jot

A simple command-line tool for taking notes stored in plain text files.

Install

1. Build from source.

2. Create jot.conf, see Configuration below

   • default_path is only required config

Usage

See jot --help for help.

Creating notes

1. Use jot opens new note in EDITOR (default: vim)

2. Add note inline as a command-line argument

$ jot "Here is my note"

3. Use STDIN by piping or slurping in data

$ git log -1 | jot
$ jot < file-to-import.txt

Types of Notes

There are five types of notes: default, monthly, weekly, daily, new. This is a means for filing notes for different uses. I use the weekly notes for my weekly status updates. My monthly notes are for on-going projects through the month. I use daily or new note types for one-offs.

The note type is specified by using the command-line flag, the default note is when no flag is present.

Flag	Config Name	Format String	Example
--monthly	monthly_format	%Y-%m-%b.md	2021-02-Feb.md
--weekly	weekly_format	%Y-week-%U.md	2021-week-08.md
--daily	daily_format	%Y-%m-%d.md	2021-02-25.md
--new	new_format	%Y%m%d%H%M%S.md	20210225153423.md
	default_format	%Y%m%d%H%M.md	202102251534.md

See https://docs.rs/chrono-wasi/0.4.10/chrono/format/strftime/[Chrono strftime documentation] for format parameters.

Each note type can also have its own path, see config below. If the file does not exist, it will be created, otherwise opened or appended to.

Configuration

You need to set the default_path in the jot.conf config file.

The config file location can be specified various ways, jot will look in the following order to determine where the config file is:

1. Command-line argument. Use jot --config /path/to/jot.conf

2. Environment variable: JOT_CONFIG_FILE

3. Look for platform config directory

a. Linux: ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/jot.conf b. Windows: ${APPDATA}/jot.conf

4. Look for ${HOME}/.config/jot.conf

If not specified or found in any of the above locations, jot will error out with a message to set the configuration file.

The config file is in TOML format, example:

# jot config file

# base directory that all notes are stored
default_path = '~/Documents/jot'

# What format to use for notes
# See: https://docs.rs/chrono/0.4.0/chrono/format/strftime/index.html
default_format = '%Y%m%d%H%M.md'

# 2021-02-Feb.md
monthly_format = "%Y-%m-%b.md"
# monthly_path = '/full/path/to/monthly/notes'

# 2021-week-08.md
weekly_format = "%Y-week-%U.md"
# weekly_path = '/full/path/to/weekly/notes'

# 2021-02-25.md
daily_format = "%Y-%m-%d.md"
# daily_path = '/full/path/to/daily/notes'

# 20210225153423.md
new_format = "%Y%m%d%H%M%S.md"
# new_path = '/full/path/to/new/notes'

Errata

Syncing data - You can use a cloud or sync provider to keep your notes in-sync across computers. I'm happy with the open-source https://syncthing.net/[Syncthing] to keep my Documents folder in sync across computers. I hear Google Drive, Dropbox, and others might be able to do the same.

History

A bit of a toy project, a place to apply programming languages I'm learning, so it has gone through a couple iterations. It was first created in Python (https://github.com/mkaz/jot/tree/python[branch]) and then rewritten in Go (https://github.com/mkaz/jot/tree/golang[branch]). Now, it is Rust's turn.

License

Jot is open-source and free to use, it is licensed under a MIT License

I welcome contributions, but as a side project I may not always respond promptly. Please feel free to open an issues to report a bug, submit a feature, or even a pull request.