https://github.com/cjsaylor/jrnl
Quick and easy CLI journaling tool for Github wiki journals.
https://github.com/cjsaylor/jrnl
frontmatter github hacktoberfest index journal wiki
Last synced: 7 months ago
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Quick and easy CLI journaling tool for Github wiki journals.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/cjsaylor/jrnl
- Owner: cjsaylor
- Created: 2017-12-04T00:45:15.000Z (about 8 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2023-02-24T10:58:37.000Z (almost 3 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-06-08T22:05:40.945Z (8 months ago)
- Topics: frontmatter, github, hacktoberfest, index, journal, wiki
- Language: Go
- Homepage:
- Size: 374 KB
- Stars: 20
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 3
- Open Issues: 5
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# jrnl [](https://github.com/cjsaylor/jrnl/actions)
A quick and easy CLI journaling tool that uses Github Wiki repos for organizing journal entries.
---
[View an example wiki journal](https://github.com/cjsaylor/jrnl/wiki)
---
[](https://godoc.org/github.com/cjsaylor/jrnl)
* [Requirements](#requirements)
* [Installation](#installation)
* [Quick Start](#quick-start)
* [Options](#options)
* [Commands](#commands)
* [Tag Journal Entries](#tag)
* [Generate Index](#index)
* [Append Images](#append-an-image)
* [Tips & Tricks](#tips--tricks)
* [Use `find` command to create a book](#use-find-command-to-create-a-book)
* [Use `find` and `tag` commands to add a common tag](#use-find-and-tag-commands-to-add-a-common-tag)
* [Development](#development)
## Requirements
* Git
* Github account (and access to a repo for the wiki)
## Installation
### MacOS
```bash
brew install cjsaylor/tap/jrnl
```
### Windows & Linux
Download the binary from the [latest release](https://github.com/cjsaylor/jrnl/releases/latest)
### Compiling from source
```bash
go get -u github.com/cjsaylor/jrnl/cmd/jrnl
```
## Quick start
[Install `jrnl`](#installation)
```bash
go get -u github.com/cjsaylor/jrnl/cmd/jrnl
```
Clone a github wiki you want to act as the store of your journal:
```bash
git clone https://github.com//.wiki.git ~/journal.wiki
```
Quickly drop into the editor of your choice (default `vim` but configurable via `$JRNL_EDITOR`):
```bash
jrnl
```
Write your entry and then "memorize":
```bash
jrnl memorize
```
## Options
You can configure `jrnl` with the following environment variables:
* `JRNL_EDITOR` (`vim`) - Editor to use
* `JRNL_EDITOR_OPTIONS` (`""`) - Additional CLI flags for your editor. IE, for VS Code: `-n $HOME/journal.wiki/`
* `JOURNAL_PATH` (`~/journal.wiki`) - Path to your cloned Github wiki repo.
## Commands
### Tag
`jrnl` has the ability to tag a journal entry so that it can be easily referenced and found.
```bash
jrnl tag -t sometag
```
This would append "sometag" to the journal entry in `frontmatter` format:
```yaml
---
tags:
- sometag
---
```
### Index
`jrnl` has the ability to generate an `Index.md` that allows you to easily reference any journal entry by a tag.
You can use the `tag` command specified above to specify tags.
```bash
jrnl tag -t cooltag -t another cool tag -d "2017-12-01"
```
Then run the index command:
```bash
jrnl index
```
Which generates:
> ~/journal.wiki/Index.md
> * *cooltag* [2017-12-01]()
> * *another cool tag* [2017-12-01]()
If there is more than one journal entry that uses the same tag:
```bash
jrnl tag -t cooltag -t -d "2017-12-04"
```
Then `jrnl index` would generate:
> ~/journal.wiki/Index.md
> * *cooltag* [2017-12-01](), [2017-12-04]()
> * *another cool tag* [2017-12-01]()
### Append an image
Many developers use hand-written notes (or a whiteboard) and want to store it in a common journal.
You can use the `jrnl image /path/to/image` command to quickly add an image to the journal repo and append it to the current journal entry.
## Tips & Tricks
### Use Find Command to Create a Book
You can use the `find` command (as of `v0.3.0`) to create a single document of all journal entries related to a tag (or tags):
```bash
jrnl find --tag sometag --tag somerelatedtag | xargs cat > sometag.md
```
### Use `find` command to add a common tag
You can use the `find` (as of `v0.3.0`) command and the `tag` command (as of `v0.4.0`) to add a common tag or tags:
```bash
jrnl tag -t newtag $(jrnl find -tag existingtag | xargs -I {} echo "-f {}")
```
## Development
To compile the CLI tool:
```bash
go build -o jrnl cmd/jrnl/main.go
```
To run the unit tests:
```bash
go test $(go list ./... | grep -v /vendor/)
```
To add a dependency use [`go modules`](https://blog.golang.org/using-go-modules)
For distribution, the [`goreleaser` tool](https://goreleaser.com/) is used. Tag a new version and run `goreleaser --rm-dist` to tag and distribute.