journal-cli

journal-cli

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Index Your Markdown-Based Journal With Yaml Front Matter!

Getting Started
FAQ
Features

A command line tool, for journaling.

journal-cli makes it super easy to keep a well-organized journal that can be instantly indexed, searched, and browsed all from your terminal window. It's for anyone who likes writing with markdown, loves command line tools, and is highly averse to storing intimate information in the cloud unless it's encrypted.

Markdown + Yaml

Stores entries in plain text on your local file system, written with markdown and yaml front matter. No databases or proprietary file formats. Your entries are readily accessible and will never become unreadable due to obsolescence.

Free & Open Source

Just install and start writing with your favorite markdown editor. (Typora is highly recommended.) Missing a feature you wish it had? Open an issue and let's talk about it.

Cross-Platform

Runs on PowerShell 6 or later, making it compatible with Windows, OSX, and Linux.

Taggable

Tag your entries with keywords and journal-cli will dynamically index your journal, making it easy to find categorized sets of entries. The index can be sorted alphabetically or by count, and can be further manipulated with familiar PowerShell commands. Not a PowerShell afficionado? Check out these recipes.

Notes To (Future) Self

Write notes to your future self with journal-cli's unique "readme" feature which allows you to indicate a specific point in the future when you'd like to re-read your entry. Run Get-ReadmeEntries to return a list of all readme entries which have elapsed. In a future release, readme reminders will be proactive and automatic!

Privacy-Focused

A journal can contain your most intimate, private thoughts. Do you really want that in the cloud, stored insecurely, and vulnerable to hacking? Neither do I, which is why journal-cli stores files offline by default. Only you, dear user, can opt to synchronize your journal with a cloud based tool. (If you do, you are highly encouraged to encrypt it first.)

For the personal...

Take note of the little day-to-day events, right along with the bigger things, that make up your daily life today so you can reflect on them in the future. Think back 10 years... wouldn't it be interesting to glimpse into all the little things from that period you've long since forgotten about? You don't have to write a daily essay, a list of bullet points is all you need.

# Wednesday, November 10 
- Had breakfast with Nora this morning. Hadn't seen her in months.
- Ran 10 miles at the trail downtown. My pace was a new personal best! 
- Watched two episodes of Blue Bloods with the wife. We're already on season 5.

...and the professional.

journal-cli can serve as a notebook for tracking anything you need at work, from summaries of 1:1 conversations to daily notes that can be later aggregated into a list of accomplishments. Add tags so you can quickly return all related entries in a single go. Use encryption to keep your notes private.

Keep track of your life over time.

Use tags to categorize your entries. Use readme's to write notes to your future self. Open a random entry to see what happened at some arbitrary point in the past. Never forget an important (or not-so-important) event again.

journal-cli
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Copyright © 2021 Nick Spreitzer