# tinynote
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 just a flat folder of `.md` files in `~/tinynote`, so `grep`, git, and Obsidian all work on them too.
Open a terminal pane, jot something down, close it.
## Install
```
brew install tinycomputer-io/tap/tinynote
```
Or with cargo:
```
cargo install tinynote
```
Then run `tinynote`.
## Using it
One note on screen at a time. **^K** opens the palette — fuzzy search across every note's title and body, plus commands (new, open, delete, rename file, preview, shortcuts, settings, quit).
**^O** opens a note. It is the palette's twin, and the difference is what it ranks by: notes you opened most recently first, then the most recently edited, and it walks *subfolders* — so pointing tinynote at an Obsidian vault still lets you jump straight to `applications/log.md` from wherever you are. Type to fuzzy-search titles and folder paths.
It reaches past your notes dir three ways. A note **you have opened before** is always offered, wherever it lives — that is what the recents list is for, and it survives restarts. Folders listed in `quick_open_dirs` are searched every time. And typing a **path** — `~/vault/spec.md`, or `~/vault/spec` — opens that file directly, which is the escape hatch for a note tinynote has never been shown. Opening a note from another folder pulls it into the session; it saves back where it lives, and is never renamed.
The editor is a **live preview**, Obsidian-style: headings, emphasis, `==highlight==`, code, links, quotes, bullets and `☐`/`✓` checkboxes are styled as you type, and the line the cursor is on shows its raw markdown so it's always editable. Code fences, tables, rules and images are drawn whole and flip back to source when the cursor lands inside. Long lines soft-wrap; nothing scrolls sideways. **^P** flips to the full rendered page, with images drawn inline in terminals that support graphics (Ghostty, kitty, iTerm2).
In the reading view a wide table is not squeezed into columns two characters across. Its columns keep a readable width and wrap inside it, and the table itself pans sideways — **←** and **→**, or a sideways scroll — with a `›` on the header row where it carries on. Nothing is cut. `table_style` in the settings picks the rule: `auto` (leave a table that fits alone, scroll one that doesn't), `scroll`, `fit`, `wrap`, or `cards` for one labelled block per row.
Notes autosave half a second after you stop typing. Mouse works as expected: click to place the cursor, drag to select (copies on release), scroll, click a palette row. In the reading view a click no longer drops you into the editor — drag to select and it copies on release, so you can lift a quote out of a rendered page. **^V** pastes — a clipboard image becomes a PNG in your attachments folder with the markdown link inserted for you.
**^N** creates a note. Its filename follows the first line (`# Groceries` → `groceries.md`) until you rename the file yourself, after which the title and filename go their own ways.
## CLI
```
tinynote open the TUI on the most recent note
tinynote groceries open the note whose title best matches; create it if none does
tinynote add "buy milk" write a new note and print its path — no TUI
cat x | tinynote add same, from stdin
tinynote path print the notes directory
tinynote ~/vault/spec.md open that file, with the session rooted at its folder
tinynote ~/vault open the TUI rooted at that folder
tinynote --keys print the key events your terminal sends (esc quits)
tinynote --help usage
```
Pointing tinynote at a file or folder roots that one session there without touching your config. Outside your configured notes dir, filenames are never auto-renamed (Obsidian links depend on them) and image paste is refused.
## Keys
| Key | Action |
| --- | --- |
| `^K` | Palette: search notes, run commands |
| `^O` | Open a note: every folder, recent first |
| `^G` | Keyboard shortcuts card |
| `^N` | New note |
| `^,` | Settings |
| `^P` | Toggle markdown preview |
| `^S` | Save now |
| `^Z` / `^Y` | Undo / redo |
| `^C` `^X` `^V` | Copy / cut / paste |
| `Esc` | Close palette, cancel, leave preview, clear selection |
| `^Q` | Quit |
Every key in that table is settable. The settings note has a `## Keys` section with one line per action — `key_palette: ^K`, `key_open: ^O` — and takes `^K`, `cmd+k`, `alt+k`, `f5`, or `none` to unbind. `^K` answers to either ctrl or cmd, so the same file works on a Mac and on Linux; spell out `cmd+` or `ctrl+` when you want one exactly. **Delete note** and **Rename file** ship unbound and are yours to claim. The palette shows each command's current key beside it, and so does the **^G** card. The palette itself is monochrome — it is chrome over the note, and a hue there would compete with the one the note spends on its headings.
