.com

About Curio

Copy freely — these blocks are written to be pasted straight into an article.

Short description (one paragraph)

Curio is an intuitive, freeform notebook environment for macOS. Create a project to represent a real-world project, then fill it with everything related to that project — rich text and Markdown notes, images, PDFs, documents, web links, and multimedia — placed anywhere you like on Curio’s freeform idea spaces.

Standard boilerplate (three paragraphs)

Curio is an intuitive, freeform notebook environment for macOS. Create a project to represent a real-world project, then fill it with everything related to that project — rich text and Markdown notes, images, PDFs, documents, web links, and multimedia — placed anywhere you like on Curio’s freeform idea spaces.

Integrated collections such as mind maps, lists, tables, index cards, albums, pinboards, stacks, and Kanban boards organize that material when structure helps, and extensive metadata — tags, dates, priorities, ratings, checkboxes, percent complete, and custom data — makes all of it searchable and trackable.

Every Curio project is a single local file on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded to a remote service, nothing requires an account, and your work stays readable and exportable on your own disk.

Background (context and history)

Most note-taking apps ask you to choose a shape before you start: an outline, a document, a card, a canvas. Curio doesn’t. A Curio idea space is a freeform canvas where a paragraph of text, a scanned handout, a mind map, a table of lab results, and a to-do list can sit side by side, positioned however the work actually makes sense to you.

Curio has been developed continuously by Zengobi since 2004 and has a famously eclectic customer base: designers gathering inspiration and client requirements, writers brainstorming plot and character development, students taking notes and annotating handouts, professors building and presenting lesson plans, scientists collecting lab results, project managers tracking feature checklists, lawyers preparing cases, and entrepreneurs mapping out new companies.

Curio 34 adds Kanban boards that generate their own sorted stacks from any grouping you choose, Excel-style table formulas, project-scoped tag sets, paragraph and character text styles, macOS widgets, Shortcuts support via App Intents, and — for Curio Pro sustainers — the new Curio CLI and its built-in MCP server, which give Terminal scripts and AI agents direct, structured access to Curio projects.

Key Features

What Curio does

  • Arrange anything anywhere on freeform idea spaces.
  • Build mind maps, outlines, lists, tables, index cards, albums, pinboards, stacks, and Kanban boards.
  • Work with rich text and Markdown, images, PDFs, documents, web links, audio, video, equations, and diagrams.
  • Spread a PDF across idea spaces to annotate and take notes page by page.
  • Track work with tags, tag sets, checkboxes, priorities, ratings, resources, and start/due dates.
  • Connect ideas with wikilinks, backlinks, deep links, and cross-references.
  • Find what you need with fast, relevance-ranked search, fuzzy matching, and query-based collections.

Why Curio

  • One integrated workspace. Brainstorm, research, plan, write, and present without scattering your work across unrelated apps.
  • Local-first and offline-ready. Your projects are files on your Mac, under your control.
  • Flexible and visual. Start with a blank canvas, or use built-in collections, templates, and styles to give ideas structure.
  • No lock-in. Extensive import, export, and printing options keep your work usable elsewhere.
  • Made for deep work. Researchers, writers, students, educators, designers, project managers, and engineers use Curio to develop ideas, collect sources, plan projects, take class notes, prepare presentations, and track work.

What’s New in Curio 34

The headline additions. The full release notes cover dozens more improvements and fixes.

Kanban Boards

A new collection type that automatically generates sorted stacks from a grouping you choose — priority, rating, tag set, or dates like start, due, and last modified. Drag a card between stacks and Curio updates the underlying metadata to match its new home.

Smart Kanban Boards Pro

Curio Pro backs a Kanban board with a search query, pulling matching figures from anywhere in the project into synced instances that stay live with their originals.

Curio CLI and MCP Server Pro sustainers

A separately installed curio command line tool that opens Curio to Terminal users, shell and Python scripts, AI agents, and MCP hosts like Claude Desktop — querying, reading, and updating figures, importing and exporting content, and navigating projects. A perk for Curio Pro sustainers.

