catcher

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5a060469-40c5-4fd8-a17c-cab2e60b6f96

A minimal note-taking app for the terminal. Local-first, no accounts, no sync: your notes are a folder of .md files in ~/catcher, so grep, git and Obsidian work on them too.

Called tinynote until 0.9. Existing ~/tinynote and ~/.config/tinynote folders are still picked up.

Install

brew install tinycomputer-io/tap/catcher

or cargo install catcher. Then run catcher.

Using it

• ^K is the command palette: new, open, delete, rename, move to folder, reading view, help, settings, quit.
• ^O opens a note: every folder, most recently opened first, fuzzy-searched by filename. Tab steps through its tabs: recent, a folder tree, and contents.
• ⇧^F searches in all files: every line that has every word you type, grouped by note. ⏎ opens the note at that line.
• ^N makes a note. The filename follows its first line until you rename the file yourself. Either way, [[links]] to the old name in other notes are rewritten to the new one.
• ⌥D opens today's note, journal/2026-09-01.md, made from journal/template.md the first time ({{title}}, {{date}}, {{yesterday}}, {{tomorrow}}) and never rewritten after.
• The palette also has editing commands, unbound until you give them a key: toggle checkbox (- item → - [ ] → - [x] → - item, numbered lists too), move line up / down, toggle heading (#, ##, ###, none), insert today's date, copy path, reveal in Finder. Each takes the selection when there is one, and undoes as one step.
• ^P flips between the live-preview editor and the rendered page. Images draw inline in Ghostty, kitty and iTerm2.
• [[wikilinks]] work like Obsidian's. ⌥⏎ follows one, ⌥P peeks at it, ^B / ^F go back and forward. A link to a note that does not exist yet is grey; following it makes the note beside the one you are in. The reading view lists the notes that link here at the bottom.
• #tags are coloured, inline or as front matter tags:. ⌥⏎ or a click on one opens ^O cut to the notes that carry it.
• A ```mermaid fence is drawn as text: flowcharts and sequence diagrams, in box-drawing characters, no images and no network. Other kinds keep their source under a label.
• Callouts, front matter, tables wider than the page (they pan sideways), checkboxes and ==highlights== all render.
• Sections fold. On a heading, ⌥← folds everything under it down to the next heading of the same or a higher level, ⌥→ opens it again; a folded heading shows ▸ and how many lines it hides. Folds are per note and last for the session, and the reading view keeps them: a click on a heading there folds or unfolds it, and ⌥← / ⌥→ take the heading the selection is on, or the first one on screen.
• Notes autosave. Edit a note in another program and catcher takes what is on disk: the buffer reloads, the cursor stays on its line, and ^Z brings the old buffer back. A file deleted from under it is said so in the status bar and recreated on the next save.
• Mouse works: click, drag to select and copy, scroll. ^V pastes a clipboard image as a PNG.

CLI

catcher                  open the note you last had open
catcher groceries        open the note that best matches; create it if none does
catcher today            open today's note in `journal/`, creating it from the template
catcher add "buy milk"   write a new note and print its path
catcher ~/vault          open the TUI rooted at that folder
catcher path             print the notes directory
catcher --keys           show what your terminal sends for each key

Keys

Editing is macOS-style: ⌘←/⌘→ line ends, ⌥←/⌥→ by word, ⇧ to extend a selection, ⌘A select all. Every key is rebindable in the settings; ^K answers to ctrl or cmd. ⇧^F needs a terminal that tells shift+ctrl apart (Ghostty, kitty, WezTerm); elsewhere it arrives as ^F and the palette is the way in. The editing commands ship with no key: key_checkbox, key_line_up, key_line_down, key_heading, key_date, key_copy_path, key_reveal bind them.

Settings

^, opens ~/.config/catcher/settings.md as a note; ^S applies it. It covers the notes and attachments folders, the daily note's folder and template, theme (auto, dark, light) and colours, page width, borders, status bar, autosave delay, tab width, front matter, table style, wikilinks, whether a rename updates links, linked mentions, how far ^O looks, and every key binding (key_fold, key_unfold, and the unbound key_fold_all / key_unfold_all among them). Each line has a one-line hint beside it. CATCHER_DIR overrides the notes folder.

Development

cargo run      # against ~/catcher (set CATCHER_DIR to test elsewhere)
cargo test
cargo clippy

Rust, ratatui + crossterm. src/editor.rs is the buffer, src/md.rs live-preview styling, src/render.rs the reading view, src/mermaid/ the diagram renderer, src/config.rs the settings note. Every colour lives in the theme module at the top of src/md.rs.

License

MIT