A terminal-native note editor with a block-based editing experience.
Install · Quick Start · Features · CLI Reference · Configuration · Roadmap
Notebook is a TUI note manager that organizes markdown notes into notebooks. It comes with a block editor supporting 14 block types, an interactive browser with search, 16 themes, inline markdown formatting, undo/redo, and a view mode for reading.
Everything runs in your terminal. No account, no sync, no config required.
# Homebrew
brew install oobagi/tap/notebook
# Go (1.25+)
go install github.com/oobagi/notebook-cli/cmd/notebook@latest
Alternatively, prebuilt binaries for macOS and Linux are available on the releases page.
# Launch the interactive browser
notebook
# Create a note (auto-creates the notebook if it doesn't exist)
notebook ideas new "First Thought"
# Open it in the editor
notebook ideas "First Thought"
# Open any .md or .txt file directly
notebook path/to/file.md- Block editor — 14 block types: paragraphs, headings (3 levels), bullet lists, numbered lists, checklists, code blocks, tables, quotes, definitions, callouts, dividers, and embeds. Press / to switch types.
- Tables — Pipe-delimited GFM tables with per-column widths. Alt+R/C to add rows/columns, Alt+Shift+Backspace/Alt+Shift+D to delete. Press Enter on an empty row to exit the table and drop the row.
- Callouts — Five admonition variants (Note, Tip, Important, Warning, Caution). Ctrl+T to cycle.
- Definitions — Term/definition pairs. Press : to search and jump to definitions.
- Embeds — Reference other notes inline with
![[notebook/note]]. Click in view mode to expand. - Nested lists — Tab/Shift+Tab to indent and outdent. Checklist cascading on toggle.
- Syntax highlighting — 500+ languages via Chroma. Name the language on the first line of a code block.
- Inline formatting —
**bold**,*italic*,~~strikethrough~~,__underline__render live in inactive blocks. - View mode — Ctrl+R for a clean, read-only view. Click checklists to toggle them without editing.
- Search — Press / in the browser to search across all notebooks by title.
- Preview pane — Press p to see note content while browsing.
- Settings — Press , in the browser to configure storage, theme, date format, and more.
- 16 themes — Dark, Ocean, Forest, Sunset, Monochrome, Rose, Cyberpunk, Minimal, Retro, Nord, Solarized, Dracula, Tokyo, Lavender, Ember, Catppuccin.
- Undo/redo — 100 levels, tracks content changes only.
- Mouse support — Click checklists in view mode, native text selection in the editor.
- Open external files — Press i in the browser or pass a file path to open any .md or .txt file.
Editor keybindings
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Enter | New block below |
| / | Command palette (at start of block) |
| : | Definition lookup (on empty block) |
| Ctrl+S | Save |
| Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y | Undo / Redo |
| Ctrl+K | Cut block |
| Alt+Up / Alt+Down | Move block up/down |
| Tab / Shift+Tab | Indent / outdent list |
| Ctrl+X | Toggle checkbox |
| Ctrl+T | Cycle callout variant |
| Ctrl+H | Sort checked items to bottom |
| Ctrl+R | View mode |
| Ctrl+J / Shift+Enter | Newline within block |
| Ctrl+W | Toggle word wrap |
| Ctrl+G | Help |
| Esc | Back to browser |
Browser keybindings
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Up/Down | Navigate |
| Enter | Open |
| Esc | Back / Quit |
| / | Search |
| n | New notebook/note |
| d | Delete |
| r | Rename |
| c | Copy to clipboard |
| i | Open external file |
| p | Preview pane |
| t | Theme picker |
| , | Settings |
| Tab | Cycle sections |
| ? | Help |
notebook Launch interactive browser
notebook list List all notebooks
notebook <book> list List notes in a notebook
notebook <book> new "Title" Create a note
notebook <book> "Title" Open a note in the editor
notebook <book> "Title" edit Open a note in the editor
notebook <book> "Title" copy Copy note to clipboard
notebook <book> "Title" delete Delete a note
notebook <book> delete Delete a notebook
notebook search "query" Search across all notebooks
notebook <book> search "query" Search within a notebook
notebook path/to/file.md Open any .md or .txt file
notebook theme [name] List or set theme
notebook config Show current config
notebook config set <key> <value> Set a config value
Config lives at ~/.config/notebook/config.toml. Set values with notebook config set:
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
storage_dir |
~/.notebook |
Where notebooks are stored |
editor |
built-in | External editor command (leave empty for built-in) |
theme |
dark |
Theme name (see notebook theme for options) |
date_format |
relative |
How dates are displayed |
hide_checked |
false |
Sort checked items to bottom of lists |
cascade_checks |
true |
Toggle parent/child checklists together |
show_preview |
true |
Show preview pane in browser |
word_wrap |
true |
Wrap long lines in the editor |
MIT