Table Formulas Pro

Table cells accept Excel-like structured reference formulas using column names rather than A1-style references, with current-row ([@Column]) and whole-column ([Column]) references plus the usual math and text functions. Rendered Markdown tables support them too.

macOS Widgets

Status and Query widgets bring Curio tasks and query results to the macOS Desktop and Notification Center. Click any item to open Curio and jump straight to it.

Shortcuts via App Intents

Native Shortcuts actions for opening projects, finding items, reading the current selection, navigating to results, and exporting or importing content — automation without touching a command line.

Synced Collection Instances Pro

Copied lists, mind maps, and stacks mirror their source, keeping item content and metadata in sync across idea spaces.

References Panel Pro

Attach typed references to any figure using Curio jump targets or web URLs from the clipboard, building a cross-reference layer over a project.

Project Tag Sets

Tag sets can now be scoped to a single project while keeping colors, ordering, and Kanban grouping support.

Paragraph and Character Text Styles

Project-wide paragraph and character styles that update matching rich text and Markdown across the project, joined by new kerning, line height, and paragraph spacing controls.

Flexible Adornment Positions

Checkboxes, tags, dates, priorities, and ratings can be placed at any of twelve positions around a figure, with checkbox adornments optionally separated into their own aligned margin.

Word Count and Readability

A Word Count status bar module shows live selection metrics with a detailed popover covering readability and sentiment, including Flesch-Kincaid and Gunning Fog.

Screenshots

The hero image is device-framed and ready to lead an article; everything below it is an unframed capture at 2880 × 1800. Click any image for the full-resolution PNG, or grab them all in the press kit.

The image we lead with on the Curio home page. Unlike the captures below it’s device-framed rather than a raw screenshot, which makes it a natural lead image for an article or roundup.
Hero image Curio on a MacBook Pro

The image we lead with on the Curio home page. Unlike the captures below it’s device-framed rather than a raw screenshot, which makes it a natural lead image for an article or roundup.

Full-resolution PNG (4260 × 2840)

  • A research idea space mixing rich text, a highlighted quote, hand-styled note cards, an embedded PDF, an equation, and a photo album — with the Organizer sidebar at left and the Layers popover at right.
    Freeform Idea Space

    A research idea space mixing rich text, a highlighted quote, hand-styled note cards, an embedded PDF, an equation, and a photo album — with the Organizer sidebar at left and the Layers popover at right.

    Full-resolution PNG 2880 × 1800 JPG

  • The Insert popover, offering text, shapes, stencils, lists, mind maps, tables, index cards, albums, pinboards, stacks, Kanban boards, compositions, audio and video recordings, equations, and live web views.
    Insert Anything

    The Insert popover, offering text, shapes, stencils, lists, mind maps, tables, index cards, albums, pinboards, stacks, Kanban boards, compositions, audio and video recordings, equations, and live web views.

    Full-resolution PNG 2880 × 1800 JPG

  • A long-form research note with Markdown formatting, an embedded mind map, and a data table, while the Sleuth shelf keeps ChatGPT open beside the work.
    Research Alongside AI

    A long-form research note with Markdown formatting, an embedded mind map, and a data table, while the Sleuth shelf keeps ChatGPT open beside the work.

    Full-resolution PNG 2880 × 1800 JPG

  • Curio’s integrated Journal for daily class or meeting notes, with the cross-project Status shelf at right aggregating tasks from every open project by due date.
    Journal and Status Shelf

    Curio’s integrated Journal for daily class or meeting notes, with the cross-project Status shelf at right aggregating tasks from every open project by due date.

    Full-resolution PNG 2880 × 1800 JPG

  • Spread PDF lays the pages of a document across an idea space — and across additional idea spaces — so notes and annotations can sit alongside each page.
    Spread a PDF for Annotation

    Spread PDF lays the pages of a document across an idea space — and across additional idea spaces — so notes and annotations can sit alongside each page.

