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terminal-note

A console utility for creating and managing notes without leaving the terminal.

Contents

• Motivation
• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Demo
• Dependencies
• Configuration file
• Storage structure
• Example template template.md
• Ideas

Motivation

I mostly work in the terminal and use tools like nvim, rg, fd, and fzf. For note-taking, I use Obsidian — it stores notes locally in separate .md files, which is very convenient. However, launching Obsidian takes time, and constantly switching between the terminal and a GUI application disrupts my workflow.

To stay inside the terminal, I wrote terminal-note — a utility that allows you to quickly create, search, and manage notes directly from the console.

Features

• Create notes with one command without opening an editor.
• Search, open, delete, and read notes using fzf.
• Notes are saved in Markdown (.md) format.
• Support for templates and flexible configuration through a config file.
• Works with a chosen directory — easily integrates with Obsidian.
• Write notes in your favorite console editor: nvim, micro, and others.

Installation

1. Install via pip:

pip install terminal-note --user

2. Verify it works:

tn --help

Usage

• tn --config or tn -c — open the configuration file.
• tn "note text" — create a quick note. The file will be named by a template (2025-04-05 15:30:00.md) and saved in the specified directory.
• tn -o — create or open a note. First, enter the file name, then the editor opens. If the file exists — it is edited; if not — created.
• tn -d — delete a note. The file is selected for deletion via fzf.
• tn -r — read a note. The file is selected through fzf and opened in frogmouth (which parses Markdown with navigation support).

Demo

Displaying help

Editing the config file

Inline note creation

Editing a note

Creating a new note

Deleting a note

Reading a note

Dependencies

• python >= 3.11
• iterfzf >= 1.8.0.62.0
• frogmouth >= 0.9.2

Configuration file

# Storage mode (files only)
storage_mode = "files"

# Path to the directory where notes will be stored.
# The script parses only the $HOME variable. If a special path is needed, specify it fully.
path_to_storage_directory = "$HOME/terminal_note"

# File extension for notes: txt, md (without the dot .md)
file_extension = "md"

# Utility for reading non-md files: bat, cat, less
file_reader = "cat"

# Path to the template file.
path_to_template_note = "$HOME/terminal_note/Templates/template.md"

# Editor to write notes comfortably: vi, vim, nvim, micro, nano, etc.
editor = "vi"

Storage structure

Example storage structure:

➜  ~ tree terminal_note
$HOME/terminal_note/
├── 2025-07-22 22:32:26.md
├── 2025-07-22 22:34:56.md
├── 2025-07-27 00:41:52.md
├── Gurtam
│   ├── 1. Vialon.md
│   ├── 2. Token authentication.md
│   └── 3. Searching elements.md
├── My Book.md
└── Templates
    └── template.md

3 directories, 8 files

Example template (template.md)

---
Creation date:
Modification date:
links:
tags:
---

Ideas

• Git integration: tn -g will perform pull, add, commit, push.
• Support storage in a database (not sure yet — as it breaks compatibility with Obsidian).
• Possibly store inline quick notes in a separate directory for easier searching.