Note cli

Introducing Note Cli

Note CLI is a tool that allows users to create or open notes without ever leaving the terminal. If you're someone like me who lives in the terminal and is obsessed with note-taking, this might be the perfect tool for you.

Whether you’re using Nvim or Obsidian, this utility helps you create notes on the fly without losing focus losing focus.

Table of Contents

• Install
• Environment Configuration
• Commands and Usage Example
• How to Customize note templates

Install

Requirements

• Golang version > 1.21
• Nvim installed

Binary Installation

go install github.com/MovieMaker93/note-cli@latest

This installs a go binary that will automatically bind to your $GOPATH

Building and Installing from Source

Clone the Note-Cli repository from GitHub:

git-clone https://github.com/MovieMaker93/note-cli

Build the Note-Cli binary:

go build

Install in your PATH to make it accessible system-wide:

go install

Verify the installation by running:

note-cli version

Environment Configuration

You can set up your Vault path, Daily Note directory, New Note default directory, and date format via environment variables. A full example can be found in the .env file.

Brief description:

• DAILY_PATH: Defines the directory where you store your daily notes in Obsidian
• NEW_NOTE_PATH: Defines the directory for your new notes in Obsidian (consume or refine)
• VAULT: Defines the absolute path to your Obsidian Vault
• DATE_FORMAT: Set your preferred date format. For gg/mm/dd format, use 02-01-2006; for the US format use 2006-01-02.

Commands

You can either create a new note (of type refine or consume) or open/create today’s note.

When creating a new note, you have two options:

• Interact with the UI
• Use an imperative command

Both methods allow you to create a note with a title, content, and type. The available note types are consume and refine.

Example

Note

For consume notes, a link to the new note will be automatically created in your Today note.

For the second option, you can use the provided flags to create a refine note without interacting with the UI:

note-cli new -t example-consume -c example-content --type consume

See note-cli new -h for all the options and shorthands.

Another useful command is today, which allows you to open the existing today’s note or create one if it’s missing:

note-cli today

How to Customize Note templates

The creation of both the Today and New notes is based on custom templates. You can find them inside: cmd/template/note/files

These templates are built using Go's tmpl package. If you wish to customize them, simply modify the following files:

• cmd/template/note/file/consume.tmpl --> for consume note
• cmd/template/note/file/refine.tmpl --> for refine note
• cmd/template/note/file/today.tmpl --> for today note