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Show HN: Daily-notes.nvim – fuzzy time journal and planning plugin

63 points by fdavies93 2y ago

I wrote an nvim plugin that does fuzzy time parsing on plain english dates to help you create + organise periodic notes. I use it daily at work and home. Hope it's helpful to others. :) note: not using NLP, LLMs or 'true' fuzzy parsing as per academic literature; just normal recursive descent parsing

Protostome 2y ago
I love working with neovim and i do all my programming with it for more than 20 years. I often struggle to "move my life" to neovim. For example, task management apps are both on my phone, my laptop and web if i need them. How do you guys work with neovim on other non-programming related tasks and still manage to keep everything in sync?
- toenail 2y ago
  Neovim was started 9 years ago..
  - andai 2y ago
    Perhaps GP started with archaeovim ;)
  - Protostome 2y ago
    Well, you got me there... I worked with vim and 2-3 years ago moved to nvim. The transition has been so smooth that I often confuse the two without noticing :)
- fdavies93 2y ago
  Personally I use insync to sync my notes to the cloud, and then sync them to my devices with similar apps for android. Then it's just finding apps for editing the notes; everything from neovim on termux to just using Obsidian as a frontend is viable. But mobile is kind of a bad platform for plain text editing imho.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- skydhash 2y ago
  Eschewing the need to sync everything was the best adaptation of my workflow. Instead I just transfer stuff to central repositories. My notes are version controlled with git and pushed on a server. Then I used the working copy app on my mobile devices to view them. On the latter, I mostly do transient note taking, and more often than not, I just message myself on WhatsApp. For something like a grocery list, I do them with Reminder.app When I’m back again on my computer, I write down what I want to retain.
- kot-behemoth 2y ago
  Obsidian.nvim (https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim) has been working really well for me. I use Obsidian mobile app (it’s not the best in this space, but still very good). And on my laptop, I’ve got neovim - getting to the daily note is one key combo. It’s also super fast and syncs using Obisidan Sync (or you can do your own).
aiiizzz 2y ago
I just write my journal straight to an llm. It gives me positive feedback and I can ask about my plans. Works great.
- przems 2y ago
  I can't tell if you're serious or joking. If it's the former, could you elaborate on how that works? E.g. are you using a public LLM, or a self-hosted model?
  - baketnk 2y ago
    i just use a text editor plugin and use the auto-logging/search features. everything i ask any model in any workspace is searchable cant grep a react app
    - fdavies93 2y ago
      I should look into this because I have over 132000 words of text in my notes (more than the average novel) and I'm curious whether I can 'talk' to my second brain via a LLM.
      - andai 2y ago
        You could first ask a LLM to compress your notes. There was some informal research into this a while back, LLMs have the ability to translate text into a much shorter representation that only they can understand. That might allow you to get around the context size limits. More practically (or additionally) you could just ask it to summarize them or extract the most relevant parts. Alternatively, I think the most popular approach is to use a RAG thing though someone else will have to fill you in on the current state of the art.
      - ydant 2y ago
        Smart Connections[0] plug-in for Obsidian is worth checking out. It does a really good job of indexing (with local or OpenAI embeddings) and RAG allowing you to chat with various models about your notes. The chunking and context algorithms it uses seem to be well designed and find most/all relevant details for most things I try to discuss. It's well implemented and provides useful and interesting discussions with my journal/notes. 0 - https://github.com/brianpetro/obsidian-smart-connections https://github.com/brianpetro/obsidian-smart-connections
kitchendesign 2y ago
[dead]
phkx 2y ago
I’m in the process of ditching vscode and for now settled on nvim as the replacement. Currently, I still use Dendron for taking notes. There are some suggestions for companion plugins at the end of the readme - does anyone have additional suggestions? For example for tagging, linking between notes and visualizing the graph?
- fdavies93 2y ago
  The PKM space for neovim plugins is a surprisingly deep rabbithole but it can take quite a while to find what you need. For completions and tagging https://github.com/Feel-ix-343/markdown-oxide https://github.com/Feel-ix-343/markdown-oxide works well for me and does pretty much everything I need. There are also a glut of all-in-one solutions like https://github.com/nvim-neorg/neorg https://github.com/nvim-neorg/neorg (org-mode for neovim) and https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim. Graphing is a bit harder because it doesn't intuitively match up with nvim's interface, but I'm pretty sure I saw something on Reddit the other day.
tombh 2y ago
I've been using simply `nvim "$(date "+%Y/%b/%d").md"` for about 5 years now. Every time I see a note-taking project or an article about it, like the Zettelkasten method for example, I'm comparing to my one-liner. I think it'd be useful to have a gif in https://github.com/fdavies93/daily-notes.nvim https://github.com/fdavies93/daily-notes.nvim like https://github.com/jakobkhansen/journal.nvim https://github.com/jakobkhansen/journal.nvim does. But even then I must say, I still can't intuitively see the benefits of installing a whole plugin. I'm not doubting there are benefits, it's just that I'm reluctant to invest the days and weeks installing and using these plugins to know how they work.
- Lio 2y ago
  My comparison is always with good ol' Vim Wiki[1], which still works great with NeoVim. I'd add that to the list for comparison too. 1. https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki
  - grakker 2y ago
    This is what I've used for years. I guess my use case is probably different than what OP posted as I don't understand what I might gain from his plugin.
- myaccountonhn 2y ago
  I've been using the markdown lsp called marksman lately (https://github.com/artempyanykh/marksman https://github.com/artempyanykh/marksman). It works great for me. I like to research, and found Zettelkasten to be a great way to do so. The benefit is that you build up a database of very well-reasoned notes that you can link together in different context and build even higher levels of well-reasoned arguments. I used to do it in a simpler way with just grep and plain old unix files, but the ability to quickly find, create and reference notes with something like marksman makes it easier to stay in the flow and be more productive. Even though I could technically do it before, something just clicked with this new approach. I think it's good to try out different tools and workflows and see what work for you, as it helps you better grasp what your needs are. So even if you don't use the tools they don't have to be a waste of time.

