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ZettelGeist is a terminal-based note-taking system. For an overview, see the ZettelGeist homepage.

First-time visitors should read our statement on note format (below) and instructions for Installing the Tools. Proceed from there to the Manual.

The note format

A note (or zettel, or card) is nothing more than a Markdown document with YAML frontmatter.

The YAML frontmatter has the following fields. All fields are optional. All fields are string data unless stated otherwise.

• title
• summary
• comment
• tags: one or more keywords (list of string)
• mentions: one or more mentions (list of string)
• dates: a year and era as a nested dictionary
• bibtex: bibtex, ris, or inline, subject to validity checking
• url
• bibkey
• cite: a bibkey (from same or another zettel) and a page number (or range of page numbers)
• note: usually the text you want to cite, unless you put this in the Markdown document element

In most situations, freeform text is permitted. In some situations, you will need to quote text, especially if you are using reserved YAML characters.

Here's an example in which most of the YAML fields are used.

---
title: First BIB Note for Castells
tags:
  - Castells
  - Network Society
  - Charles Babbage is Awesome
  - Charles Didn't do Everything
mentions:
  - gkt
  - dbdennis
dates:
  year: "2016"
  era: "AD"
cite:
  bibkey: Castells Rise 2016
  page: ii-iv
comment: This is my first zettel but my comments have nothing to do with the note itself.
summary: Lorem ipsum rocks. This is a summary of what you see in the note field.
note: |
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam eleifend est sed diam maximus rutrum. Quisque sit amet imperdiet odio, id tristique libero. Aliquam viverra convallis mauris vel tristique. Cras ac dolor non risus porttitor molestie vel at nisi. Donec vitae finibus quam. Phasellus vehicula urna sed nibh condimentum, ultrices interdum velit eleifend. Nam suscipit dolor eu rutrum fringilla. Sed pulvinar purus purus, sit amet venenatis enim convallis a. Duis fringilla nisl sit amet erat lobortis dictum. Nunc fringilla arcu nec ex blandit, a gravida purus commodo. Vivamus lacinia tellus dui, vel maximus lacus ornare id.

  Vivamus euismod justo sit amet luctus bibendum. Integer non mi ullamcorper enim fringilla vulputate sit amet in urna. Nullam eu sodales ipsum. Curabitur id convallis ex. Duis a condimentum lorem. Nulla et urna massa. Duis in nibh eu elit lobortis vehicula. Mauris congue mauris mollis metus lacinia, ut suscipit mi egestas. Donec luctus ante ante, eget viverra est mollis vitae.

  Vivamus in purus in erat dictum scelerisque. Aliquam dictum quis ligula ac euismod. Mauris elementum metus vel scelerisque feugiat. Vivamus bibendum massa eu pellentesque sodales. Nulla nec lacus dolor. Donec scelerisque, nibh sed placerat gravida, nunc turpis tristique nibh, ac feugiat enim massa ut eros. Nulla finibus, augue egestas hendrerit accumsan, tellus augue tempor eros, in sagittis dolor turpis nec mi. Nunc fringilla mi non malesuada aliquet.
bibkey:
  Castells Rise 1996
bibtex: |
  @book{castells_rise_1996,
    address = {Cambridge, Mass.},
    series = {Castells, {Manuel}, 1942- {Information} age . v},
    title = {The rise of the network society},
    isbn = {978-1-55786-616-5},
    language = {eng},
    publisher = {Blackwell Publishers},
    author = {Castells, Manuel},
    year = {1996},
    keywords = {Information networks., Information society., Information technology Economic aspects., Information technology Social aspects., Technology and civilization.}
  }
---

Here is a simple example of a bookmark:

---
title: Zettelgeist.com
url: http://zettelgeist.com
note: Zettelgeist is a plaintext notetaking system designed for scholarly/research purposes.
---

If you want to use Markdown formatting, use the document element instead of note. Here is a simple example of a bookmark:

---
title: Zettelgeist.com
url: http://zettelgeist.com
---
Zettelgeist is a plaintext notetaking system designed for scholarly/research purposes.