ekphos 0.4.0

A lightweight, fast, terminal-based markdown research tool inspired by Obsidian
ekphos-0.4.0 is not a library.

Ekphos

Crates.io Rust License

An open source, lightweight, fast, terminal-based markdown research tool built with Rust.

Ekphos Preview

Requirements

  • Rust 1.70+ (run rustup update to update)
  • A terminal emulator (for inline image preview: iTerm2, Kitty, WezTerm, Ghostty, or Sixel-compatible terminal)

Installation

Using Cargo

cargo install ekphos

Using Docker

git clone https://github.com/hanebox/ekphos.git
cd ekphos
docker build -t ekphos-ssh .
docker compose up -d

and after the container is up, you can SSH into the machine with the following command ssh ekphos@your-docker-container-ip

Using Make

git clone https://github.com/hanebox/ekphos.git
cd ekphos
make
sudo make install

Update

cargo install ekphos

CLI Options

Flag Description
-h, --help Print help information
-v, --version Print version
-c, --config Print config file path
-d, --dir Print notes directory

Uninstall

If installed with Make

sudo make uninstall

If installed with Cargo

cargo uninstall ekphos

Configuration

Configuration is stored in ~/.config/ekphos/config.toml.

# ~/.config/ekphos/config.toml
notes_dir = "~/Documents/ekphos"
welcome_shown = false
theme = "catppuccin-mocha"
show_empty_dir = true
Setting Description Default
notes_dir Directory where notes are stored ~/Documents/ekphos
welcome_shown Show welcome dialog on startup true
theme Theme name (without .toml extension) catppuccin-mocha
show_empty_dir Show folders that contain no .md files true

Note: This configuration format requires v0.3.0 or later. Earlier versions have a broken config system, please upgrade to v0.3.0 to enjoy proper configuration and theming support.

Themes

Themes are stored in ~/.config/ekphos/themes/ and use the Alacritty color scheme format.

Bundled Theme

  • catppuccin-mocha (default)

Custom Themes

Create a .toml file in the themes directory using the Alacritty color format:

# ~/.config/ekphos/themes/mytheme.toml

[colors.primary]
background = "#1e1e2e"
foreground = "#cdd6f4"

[colors.cursor]
text = "#1e1e2e"
cursor = "#f5e0dc"

[colors.selection]
text = "#1e1e2e"
background = "#f5e0dc"

[colors.normal]
black = "#45475a"
red = "#f38ba8"
green = "#a6e3a1"
yellow = "#f9e2af"
blue = "#89b4fa"
magenta = "#f5c2e7"
cyan = "#94e2d5"
white = "#bac2de"

[colors.bright]
black = "#585b70"
red = "#f38ba8"
green = "#a6e3a1"
yellow = "#f9e2af"
blue = "#89b4fa"
magenta = "#f5c2e7"
cyan = "#94e2d5"
white = "#a6adc8"

Then set in config:

theme = "mytheme"

Using Alacritty Themes

Ekphos is fully compatible with Alacritty Themes. To use any Alacritty theme:

  1. Browse themes at https://github.com/alacritty/alacritty-theme/tree/master/themes
  2. Copy the theme file (e.g., dracula.toml) to your themes directory: 
    # Example: Download Dracula theme
curl -o ~/.config/ekphos/themes/dracula.toml \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alacritty/alacritty-theme/master/themes/dracula.toml
  3. Set the theme in your config using the filename (without .toml): 
    # ~/.config/ekphos/config.toml
theme = "dracula"

Theme naming convention:

Theme File Config Setting
~/.config/ekphos/themes/dracula.toml theme = "dracula"
~/.config/ekphos/themes/gruvbox_dark.toml theme = "gruvbox_dark"
~/.config/ekphos/themes/tokyo-night.toml theme = "tokyo-night"

Note: Alacritty theme compatibility requires v0.3.0 or later. Earlier versions have a broken theming system.

Usage

Layout

Ekphos has three panels:

  • Sidebar (left): Collapsible folder tree with notes
  • Content (center): Note content with markdown rendering
  • Outline (right): Auto-generated headings for quick navigation

Use Tab or Shift+Tab to switch between panels.

Folder Tree

The sidebar displays a hierarchical folder tree that automatically detects subdirectories containing .md files:

  • Folders are shown with ▶ (collapsed) or ▼ (expanded) icons
  • Press Enter on a folder to toggle expand/collapse
  • Folders and notes are sorted alphabetically together
  • Folders start collapsed by default

Creating Notes

  1. Press n to create a new note
  2. Enter the note name
  3. Press Enter to confirm

Notes are stored as .md files in your configured notes directory.

