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https://github.com/c2d7fa/thinktool

Novel fusion of hierarchical and graph-based approaches to taking notes, based on ideas from Roam Research, TheBrain and others.
https://github.com/c2d7fa/thinktool

knowledge-management notes-app outliner tools-for-thought

Last synced: 17 days ago
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Novel fusion of hierarchical and graph-based approaches to taking notes, based on ideas from Roam Research, TheBrain and others.

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README 

        
# Thinktool



This repository contains the source code of [**Thinktool**](https://thinktool.io/), an associative note-taking application inspired by TheBrain and Roam Research.



[**Check out the demo in your browser here!**](https://thinktool.io/demo)











(Screenshot showing links, backreferences and multiple parents.)





## Project status



After watching some of Scott Scheper's really interesting [videos on his

Antinet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRgIX4azYOs), I started to reconsider

some of my opinions on digital Zettelkasten. These new opinions lead me to

experiment with implementing a much simpler Zettelkasten system for Emacs called

[zt](https://github.com/c2d7fa/zt). Although this implementation has fewer

features than Thinktool, I think it is actually far more useful in practice.



Check out the README for that project for [some ideas for how you can build a

useful Zettelkasten](https://github.com/c2d7fa/zt#best-practices), even if you

don't actually intend to use it. I also recommend some alternative software

on that page.



Because I'm now using zt as my primary note-taking system, I guess I won't be

spending much time on Thinktool.



You are welcome to use the offline desktop version. **However, I highly recommend against using the

hosted web version. To the best of my knowledge, no one is using this, and I'm planning

on taking it down soon.** If you need to export your data, log in as normal and then go to

[https://api.thinktool.io/state](https://api.thinktool.io/state). Alternatively,

write to me at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), and I'll do it for you.

This is just a JSON export – it's up to you to turn it into something useful.



## Comparison to other software



**Offline client:** [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) and [Logseq](https://logseq.com/) have excellent offline clients, which let you store your data in Markdown files locally. [Thinktool](https://thinktool.io) does have an offline desktop client, but it's janky in comparison and uses a SQLite database for data storage.



**Graph structure:** [Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/), [Logseq](https://logseq.com) and [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) let you link different pages together and use that graph structure to explore your notes. However, only pages -- not individual items -- can be connected like this. In contrast, Thinktool lets you connect individual items to multiple parents, so the same item can exist in multiple places.



**Transclusion:** To work around the issue of connecting individual items, [Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/) and [Logseq](https://logseq.com) support embedding (transcluding) blocks. However, recursive transclusion is not supported, and transclusions are second-class. [Thinktool](https://thinktool.io) doesn't need transclusion, because the same item can simply exist in multiple places -- there is no difference between the "original" item and its clones.



**Hierarchical structure:** If you want to connect pages hierarchically, [Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/), [Logseq](https://logseq.com)  and [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) require you to create a separate index page where you link the different pages together (or use some other custom system). [Thinktool](https://thinktool.io) makes no distinction between pages and items, so you can simply add one page as a child of another page.



**Bidirectional links:** All of these tools, including [Thinktool](https://thinktool.io) are built around bidirectional linking and have similar features.



**Miscellaneous features:** [Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/), and to a lesser extent [Logseq](https://logseq.com), have a bunch of neat features that let you use it for task management, spaced repetition and more. [Thinktool](https://thinktool.io) is designed just for note-taking, so it doesn't have a lot of extra features.



**Ease of use and UI:** Even though [Thinktool's](https://thinktool.io/) data model is arguably simpler than these other tools, the UI is quite a bit worse, so it ends up being harder to understand.



## Open Source



All content of this repository to which I own the copyright is licensed under the terms of the GNU AGPLv3 or any later version as described in `LICENSE.md`.



This repository is not currently accepting issues or pull requests. Please see Thinktool's web page for information about how to contact me with your feedback about Thinktool. I may occationally force push to this repository, since I'm not expecting anyone else to be actively working on it. You are welcome to create your own fork.



The instructions in this README are mostly written for myself, and may not be sufficient to compile this project on your own. However, you can find some hints on how to run it in `.github/workflows`.



You will always be able to compile and use this version of Thinktool for free. The online service hosted at https://thinktool.io *may* eventually become a subscription service, but it's currently also free, and probably will be for a while.



## Deployment



The application consists of three parts:



1. Web client in `src/web`

2. Node.js server in `src/server`

3. Electron-based desktop client in `src/desktop`



To build the server, run `docker build . -f tools/Dockerfile -t thinktool` from

the top-level directory, and then run the `thinktool` image with the environment

variables listed below.



### Static Resources



To build the web client, run `yarn install --frozen-lockfile && yarn build` from

the `src/web` directory. This will build the web client into `out/`, which can

then be deployed as a static website.