    Full-resolution PNG 2880 × 1800 JPG

  • The bundled Welcome to Curio project that opens on first launch, shown with a tabloid composition and the Stencils shelf of bundled and custom stencils.
    Welcome to Curio

    The bundled Welcome to Curio project that opens on first launch, shown with a tabloid composition and the Stencils shelf of bundled and custom stencils.

    Full-resolution PNG 2880 × 1800 JPG

Curio 34 Feature Images

Captures of the new features described above, sized for inline use in an article.

  • A Kanban board grouped by priority, generating one stack per value with a fallback None stack. Dragging a card to another stack changes the underlying priority.
    Kanban Boards

    A Kanban board grouped by priority, generating one stack per value with a fallback None stack. Dragging a card to another stack changes the underlying priority.

  • A Curio Pro query-backed Kanban board gathering tagged figures from across a project into synced instances.
    Smart Kanban Boards

    A Curio Pro query-backed Kanban board gathering tagged figures from across a project into synced instances.

  • One list, three views. A Curio Pro synced instance can carry its own styling — or take an entirely different shape, like a mind map — while item text, checkboxes, and progress stay in lockstep with the original.
    Synced Collection Instances

    One list, three views. A Curio Pro synced instance can carry its own styling — or take an entirely different shape, like a mind map — while item text, checkboxes, and progress stay in lockstep with the original.

  • Automation with real reach. The curio command opens a project to Terminal users and shell or Python scripts, while its built-in MCP server hands the same full command set to AI agents like Claude Code, Codex, and Claude Desktop — querying and rewriting figures, setting metadata, importing and exporting, building Organizer structure, and navigating, all without touching the UI.
    Curio CLI + MCP

    Automation with real reach. The curio command opens a project to Terminal users and shell or Python scripts, while its built-in MCP server hands the same full command set to AI agents like Claude Code, Codex, and Claude Desktop — querying and rewriting figures, setting metadata, importing and exporting, building Organizer structure, and navigating, all without touching the UI.

  • Excel-style structured reference formulas evaluated inside a Curio Pro table.
    Table Formulas

    Excel-style structured reference formulas evaluated inside a Curio Pro table.

  • The same structured reference formulas inside a rendered Markdown table — column-name references, running totals, and TEXT number formatting, computed live. We’re not aware of another Markdown editor or renderer that does this.
    Markdown Table Formulas

    The same structured reference formulas inside a rendered Markdown table — column-name references, running totals, and TEXT number formatting, computed live. We’re not aware of another Markdown editor or renderer that does this.

  • The Status widget on the macOS Desktop, mirroring Curio Pro’s Status shelf: tasks from every project grouped by stage, with priorities, due dates, and progress. A Query widget covers results from a specific saved query.
    macOS Widgets

    The Status widget on the macOS Desktop, mirroring Curio Pro’s Status shelf: tasks from every project grouped by stage, with priorities, due dates, and progress. A Query widget covers results from a specific saved query.

  • Typed references attached to a figure using Curio jump targets and web URLs.
    References Panel

    Typed references attached to a figure using Curio jump targets and web URLs.

  • The Text inspector with project-wide paragraph and character styles, kerning, line height, and paragraph spacing controls.
    Paragraph and Character Styles

    The Text inspector with project-wide paragraph and character styles, kerning, line height, and paragraph spacing controls.

  • Tag sets scoped to a single project sit alongside global ones — the briefcase and globe icons mark which is which — with colors and ordering preserved for Kanban grouping.
    Project Tag Sets

    Tag sets scoped to a single project sit alongside global ones — the briefcase and globe icons mark which is which — with colors and ordering preserved for Kanban grouping.

  • The Word Count status bar module tracks the current selection live, and its popover adds sentiment plus Flesch-Kincaid, Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog, and Coleman-Liau scores, each with a plain-English reading.
    Word Count and Readability

    The Word Count status bar module tracks the current selection live, and its popover adds sentiment plus Flesch-Kincaid, Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog, and Coleman-Liau scores, each with a plain-English reading.