63 points by fdavies93 2y ago

Protostome 2y ago

I love working with neovim and i do all my programming with it for more than 20 years. I often struggle to "move my life" to neovim. For example, task management apps are both on my phone, my laptop and web if i need them. How do you guys work with neovim on other non-programming related tasks and still manage to keep everything in sync?

toenail 2y ago
Neovim was started 9 years ago..
- andai 2y ago
  Perhaps GP started with archaeovim ;)
- Protostome 2y ago
  Well, you got me there... I worked with vim and 2-3 years ago moved to nvim. The transition has been so smooth that I often confuse the two without noticing :)
fdavies93 2y ago
Personally I use insync to sync my notes to the cloud, and then sync them to my devices with similar apps for android. Then it's just finding apps for editing the notes; everything from neovim on termux to just using Obsidian as a frontend is viable. But mobile is kind of a bad platform for plain text editing imho.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
skydhash 2y ago
Eschewing the need to sync everything was the best adaptation of my workflow. Instead I just transfer stuff to central repositories. My notes are version controlled with git and pushed on a server. Then I used the working copy app on my mobile devices to view them. On the latter, I mostly do transient note taking, and more often than not, I just message myself on WhatsApp. For something like a grocery list, I do them with Reminder.app When I’m back again on my computer, I write down what I want to retain.
kot-behemoth 2y ago
Obsidian.nvim (https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim) has been working really well for me. I use Obsidian mobile app (it’s not the best in this space, but still very good). And on my laptop, I’ve got neovim - getting to the daily note is one key combo. It’s also super fast and syncs using Obisidan Sync (or you can do your own).

aiiizzz 2y ago

I just write my journal straight to an llm. It gives me positive feedback and I can ask about my plans. Works great.

