- Cat-themed,
cat
-centric command-line note-taking app - Assign Tags and add Context to your notes
- Timestamp and location always captured to every note
- Organization revolves around your present working directory
- Notes can be created and manipulated with the
|
pipe character
Pipe |
to catjot to create a new note.
Any time a pipe is involved, it is a write-action; this includes writing new notes, adding context, or assigning tags.
$ cat|jot
/\_/\ # cat directly to a new note (recommended).
( o.o ) # type each line exactly as you wish.
> ^ < # to save/exit note, move to beginning of newline and hit:
# <CTRL-D>
$ cowsay -f kitty "meow" |jot
You can recall notes saved in your present working directory like this:
$ jot
^-^
> cd /home/user/git/catjot
# date 2023-09-23 00:23:15 (1695453795)
/\_/\ # cat directly to a new note (recommended).
( o.o ) # type each line exactly as you wish.
> ^ < # to save/exit note, move to beginning of newline and hit:
# <CTRL-D>
^-^
> cd /home/user/git/catjot
# date 2023-09-23 00:23:22 (1695453802)
______
< meow >
------
\
\
("`-' '-/") .___..--' ' "`-._
` *_ * ) `-. ( ) .`-.__. `)
(_Y_.) ' ._ ) `._` ; `` -. .-'
_.. `--'_..-_/ /--' _ .' ,4
( i l ),-'' ( l i),' ( ( ! .-'
***************
3 matches in child directories
You can add additional context to a note by providing the -c
flag:
$ top -b -n 1 | jot -c all open processes before reboot on $(hostname)
$ jot l | head -n 4
^-^
> cd /home/user/git/catjot
# date 2023-09-23 00:30:48 (1695454248)
% all open processes before reboot on coding.local
top - 00:30:48 up 5 days, 3:33, 0 users, load average: 0.08, 0.03, 0.01
Tasks: 135 total, 1 running, 134 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
%Cpu(s): 9.7 us, 3.2 sy, 0.0 ni, 87.1 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
$
You can add context and tags after-the-fact, with the -a (amend) toggle.
Amending always touches the last-written note (jot l
) in the file.
$ cat|jot
oh man, what am i even doing with my life!?
$ jot l
^-^
> cd /home/user
# date 2023-09-23 00:41:14 (1695454874)
oh man, what am i even doing with my life!?
$ jot -ac "no more coffee after 8!"
$ jot l
^-^
> cd /home/user
# date 2023-09-23 00:41:14 (1695454874)
% no more coffee after 8!
oh man, what am i even doing with my life!?
$ echo "combine context pipe with one other attribute" |jot -act "sadnotes"
$ jot l
^-^
> cd /home/user
# date 2023-09-23 00:41:14 (1695454874)
[sadnotes]
% combine context pipe with one other attribute
oh man, what am i even doing with my life!?
Copy catjot.py
to a directory found within your $PATH
.
This document recommends and demonstrates examples that rename
this python script as jot
, for ease-of-typing and for adherence to
the cat|jot mnemonic.
Popular destinations for saving the script include:
$HOME/.local/bin
or /usr/local/bin
.
$ mkdir -p $HOME/.local/bin
$ install -m 555 catjot.py $HOME/.local/bin/jot
$ install -m 555 catjot.py $HOME/.local/bin/jot
In all cases, individual users' notes will appear in ~/.catjot
.
jot
: display all notes created in the present working directory (pwd)
jot -ac "some context"
: Add context to last-written note
|jot -ac
: Piped content appended as context for last-written note
jot -ap "/var/log"
: Change pwd of last-written note
|jot -acp /var
: Piped content appended as context, provided pwd amends last-written note
jot -at "tabby friendly"
: Add one or more single-word tags to the last-written note
|jot -act healthy
: Piped content written as context, provided tag amends last-written note
jot -at ~inventory
: Subtract a tag from last-written note by preceding the word with a tilde ~
Some notes have very little relevance to the path they are written in. Homenotes serve as a catch-all for these notes and allow effortless recall.
$ echo $PWD
/usr/local/games
$ cat|jot home
うち
$ jot home
^-^
> cd /home/user
# date 2023-09-20 07:36:31 (1695220591)
うち
The abbreviated and (parenthesized) forms are both acceptable.
jot c 16952...
: (catgpt)/send note matching timestamp to openai endpoint. This function depends on openai_api_key
environment variable set.
jot d
: (dump)/show all notes from all time, everywhere
jot h
: show note (head)--show the last 1 note written, among all notes
jot h 3
: show note (head)--show the last n notes written, among all notes
jot h ~3
: show note (head)--show n-th from last note, among all notes
jot home
: show (home)notes
jot l
: show (last) written note from this directory only
jot l 3
: show (last) n written notes from this directory only
jot l ~3
: show n-th to (last) written note, from this directory only
jot m Milo
: (match) case-sensitive within message payload (*see s)
jot p
: (pop)/delete the last-written note in this pwd
jot pl
: show last-written note, message (payload) only, omitting headers
jot pl 16952...
: show note matching timestamp(s), concatenated, message (payload) only
$ DATA=$(jot pl 1695220591)
$ echo $DATA
うち
jot r 16952...
: (remove) note by timestamp
jot s tabby
: (search) case-insensitive within message payload (*see m)
jot scoop
: view list of all notes in $EDITOR, delete prefixing records with 's' or 'd'
jot stray
: display all (strays), which are all notes whose pwd are absent on this system
jot t friendly
: search all notes, filtering by (tag), case-sensitive. Tags are discrete words: "playful kitten" is intepreted as two separate tags, "playful" and "kitten" which can be removed independently.