Before running this command, set the following environment variables:



- `DIAFORM_API_HOST` — API server host, including the protocol, e.g.

  `https://api.thinktool.io`.

- `THINKTOOL_ASSETS_HOST` — Host for desktop client, including the protocol, e.g.

  `https://assets.thinktool.io`.



### Desktop



The desktop client can currently be built for Linux and Windows. We're planning

on supporting macOS in the future. It must be built on the same platform that is

being targeted.



Start by setting the following environment variables:



- `DIAFORM_API_HOST` — API server host, including the protocol, e.g.

  `https://api.thinktool.io`.



Then enter the `src/desktop` directory and run `yarn install --frozen-lockfile`.

Build the Linux client with `yarn bundle-linux` or the Windows client with

`yarn bundle-windows`.



When developing the desktop client, you can use this command to somewhat hackily

use the local build of the client package:



    cp -r ../client/dist/* node_modules/@thinktool/client/dist/ && yarn bundle-linux



### Server



The server uses a PostgreSQL database. Set the following environment variables

before running the server:



- `DIAFORM_POSTGRES_HOST` — The hostname containing the database, e.g. `localhost`

- `DIAFORM_POSTGRES_PORT` — Port that the database is running on, e.g. `5432`

- `DIAFORM_POSTGRES_USERNAME` — Username used to authenticate with the PostgreSQL DB, e.g. `postgres`

- `DIAFORM_POSTGRES_PASSWORD` — Password used to authenticate with the PostgreSQL DB, e.g. `postgres`



You will need to manually set up the database schema. See `tools/db/_initialize.sql`, though this may be outdated.



For sending emails (used for "Forgot my password" functionality), we use [Mailgun](https://mailgun.com/). Configure the following environment variables:



- `MAILGUN_API_KEY` — API key



Additionally, the server expects the following environment variables to be set:



- `DIAFORM_STATIC_HOST` — Base URL of the server hosting static resources, e.g. `https://thinktool.io`



Build the server as a Docker image:



    # docker build -t thinktool -f tools/Dockerfile .



Once you have the `thinktool` image, run it with the environment variables given above:



    # docker run \

        -e DIAFORM_POSTGRES_HOST \

        -e DIAFORM_POSTGRES_PORT \

        -e DIAFORM_POSTGRES_USERNAME \

        -e DIAFORM_POSTGRES_PASSWORD \

        -e MAILGUN_API_KEY \

        -e DIAFORM_STATIC_HOST \

        -p 80:80 \

        thinktool



#### Web client development



To develop the web client against the current client package, run:



    $ yarn webpack --watch --config webpack.config.js



inside the `client/` subdirectiory, and then from the `web/` directory, run:



    $ yarn install --immutable

    $ yarn build



Now, to manually rebulid after each change (see under *Desktop* above for why this is necessary), run:



    $ rm -r .next; cp -r ../client/dist/* node_modules/@thinktool/client/dist/ && yarn dev



Make sure the environment variables described above are set correctly, and that the server is running, for example with:



    $ docker run -ti --rm -p 9000:9000 \

        -e DIAFORM_POSTGRES_HOST \

        -e DIAFORM_POSTGRES_POST=5432 \

        -e DIAFORM_POSTGRES_USERNAME=postgres \

        -e DIAFORM_POSTGRES_PASSWORD \

        -e DIAFORM_STATIC_HOST=http://localhost:3000 \

        -e DIAFORM_PORT=9000 \

        c2d7fa/thinktool:latest 



### Static website



The website is built using [NextJS](https://nextjs.org/) and hosted using

[Vercel](https://vercel.com/). It is automatically rebuilt from the `src/web`

directory whenever the `website` branch is pushed.



As with the desktop client, there is a hacky solution for using the current

local client package build while working on the website:



    cp -r ../client/dist/* node_modules/@thinktool/client/dist/ && rm -r .next && yarn dev



## Development



While working on Thinktool, most changes should be made in the `src/client`

directory, since this is the package that's used for both the web client and the

desktop client. Enter the `src/client` directory and run `yarn install --frozen-lockfile`

and use `yarn webpack serve --open --config webpack.dev.js` to continually rebuild.



### Releasing new client version



When you are ready to push out a client-side update, run

`tools/dev/release-client.sh `. This will bump the version number to

``, publish the package, and also update the relevant dependency in

the web and desktop clients.



Manually update the version number in the `package.json` for the `desktop`

package, commit the changes, tag the commit with a tag of the form `x.y.z` and

push to GitHub. A workflow should automatically create a GitHub release; manually

update this release with the release notes.



Note that the tag should be the same as the desktop client version, while the

version number for the client package may be different!