The palette's search box takes the Mac editing keys too: `⌘⌫` clears it, `⌥⌫` deletes a word.
Editing is macOS-style — `⌘←`/`⌘→` for line start/end, `⌘↑`/`⌘↓` for top/bottom, `⌥←`/`⌥→` by word, `⌘⌫` and `⌥⌫` to delete, `⌘A` to select all. Add `⇧` to any movement to extend the selection. `^`-click or `⌥`-click follows a link.
If a shortcut misbehaves, run `tinynote --keys` to see what your terminal actually sends. Ghostty binds most Mac editing keys to legacy control codes, which tinynote handles — except `⌘↑`/`⌘↓`, which Ghostty keeps for itself. Use `^Home`/`^End`, or unbind them:
```
keybind = cmd+up=unbind
keybind = cmd+down=unbind
```
`⌥`-click on a link needs `macos-option-as-alt` set; `^`-click always works.
## Settings
Settings are a note. **^,** opens `~/.config/tinynote/settings.md` in tinynote itself — same editor, same preview, no `$EDITOR` and no TOML — and **^S** applies it at once. Colours, page width and everything else but `notes_dir` change on the next frame.
Every setting is a `- key: value` line with a one-line hint after it. The file is written on first run with all of them in it, and rewritten when a new setting appears — your values are kept, since the file is generated from the settings it was just read into.
| | |
| --- | --- |
| `notes_dir`, `attachments_dir` | where notes and pasted images live (`~/` expands; `TINYNOTE_DIR` overrides the first) |
| `theme` | `dark` or `light` — which way your terminal's own background runs |
| `accent`, `bright`, `grey`, `dim`, `link`, `code_bg`, `border`, `danger`, `ground` | the nine colours, as `#rrggbb`, `#rgb`, an ANSI name, or `default` |
| `page_width` | widest the note column is drawn, in columns, or `full` |
| `borders` | `rounded`, `square`, `none` |
| `bold_headings`, `status_bar`, `key_hints` | chrome, on or off |
| `autosave_ms`, `tab_width` | how soon a note saves, how far `tab` goes |
| `rename_files` | whether a filename follows its note's title |
| `table_style` | `auto`, `scroll`, `fit`, `wrap`, `cards` — what happens to a table wider than the page |
| `preview_click` | `select` or `edit` — what a click in the reading view does |
| `quick_open` | `recursive` or `folder` — how far **^O** looks |
| `quick_open_dirs` | extra folders **^O** searches; repeat the line, or separate with commas |
| `key_palette`, `key_open`, `key_new`, `key_settings`, `key_preview`, `key_save`, `key_shortcuts`, `key_quit`, `key_copy`, `key_cut`, `key_paste`, `key_undo`, `key_redo`, `key_delete`, `key_rename` | one key each — `^K`, `cmd+k`, `alt+k`, `f5`, or `none` |
An existing `config.toml` is read once, to seed `settings.md`, and then left alone.
## Development
```
cargo run # against ~/tinynote (set TINYNOTE_DIR to test elsewhere)
cargo test
cargo clippy
```
Rust, ratatui + crossterm. `src/editor.rs` is the text buffer, `src/md.rs` the live-preview styling and click mapping, `src/render.rs` the full-page preview, `src/images.rs` inline images, `src/cli.rs` argument parsing, `src/config.rs` the settings note, `src/keys.rs` the bindings, `src/index.rs` the quick-open index and recents, `src/clipboard.rs` copy and paste. Every colour in the app lives in one place: the `theme` module at the top of `src/md.rs`.
## License
MIT