$ cat|jot
ねこ
$ jot -at "playful kitten"
$ jot l
^-^
> cd /home/user/git/catjot
# date 2023-10-02 20:41:47 (1696304507)
[playful kitten]
ねこ
$ jot -at ~kitten
$ jot -at cat
$ jot l
^-^
> cd /home/user/git/catjot
# date 2023-10-02 20:41:47 (1696304507)
[playful cat]
ねこ
jot ts 16952...
: search all notes, filtering by (timestamp)
jot zzz
: spend a short moment with a kitten
Set environment variable CATJOT_FILE
to relocate your notefile.
export CATJOT_FILE=$HOME/.catjot # this is the default when unset
export CATJOT_FILE=$HOME/notesandmusings
Add -d
to the command to return only the timestamps for the matched notes.
This can then be used with xargs
or similar utilities to bulk-modify notes.
This feature works with all available matching methods, simply add -d
.
$ jot -d match なまえ
1696701382
1696701481
$ jot -d match なまえ|xargs -I {} jot remove {}
$ jot -d match なまえ
$
Line-by-line transcribing creates a new note while while feeding you each line from an existing note. Any difference in the original source and the newly typed line will be indicated on the next line with the following symbols:
✓ - typed line matches original source ✗ - line differs from original source ⊕ - original line has been preserved
Entering following lines have special meanings and will be interpreted as such:
- ' '
<single space>
= Deletes the line, making the output note one line shorter <Hit Enter on an empty line>
= Reproduce the line as-written (shortcut to not retype)
This mode had a few purposes originally in mind as use-cases:
- Testing typing accuracy - Allow for line-by-line reproductions of text, displaying state-changes immediately upon each line ending. Each attempt is timestamped and made as a new note, connected to the previous, to see performance over time.
$ jot sbs 1696727387
max line length: 13
terminal_width : 138
おたんじょうびおめでとう、 |おたんじょうびおめでとう、
おたんじょうびおめでとう、 ✓|おたんしょうびおめでとう、
〇〇(なまえ)の ✗|
おたんじょうびおめでとう。 ⊕|
- Text revision - Output from
tesseract
optical-character recognition software for linux produces plain-text files easily digestible and rewritten for proofing of documents.
Currently designed around OpenAI's ChatGPT Platform API, for use with GPT 3.5 and 4.0.
Set the variable openai_api_key
; example for bash-shell below:
export openai_api_key=sk-proj-...BEEF"
There are two different GPT-enhanced functionalities, CHAT and CONVO:
Quick reference guide for most usable chat functionality (see catjoy.py for full list).
$ jot chat <enter>
# allows you to freetype a prompt to send to chatgpt
$ jot chat 1719967764 rewrite this for me in python3
# Good use case! accompany the note with a direct prompt
$ jot chat when is national take your cat to work day?
# submit a context-free prompt
$ echo "tell me about national cat day" | jot chat
# submit a context-free prompt
$ cat README.md | how do i tag notes?
# Good use case! accompany the note with a direct prompt
$ cat expenses.csv | jot chat 1719967764 how much is this costing me a month?
# Good use case! accompany the csv+note with a direct prompt
Example Output 1: Request gpt review a file with your provided prompt
$ cat README.md | jot chat how do i tag notes?
/\_/\ how do i tag notes?
( o.o )
> ^ <
To tag notes in the `cat|jot` application, you can use the `-at` flag followed by the tag you want to assign to the note. Here's how you can tag notes using different scenarios:
...snipped...
END (prompt tokens=2949, output_tokens=290, model=gpt-3.5-turbo-0125)
Example Output 2: Pass -gpt4 to enable the 4.0 model with increased capability and cost.
$ cat README.md | jot -gpt4 chat summarize what this application can do
/\_/\ summarize what this application can do
( o.o )
> ^ <
This application, affectionately known as `catjot`, is a cat-themed note-taking command-line app. Below are the main functionalities and features of the app:
...snipped...
END (prompt tokens=2949, output_tokens=465, model=gpt-4-0613)
Example Output 3: Ask a general question without leaving your terminal
$ jot chat how do i restage the last commit i have not yet pushed?
/\_/\ how do i restage the last commit i have not yet pushed?
( o.o )
> ^ <
To restage the last commit you have not yet pushed, you can use the following command:
git reset --soft HEAD^
This command will undo the last commit, but leave your changes staged so you can make any necessary adjustments before committing again.
END (prompt tokens=42, output_tokens=55, model=gpt-3.5-turbo-0125)
There's basically just one way to utilize jot convo
, just like that:
$ jot convo
/\_/\ Hi, what can I help you with today?
( o.o )
> ^ <
Enter your prompt and hit Control-D to submit.
If you have pre-prompt instructions, start the line with 'SYSTEM:'
END
SYSTEM: overuse cat puns anytime you are able. own the silliness.
/\_/\ SYSTEM: overuse cat puns anytime you are able. own the silliness.
( o.o )
> ^ <
I'm feline good about these puns, so let's paws for a moment and have some fun! Let's not whisker away from using as many cat puns as possible - it's purr-fectly acceptable here. Don't fur-get to let your imagination run wild like a cat chasing a string! Let's make this conversation the cat's whiskers, shall we? Scratch that, let's make it the cat's meow! Let's unleash our inner cat-titude and make this conversation truly paw-some!
END (prompt tokens=22, output_tokens=110, model=gpt-3.5-turbo-0125)
whats the syntax for creating a tar file of my home directory?
/\_/\ whats the syntax for creating a tar file of my home directory?
( o.o )
> ^ <
Purr-fect! To create a tar file of your home directory, you can use the following command:
`tar -cvf my_home.tar /home/$USER`
This command will create a tar file named "my_home.tar" containing all the files and directories in your home directory. Meow you go!
END (prompt tokens=40, output_tokens=80, model=gpt-3.5-turbo-0125)