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https://github.com/xwmx/notes-app-cli
A command line interface for Notes.app on macOS.
https://github.com/xwmx/notes-app-cli
apple applescript bash cli command-line macos note-taking notes notes-app
Last synced: about 2 months ago
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A command line interface for Notes.app on macOS.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/xwmx/notes-app-cli
- Owner: xwmx
- License: gpl-2.0
- Created: 2020-04-19T18:18:25.000Z (over 4 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2020-10-07T06:20:03.000Z (about 4 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-05-02T00:56:12.804Z (8 months ago)
- Topics: apple, applescript, bash, cli, command-line, macos, note-taking, notes, notes-app
- Language: Shell
- Size: 87.9 KB
- Stars: 51
- Watchers: 4
- Forks: 2
- Open Issues: 3
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# `notes-app` - A Notes.app CLI
A command line interface for Notes.app on macOS 10.14 Mojave and earlier.
**Notes.app access is apparently [broken in 10.15 Calatina](https://github.com/xwmx/notes-app-cli/issues/1).**
Add and edit notes in a text editor with command line support like Vim, Emacs,
VS Code, Sublime Text, etc. Create, list, view, update, and delete notes using
simple terminal commands. Export your notes to text files.
## Quirks and Limitations
- Requires macOS 10.14 Mojave and earlier ([broken in 10.15 Calatina](https://github.com/xwmx/notes-app-cli/issues/1)).
- Notes.app must be open. `notes-app` will open it in background if it's
not already open.
- Attachments are not supported. Apple doesn't provide easy access to
attachments syned with iCloud. Editing a note that contains
an attachment results in the attachment being removed. In order to
avoid data loss, `notes-app` does not allow editing or updating notes
that have attachments.
- The formatting of the first line in a note is not preserved. Notes.app treats
the first line of a note as the "name" of the note and does not allow
formatting of this line through AppleScript, while the "body" of the note
is formatted with HTML. When the note has a blank "name" line, the first
line of the "body" is treated as the name, making any formatting on that
line inaccessible to `notes-app`.
- If a new note is created without a "name" specified, Notes.app sets the
first line to "New Note".
Overall warning: Notes.app data is not fully accessible and some things get
lost in translation. `notes-app` makes an effort to provide access to the raw
data from Notes.app and has a few checks to avoid data issues, but Notes.app
still does processing on its end (e.g., adding HTML tags), so expect some
weirdness when updating and editing existing notes that have a lot of
formatting.
## Installation
### Homebrew
Install with [Homebrew](http://brew.sh/):
```bash
brew tap xwmx/taps
brew install notes-app
```
### Manual
To install manually, simply download the `notes-app` script:
```bash
# download with curl
curl -LO https://raw.github.com/xwmx/notes-app-cli/master/notes-app && chmod +x notes-app
# download with wget
wget https://raw.github.com/xwmx/notes-app-cli/master/notes-app && chmod +x notes-app
```
Then run `notes-app` with:
```bash
./notes-app
```
## Usage
### Help
```text
Notes.app CLI
A command line interface for Notes.app on macOS.
Usage:
notes-app accounts [show ] [--properties ,]
notes-app add [] [--account ] [--body ] [--folder ]
notes-app attachments [--account ] [--folder ]
[--properties ,]
notes-app commands
notes-app count [--account ] [--folder ]
notes-app delete [--account ] [--folder ]
notes-app edit [--account ] [--folder ]
notes-app export [--account ] [--folder ]
[--note ]
notes-app folders [show ] [--account ] [--folder ]
[--properties ,]
notes-app list [--account ] [--folder ]
[--properties ,]
notes-app show [--account ] [--folder ] [--open]
[--properties ,]
notes-app update (--body | --name ) [--account ]
[--folder ]
notes-app -h | --help | help [] [-l | --long]
notes-app --version | version
Help:
notes-app help []
More Information:
https://github.com/xwmx/notes-app-cli
```
### Subcommands
#### `accounts`
```text
Usage:
notes-app accounts [show ] [--properties ,]
Options:
--properties , A comma-separated list of property names to
include in the output. Set to 'all' to include
all properties.
Identifiers:
can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Available Properties:
all
id
name
Subcommands:
(default) List all accounts.
show Show properties of .
Description:
List accounts or show an account.
Examples:
# list accounts by name
notes-app accounts
# list accounts with ids and names
notes-app accounts --properties id,name
# print the id and name of the iCloud account
notes-app accounts show "iCloud"
```
#### `add`
```text
Usage:
notes-app add [] [--account ] [--body ] [--folder ]
Options:
--account The account containing the new note.
--body Plain text or HTML body content.
--folder The folder containing the new note.
Identifiers:
and can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Description:
Add a new note. When no arguments are specified, a new blank note file is
opened in the terminal editor, as set in the `$EDITOR` environment
variable.
When is specified, the editor is not opened and a new note is created
containing the specified as the first line of the note.
Note Format:
The format of each note provided by Notes.app consists of:
Line 1: An unformatted string representing the "Name" property.
Lines 2-end: An HTML formatted body.
Within Notes.app the first line can be formatted, but this formatting is not
preserved when the note is retrieved or set via AppleScript, so any
formatting in this line will likely be lost or inconsistent with what's
displayed in Notes.app.
Examples:
# Open a new note in the editor.
notes-app add
# Create a new note named "Example name." without opening editor.
notes-app add "Example name."