przems 2y ago
I can't tell if you're serious or joking. If it's the former, could you elaborate on how that works? E.g. are you using a public LLM, or a self-hosted model?
- baketnk 2y ago
  i just use a text editor plugin and use the auto-logging/search features. everything i ask any model in any workspace is searchable cant grep a react app
  - fdavies93 2y ago
    I should look into this because I have over 132000 words of text in my notes (more than the average novel) and I'm curious whether I can 'talk' to my second brain via a LLM.
    - andai 2y ago
      You could first ask a LLM to compress your notes. There was some informal research into this a while back, LLMs have the ability to translate text into a much shorter representation that only they can understand. That might allow you to get around the context size limits. More practically (or additionally) you could just ask it to summarize them or extract the most relevant parts. Alternatively, I think the most popular approach is to use a RAG thing though someone else will have to fill you in on the current state of the art.
    - ydant 2y ago
      Smart Connections[0] plug-in for Obsidian is worth checking out. It does a really good job of indexing (with local or OpenAI embeddings) and RAG allowing you to chat with various models about your notes. The chunking and context algorithms it uses seem to be well designed and find most/all relevant details for most things I try to discuss. It's well implemented and provides useful and interesting discussions with my journal/notes. 0 - https://github.com/brianpetro/obsidian-smart-connections https://github.com/brianpetro/obsidian-smart-connections

kitchendesign 2y ago

[dead]

phkx 2y ago

I’m in the process of ditching vscode and for now settled on nvim as the replacement. Currently, I still use Dendron for taking notes. There are some suggestions for companion plugins at the end of the readme - does anyone have additional suggestions? For example for tagging, linking between notes and visualizing the graph?

fdavies93 2y ago
The PKM space for neovim plugins is a surprisingly deep rabbithole but it can take quite a while to find what you need. For completions and tagging https://github.com/Feel-ix-343/markdown-oxide https://github.com/Feel-ix-343/markdown-oxide works well for me and does pretty much everything I need. There are also a glut of all-in-one solutions like https://github.com/nvim-neorg/neorg https://github.com/nvim-neorg/neorg (org-mode for neovim) and https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim. Graphing is a bit harder because it doesn't intuitively match up with nvim's interface, but I'm pretty sure I saw something on Reddit the other day.

tombh 2y ago

I've been using simply `nvim "$(date "+%Y/%b/%d").md"` for about 5 years now. Every time I see a note-taking project or an article about it, like the Zettelkasten method for example, I'm comparing to my one-liner. I think it'd be useful to have a gif in https://github.com/fdavies93/daily-notes.nvim https://github.com/fdavies93/daily-notes.nvim like https://github.com/jakobkhansen/journal.nvim https://github.com/jakobkhansen/journal.nvim does. But even then I must say, I still can't intuitively see the benefits of installing a whole plugin. I'm not doubting there are benefits, it's just that I'm reluctant to invest the days and weeks installing and using these plugins to know how they work.

Lio 2y ago
My comparison is always with good ol' Vim Wiki[1], which still works great with NeoVim. I'd add that to the list for comparison too. 1. https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki
- grakker 2y ago
  This is what I've used for years. I guess my use case is probably different than what OP posted as I don't understand what I might gain from his plugin.
myaccountonhn 2y ago
I've been using the markdown lsp called marksman lately (https://github.com/artempyanykh/marksman https://github.com/artempyanykh/marksman). It works great for me. I like to research, and found Zettelkasten to be a great way to do so. The benefit is that you build up a database of very well-reasoned notes that you can link together in different context and build even higher levels of well-reasoned arguments. I used to do it in a simpler way with just grep and plain old unix files, but the ability to quickly find, create and reference notes with something like marksman makes it easier to stay in the flow and be more productive. Even though I could technically do it before, something just clicked with this new approach. I think it's good to try out different tools and workflows and see what work for you, as it helps you better grasp what your needs are. So even if you don't use the tools they don't have to be a waste of time.