SUMMARY

A minimal set of tools to manage a plain-text Zettelkasten ¹ from the command line.

SETUP

Dependencies:

• Python 3.8+
• nvim
• fzf

Set the following in your shell:

export ZETTELKASTEN_SOURCE=/path/to/zettelkasten
source $ZETTELKASTEN_SOURCE/bin/aliases.sh
export PATH=${PATH}:$ZETTELKASTEN_SOURCE/bin

EXAMPLES

New Zettelkasten files (zn)

zn / foo               # creates `1-foo.md`
zn / bar               # creates `2-bar.md`
zn 1 another thought   # creates `1a-another-thought.md`

List Zettelkasten (zl)

zl

Opens fzf with the following structure:

07-20 1     foo
       1a   another thought

      2     bar

Hit enter to select a file and then:

• print the filename with zp
• copy the filename with zc
• open the file with zv

Move Zettelkasten files (zm)

Moving entails both:

1. renaming the file
2. rewriting all references to it

For example:

echo "a link to file 2-bar.md" >> 1a-another-thought.md

Move the file:

zm 2-bar.md 1a1-bar.md

New hierarchy:

07-20 1       foo
       1a     another thought
        1a1   bar

The reference in 1a-another-thought.md is updated:

a link to file 1a1-bar.md

STRUCTURE

Filename

Filenames have the following structure:

12a1-TAG1-TAG2-a-short-description-of-topic-A.md
^    ^
UID  TAGS      ^ DESCRIPTION

Tags preface the description and are all-caps.

UID

Per usual practice, the UID consists of alternating numbers and characters.

Lists

Given the following files:

# Created on 07-20:
zn / foo
zn / bar

# Created on 07-21:
zn 1 another thought
zn / SHAPES 2d
zn 3-SHAPES-2d.md triangle
zn 3a equilateral
zn 3a scalene
zn 3 quadrilateral

The list (zl) will be shown as:

07-20 1             foo
07-21  1a           another thought

07-20 2             bar

07-21 3      SHAPES 2d
       3a           triangle
        3a1         equilateral
        3a2         scalene
       3b           quadrilateral

The list can be ordered by last updated time with ctrl-l:

07-20 1             foo
      2             bar

07-21  1a           another thought
      3      SHAPES 2d
       3a           triangle
        3a1         equilateral
        3a2         scalene
       3b           quadrilateral

Switch back to order-by-name with ctrl-n.

ALL COMMANDS

• zn: new file
• zl: list files
• zm: move file and update references
• zg: grep files
• zp: print the previous file created/chosen
• zc: copy --''--
• zv: open in vim the previous file created/chosen

REFERENCES

Footnotes

1. https://writingcooperative.com/zettelkasten-how-one-german-scholar-was-so-freakishly-productive-997e4e0ca125 ↩