# Create a new note with a name and body without opening editor.
notes-app add "Example name." --body "Example body."
```
#### `attachments`
```text
Usage:
notes-app attachments [--account ] [--folder ]
[--properties ,]
Options:
--account The account containing the note.
--folder The folder containing the note.
--properties , A comma-separated list of property names to
include in the output. Set to 'all' to include
all properties.
Identifiers:
, , and can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Available Properties:
all
id
name
container
contentIdentifier
Description:
List attachments of idenitied by , , or .
Examples:
# List attachments of note number 1.
notes-app attachments 1
# List attachment ids of note number 1.
notes-app attachments 1 --properties id
```
#### `count`
```text
Usage:
notes-app count [--account ] [--folder ]
Description:
Print the number of notes in .
```
#### `delete`
```text
Usage:
notes-app delete [--account ] [--folder ]
Options:
--account The account containing the note.
--folder The folder containing the note.
Identifiers:
, , and can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Description:
Delete .
```
#### `edit`
```text
Usage:
notes-app edit [--account ] [--folder ]
Options:
--account The account containing the note.
--folder The folder containing the note.
Identifiers:
, , and can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Description:
Edit a note idenitied by , , or in your terminal editor,
as set in the `$EDITOR` environment variable.
Note Format:
The format of each note provided by Notes.app consists of:
Line 1: An unformatted string representing the "Name" property.
Lines 2-end: An HTML formatted body.
Within Notes.app the first line can be formatted, but this formatting is not
preserved when the note is retrieved or set via AppleScript, so any
formatting in this line will likely be lost or inconsistent with what's
displayed in Notes.app.
Examples:
# Open note number 1 in the editor.
notes-app edit 1
# Open note named "Todos" in the editor.
notes-app edit Todos
```
#### `export`
```text
Usage:
notes-app export [--account ] [--folder ]
[--note ]
Options:
--account The account containing the note.
--folder The folder containing the note.
--note A note to export.
Identifiers:
, , and can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Description:
Export notes and save in directory at . By default, all notes in the
default account (iCloud) are exported. Use --account,
--folder, and --note flags to reduce the scope.
Attachments are not included in exports. Apple does not provide easy access
to attachments synced with iCloud.
Note Format:
The format of each note provided by Notes.app consists of:
Line 1: An unformatted string representing the "Name" property.
Lines 2-end: An HTML formatted body.
Within Notes.app the first line can be formatted, but this formatting is not
preserved when the note is retrieved or set via AppleScript, so any
formatting in this line will likely be lost or inconsistent with what's
displayed in Notes.app.
Examples:
# Export all notes in the defualt account.
notes-app export ~/Documents/Example
# Export all notes in the folder named "Example Folder"
notes-app export ~/Documents/Example --folder "Example Folder"
```
#### `folders`
```text
Usage:
notes-app folders [show ] [--account ] [--folder ]
[--properties ,]
Options:
--account The account containing the folder.
--folder The parent folder, if any.
--properties , A comma-separated list of property names to
include in the output. Set to 'all' to include
all properties.
Identifiers:
and can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Available Properties:
all
id
container
name
Subcommands:
(default) List folders in the current account or folder.
show Show properties of .
Description:
List folders in an account.
Examples:
# List all folders in the current account.
notes-app folders
# List all ids of folders in the "Example" account.
notes-app folders --account Example --properties id
# Show folder number 1.
notes-app folders show 1
```
#### `list`
```text
Usage:
notes-app list [--account ] [--folder ]
[--properties ,]
Options:
--account The account containing the note.
--folder The folder containing the note.
--properties , A comma-separated list of property names to
include in the output. Set to 'all' to include
all properties.
Identifiers:
and can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Available Properties:
all
counter
id
container
passwordProtected
creationDate
modificationDate
name
body
Description:
List notes
Examples:
# List all notes in the default account.
notes-app list
# List all notes in the account named "Example"
notes-app list --account Example
# List all ids of notes in the folder named "Sample"
notes-app list --folder Sample --properties id
```
#### `show`
```text
Usage:
notes-app show [--account ] [--folder ] [--open]
[--properties ,]
Options:
--account The account containing the note.
--folder The folder containing the note.
--open Open the note in Notes.app.
--properties , A comma-separated list of property names to
include in the output. Set to 'all' to include
all properties.
Identifiers:
, , and can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Available Properties:
all
id
container
passwordProtected
creationDate
modificationDate
name
body
Description:
Show a note idenitied by , , or .
Examples:
# Print all properties for the note named "Shopping List"
notes-app show "Shopping List"
# Print the creationDate of note number 1.
notes-app show 1 --properties creationDate
```
#### `update`
```text
Usage:
notes-app update (--body | --name ) [--account ]
[--folder ]
Options:
--account The account containing the note.
--body The new value for the note body.
--folder The folder containing the note.
--name The new value for the note name.
Identifiers:
, , and can be identified with one of the following:
id The Notes.app core data id (starts with 'x-coredata://').
name The name property.
number The current sequence number.
Description:
Update a note.
Examples:
# Set the name of note number 1 to "Example Name".
notes-app update 1 --name "Example Name"
```
## Tests
To run the [test suite](test), install
[Bats](https://github.com/bats-core/bats-core) and run `bats test` in the project
root.
---
Copyright (c) 2020 William Melody • See LICENSE for details.