days

This is a tool for keeping a personal journal in the form of a directory of markdown files. There are two main commands: new for writing posts, and server to browse the journal as a webpage.

Journaling on iOS is supported via iMessage import (see days merge).

Status

⚠️ Note: Version 2.0.0 contains a security fix. Please do not use previous versions.

Please be mindful that this is a small project and that further security issues should be expected.

Directory structure

├── content
│   └── 2020 ....................... year
│       └── 04 ..................... month
│           └── 01 ................. day
│               ├── 12-00-00.md .... hh-mm-ss
│               └── allday.md ...... you can have one untimed post per day,
│                                    written for example when looking back at
│                                    some later point in time
├── assets ......................... files in this dir are served from root
│   └── image.jpeg ................. ![an image](/image.jpeg)
│
└── config.json .................... optional configuration file

Install

Install using npm or Homebrew.

$ npm install --global @ernstwi/days

$ brew install ernstwi/tap/days

Usage

All commands assume your current directory is the journal root.

new

Create a new post.

$ days new [--no-edit] [--allday] [<year> <month> <day> [<hour> [<minute> [<second>]]]]

• If no date is given, the current time is used. With --allday, an all day post is created.
• If a date is given, but no time, an all day post is created.
• Without --no-edit, the post opens in $EDITOR.
• With --no-edit, the filename is printed to stdout.

server

Start the web server.

$ days server [--port <number>] [--theme <name>]

merge

Import content from another journal, or from iMessage.

$ days merge [--resolve] (<path> | --imessage <ID>)

• Merge posts from a days journal at <path>, or from an iMessage conversation with user <ID> (macOS only).
• With --resolve, filename collisions on assets are resolved by renaming.

Tip: Set up a dummy Apple ID for the purpose of journaling.

prune

Clean up the content directory, removing empty subdirectories.

$ days prune

Configuration

The root directory may contain a file config.json with the following keys.

| Setting | Default value | | ------- | ------------- | | title | days | | port | 3004 | | theme | fruchtig |

Themes

| Name | Screenshot | Adapted from | | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | | fruchtig | | schickele/vim-fruchtig | | nachtleben | | schickele/vim-nachtleben | | monochrome | | fxn/vim-monochrome |

Adding themes

You can create your own theme by adding a file static/theme/<theme-name>.css containing definitions for a subset of the following CSS variables.

| Name | Type | Fallback value | | ------------------------------- | ----- | -------------- | | --ui | color | gray | | --content | color | black | | --background | color | white | | --post-footer-fav | color | gold | | --link | color | blue | | --link-hover | color | magenta |

| Name | Type | Fallback value | | ------------------------------- | ----- | -------------- | | --blockquote-border | color | --content | | --day-header | color | --ui | | --day-header-background | color | --background | | --day-header-border | color | --ui | | --figure-border | color | --content | | --footer-diamond | color | --ui | | --link-disabled | color | --ui | | --no-posts | color | --ui | | --no-posts-border | color | --ui | | --post-body | color | --content | | --post-body-hr | color | --content | | --post-edit-bg | color | --background | | --post-edit-border | color | --ui | | --post-edit-fg | color | --content | | --post-edit-submit-background | color | --background | | --post-edit-submit-border | color | --ui | | --post-footer | color | --ui | | --post-footer-hr | color | --ui | | --sidebar-divider | color | --ui | | --sidebar-month | color | --ui | | --sidebar-year | color | --ui | | --start-index-border | color | --ui | | --start-index-border | color | --ui | | --start-year | color | --ui |

Testing

npm run test: Compile TypeScript and test the resulting JavaScript using Mocha.

To test iMessage merge functionality, you must define the environment variable DAYS_TEST_IMESSAGE. This value will be used as the recipient of a test message sent using Applescript on each run of the test suite. Note that this means automatically opening the Messages app and sending a message from your logged in user.

If DAYS_TEST_IMESSAGE is not defined, iMessage merge testing is skipped and no test message is sent.