acme-denote

(Denote) is based on the idea that notes should follow a predictable and descriptive file-naming scheme. The file name must offer a clear indication of what the note is about, without reference to any other metadata. Denote basically streamlines the creation of such files while providing facilities to link between them.

The goal of this program is to provide an implementation of prot's denote for Acme.

Quick Start

This README assumes you already have plan9port installed.

mk install

This installs Denote and all its extensions to $HOME/bin.

Setup

Start the Denote program by middle-clicking Denote anywhere in acme. This will open the /Denote/ window. Notes are stored in ~/doc by default, simply edit this in main.go to change your denote base directory.

Usage

Create a note

In Acme, you can highlight something like:

'new note title' tag1,tag2,tagN

Pass it as input to the New tag with the 2-1 chord. This will create a new Acme window with Denote frontmatter and an appropriate file path. Important: the actual file is not created until the Put command is executed. (Tags are optional but recommended).

You can organize notes into subdirectories using the /: separator in the title:

'journal/:today's entry' journal
'projects/:new project' project,idea
'meetings/:standup notes' work,meeting

The text before /: becomes the subdirectory path (e.g., journal/, projects/, meetings/), and the text after becomes the note title. Subdirectories are created automatically if they don't exist. This is useful for organizing related notes together.

Open a note

First, be sure to set up the plumbing rules. Then, simply right-click on any identifier in the /Denote/ window.

Edit a note

Edit a note just like any other text file. Use Put to save. The Denote metadata will be refreshed automatically.

Delete a note

To delete a note, highlight its identifier in the /Denote/ window:

20251112T221141

Pass it as input to the Remove tag with the 2-1 chord. This will delete the note file from the filesystem and remove it from the index.

Search notes

Type some search pattern. Examples:

tag:tag1 tag:tag2
title:'my title'
'my title'
tag1
20251120

Highlight this and pass it as input to the Look command with the 2-1 chord. This will filter the list of entries to those that match the search query. Executing Look without arguments resets the search filter. You may also right-click in the Denote window on titles or tags to jump between matches.

Metadata Editing

Quality of life feature: you may edit metadata directly in the Denote window.

-------------------------------------------------------
/Denote/ Del Snarf | Look New Put Remove Sync
-------------------------------------------------------
20251112T221141 | my dummy file 7 | dummy
20251112T221140 | my dummy file 6 | dummy
20251112T221139 | my dummy file 5 | dummy
20251112T221138 | my dummy file 4 | dummy
20251112T221137 | my dummy file 3 | dummy
20251112T221136 | my dummy file 2 | dummy
20251112T221135 | my dummy file 1 | dummy

-------------------------------------------------------
/Denote/ Del Snarf | Look New Put Remove Sync
-------------------------------------------------------
20251112T221141 | you can edit | dummy
20251112T221140 | the titles | dummy
20251112T221139 | my dummy file 5 | or,the
20251112T221138 | my dummy file 4 | tags
20251112T221137 | or both at the same | time
20251112T221136 | my dummy file 2 | dummy
20251112T221135 | my dummy file 1 | dummy

Middle-click Put to write all metadata changes. This will rename files and, when possible, update front matter.

Sync

Sometimes it's necessary to update the Denote metadata from the filesystem. Middle-click Sync to do this.

File Format

By default notes are markdown files with YAML frontmatter:

• Identifier: YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS
• Filename: <id>--<title>__<tags>.md
• Search works on title and content

You may change this by changing ftype in main.go.

Encryption Support

This program supports encrypted notes by integrating with acme-crypt. Set up the plumbing rules to read encrypted notes, and use CryptPut to write them.

Extensions

Some extensions have also been ported.

Djournal

Concept from prot's denote-journal. While Djournal tries to stay as true as possible to the original program and be as feature-complete as possible, it is intentionally not an exact replica.

Create or open today's journal entry (or this week's, month's, or year's, depending on interval configuration):

Djournal

Supports: d (days), h (hours), m (minutes). You can use this to create multiple entries on the same day. To find an existing journal entry, use the search function in Denote described above. You can also pass the args in with the 2-1 chord.

Configure Djournal by editing the configuration options in the Djournal script.

# Journal interval: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly
interval=daily

# Title format: full, date, day, year
# Examples:
#   full: "wednesday 12 november 2025 22:11"
#   date: "wednesday 12 november 2025"
#   day:  "wednesday"
#   year: "2025"
titleformat=full

# Signature (optional, added to filename as ==signature)
signature=''

Merge