oneTenCubed-hey 0.3.2

keyword-based note retrieval tool
Documentation

hey

A Unix-inspired personal knowledge retrieval tool for programmers.

Motivation

I take notes while learning and working on projects. Over time, finding the right note became increasingly tedious:

  • Navigating to the correct directory
  • Finding the correct file
  • Opening the file in an editor
  • Reading the contents

hey aims to reduce this friction by making notes retrievable through keyword-based search.

Philosophy

  • Local-first
  • Plain text files[^1]
  • Human-readable storage
  • Unix-inspired workflow
  • No AI or machine learning
  • Deterministic behavior
  • Simple and composable

The original note files remain accessible without hey. [^1]:Although not guaranteed, should work with any regular(-) file

Current Features

Note Creation

Run this command to add a note:

hey .

Create a new note by providing a title with matching keywords.

The title acts as a collection of search keywords that can later be used to retrieve the note.

Editor Integration

hey respects standard Unix editor variables:

  1. VISUAL
  2. EDITOR

If neither is set, a fallback editor is used.

Keyword Search

Search for notes using one or more keywords.[^2] [^2]:Current system expects exact keyword matches. As such "word" and "words" don't match. Case-insensitive.

Results are ranked according to title matches.

Example:

for

hey rust traits

result:

1, rust traits
2, rust ownership

i.e, exact match scores higher

Storage

Notes are stored locally under:

Linux: $XDG_DATA_HOME/hey OR $HOME/.local/share/hey

macOS: $HOME/Library/Application Support

Windows: {FOLDERID_LocalAppData}

Current versions store notes directly within hey-managed storage. [^3] [^3]: hey currently targets Linux systems and follows common Unix conventions. As such, the program should work on most Linux based systems and Unix like systems. The latter is untested.

Roadmap

Planned

  • Note preview during search
  • Linking external notes through symbolic links
  • Importing existing notes into hey

Possible Future Improvements

  • Better note organization
  • Performance improvements where justified by real usage

Non-Goals

At present, hey is not intended to be:

  • A general-purpose note-taking platform
  • A cloud service
  • An AI assistant
  • A collaborative knowledge base

Installation

cargo install oneTenCubed-hey

Manpage

To generate a man page for hey,

  1. Go to: https://github.com/oneTenCubed/hey
  2. Find the docs directory
  3. Open hey.1 inside man directory
  4. Download raw file
  5. Find it in downloads, let: ~/downloads/hey.1
  6. Install to system's manpage db by running the command
sudo install -Dm644 ~/downloads/hey.1 /usr/local/share/man/man1/hey.1

Now running man hey produces a proper manpage for hey

Project Status

Current version: 0.3.0

hey is a personal project built as part of learning Rust, systems programming, and software architecture.

Feedback

Discussions, ideas, and design feedback are welcome.

Pull requests are currently not accepted.

License

MIT