Context-aware: When your cursor is on a folder or a note inside a folder, pressing n will create the new note in that folder.

Creating Folders

  1. Press N (Shift+N) to create a new folder
  2. Enter the folder name
  3. Press Enter to confirm
  4. A dialog will appear to create the first note in the folder
  5. Enter the note name and press Enter (or Esc to cancel and remove the empty folder)

Context-aware: When your cursor is on a folder, pressing N will create the new folder as a subfolder.

Renaming

  • Select a note or folder in the sidebar
  • Press r to rename
  • Edit the name and press Enter to confirm (or Esc to cancel)

Deleting

  • Select a note or folder in the sidebar
  • Press d to delete
  • Confirm with y or cancel with n
  • Warning: Deleting a folder will remove all notes inside it!

Searching Notes

  1. Press / in the sidebar to start searching
  2. Type your search query
  3. Results are highlighted in green, title shows match count
  4. Use Arrow keys or Ctrl+j/k/n/p to navigate between matches
  5. Press Enter to select and close search
  6. Press Esc to cancel search

Features:

  • Searches all notes recursively, including those in collapsed folders
  • Auto-expands folders containing matched notes
  • Border color indicates status: yellow (typing), green (matches found), red (no matches)

Editing Notes

  1. Select a note in the sidebar
  2. Press e to enter edit mode
  3. Edit using vim keybindings
  4. Press Ctrl+s to save
  5. Press Esc to exit edit mode

Vim Keybindings (Edit Mode - Normal)

Key Action
i Insert before cursor
a Insert after cursor
A Insert at end of line
I Insert at start of line
o New line below
O New line above
v Visual mode
h/l Move cursor left/right
j/k Move cursor up/down
w/b Move by word
0/$ Line start/end
g/G Top/bottom of file
x Delete character
dd Delete line
dw Delete word forward
db Delete word backward
y Yank (copy) selection
p Paste
u Undo
Ctrl+r Redo
Ctrl+s Save and exit
Esc Exit (discard changes)

Delete Commands Flow

Delete commands (dd, dw, db) use a confirmation flow with visual feedback:

  1. Press d - Title shows NORMAL d- with yellow border
    • Available: d (line), w (word forward), b (word backward)
  2. Press target key - Text is highlighted, title shows NORMAL [DEL] with red border
    • Press d to confirm deletion
    • Press Esc to cancel
    • Any other key cancels and performs its action

Visual Mode

Press v in normal mode to enter visual mode for text selection.

Key Action
h/j/k/l Extend selection
w/b Extend by word
y Yank selection
d/x Delete selection
Esc Cancel

Supported Markdown

Syntax Rendered As
# Heading ◆ HEADING (blue)
## Heading ■ Heading (green)
### Heading ▸ Heading (yellow)
#### Heading › Heading (mauve)
##### Heading Heading (teal)
###### Heading Heading (subtle)
- item • item
![alt](path) Inline image

Adding Images

Use standard markdown image syntax:

![alt text](path/to/image.png)
![screenshot](~/pictures/screenshot.png)
![diagram](./diagrams/flow.png)

Supported formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, BMP

Viewing Images

  1. Navigate to the image line in content view
  2. Press Enter or o to open in system viewer

Terminal Image Support

For inline image preview, use a compatible terminal:

  • iTerm2 (macOS)
  • Kitty
  • WezTerm
  • Sixel-enabled terminals

Using the Outline

The outline panel shows all headings in your note:

  1. Press Tab to focus the outline
  2. Use j/k to navigate headings
  3. Press Enter to jump to that heading

Keyboard Shortcuts

Global

Key Action
j/k Navigate up/down
Tab Switch focus (Sidebar → Content → Outline)
Shift+Tab Switch focus (reverse)
Enter/o Open image / Jump to heading
? Show help dialog
q Quit

Sidebar

Key Action
n Create new note
N Create new folder
Enter Toggle folder / Open note
r Rename note/folder
d Delete note/folder
e Edit note
/ Search notes

Edit Mode

Key Action
Ctrl+s Save and exit edit mode
Esc Exit (discard changes)

See Vim Keybindings section above for full edit mode controls.

Contributing

Ekphos is open source and contributions are welcome.

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/hanebox/ekphos.git
cd ekphos
make run

Branch Strategy

  • main - Development branch
  • release - Stable release branch

Workflow

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create a feature branch from main
  3. Make your changes
  4. Submit a PR to the main branch

Disclaimer

This project is in an early development stage, so there will be frequent unexpected breaking changes throughout the pre-release, but things should remain usable throughout this stage.

Socials

We don't have socials yet, but things are open for discussion, go create a discussion in this repo for how socials should be done

License

MIT