  • Adornments can now sit at any of twelve positions around a figure, and checkboxes can be separated into their own margin. Here checkboxes line up with the outline numbering on the left while dates, resources, and tags gather into tidy columns on the right.
    New Adornment Locations

    Adornments can now sit at any of twelve positions around a figure, and checkboxes can be separated into their own margin. Here checkboxes line up with the outline numbering on the left while dates, resources, and tags gather into tidy columns on the right.

Brand Assets

The Curio app icon and the Zengobi logo. Please don’t recolor, distort, or rebuild them.

Video walkthroughs and feature overviews are on our video page and YouTube channel.

Curio Standard and Professional

Curio ships in two editions. A feature-by-feature comparison is on the Curio home page.

Both Curio Standard and Curio Professional include:

  • Freeform idea spaces and rich text, Markdown, document, image, PDF, audio, and video figures
  • Mind maps, lists, tables, cards, albums, pinboards, stacks, Kanban boards, compositions, and focus mode
  • Shapes, lines, pens and brushes, equation editing, templates, stencils, and paragraph and character text styles
  • Search with tags, checklists, task priorities, ratings, resources, start/due dates, and regular expressions
  • A live word count with readability and sentiment details
  • Import and export options, PDF export, powerful PDF import, and Calendar and Reminders syncing
  • An integrated research browser with support for popular AI and web services
  • Native Shortcuts actions and a macOS Query widget

Curio Professional adds:

  • Smart Kanban boards and other query-based collections
  • Formulas in native and Markdown tables
  • Synced figure and collection instances, file-backed text, and sync file figures
  • Mermaid diagrams, syntax-highlighted code blocks, layers, and typed figure references
  • Project-wide status tracking and a macOS Status widget
  • Custom data, variables, master templates, presentation mode, custom appearance themes, project passwords, and more
  • The Curio CLI and its MCP server for Terminal and AI agent automation — a separate download for Pro sustainers

Pricing and Availability

Curio is sold two ways: a one-time license key from our website, or a subscription from the Mac App Store. Both unlock nearly identical feature sets. All prices are US dollars.

License keys (zengobi.com)

EditionNew licenseAcademicUpgrade
Curio 34 Professional $119.99 $99.99 from $79.99
Curio 34 Standard $99.99 $79.99 from $59.99

A license key is a one-time purchase that includes a full year of free major and minor updates. Curio doesn’t expire when that year ends — it simply stops receiving updates until the license is renewed. Crossgrades and volume discounts are available, with an automatic 20% discount on quantities of 20 or more. See the License Key FAQ.

Subscriptions (Mac App Store)

EditionBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Curio Professional$6 / month$8 / month
Curio Standard$5 / month$6 / month

Apple handles billing and renewals, and all updates arrive automatically. Academic and volume discounts aren’t available on subscriptions. See the Subscription FAQ.

Trial and free mode

Curio starts a 2-week trial with every Professional feature enabled, and opens the bundled Welcome to Curio project on first launch for a guided tour. When the trial ends without a purchase, Curio keeps working in free mode with the Standard feature set and projects of up to five idea spaces; larger projects open read-only for viewing, exporting, and printing.

Curio CLI and MCP

The Curio CLI is a separate, free download for Curio Pro sustainers, distributed and updated independently of the main app so protocol and security updates can ship on their own cadence. It works with both the website and Mac App Store editions of Curio. See the Curio CLI documentation and CLI release notes.

About Zengobi

Zengobi, Inc. is a small independent Mac software company based in North Carolina. Work on Curio began in late 2002, prototyped and refined with a focus group of creative designers, with the goal of blending the freeform flexibility of a whiteboard, sketchbook, and notebook with organized, integrated collections such as lists, mind maps, and index cards.

Curio 1.0 shipped in early 2004 and has been developed continuously ever since, earning innovation awards and a customer base that ranges from students and professors to engineers, designers, lawyers, writers, entrepreneurs, and filmmakers. More about the company is on our about page.

Press Contact

George Browning, Founder, Zengobi, Inc.

george@zengobi.com

Mention your publication and your deadline and we’ll get back to you quickly. We’re happy to provide review licenses, answer technical questions, arrange a walkthrough, or capture a specific screenshot you need for a story.