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ZettelGeist is a plaintext note-taking system, inspired by the ZettelKasten Method.

The project founders have both been interested in taking notes long before discovering ZettelKasten. We really like the thought process behind ZettelKasten, however, and think it is ahead of its time by being "less is more" in its focus.

ZettelGeist implements the spirit of ZettelKasten; the key feature of our approach is to work from plaintext files. We are inspired by pandoc and Jekyll, systems that employ Markdown and YAML to create elegant and intricately structured documents. We are starting even more simply by using YAML alone, without Markdown. Most visitors to this site will know that YAML is a computer-readable data format designed to be maximally legible to humans. These features make YAML a perfect format for note-taking.

Suppose you want to do the following:

• Follow the traditional and ever-valid methods of scholarly note-taking: write research note-cards with a title, some keywords, a quotation (with optional comment or summary), and bibliographical citation (such as the book or article title and page number).

• Store your research notes safely and sustainably.

• Retrieve and browse notes on a particular topic.

• Pull and organize notes to be used in writing a scholarly book or article.

Best practices for these research activities were developed and refined long before the advent of personal computers. ZettelGeist merges the traditional techniques into the computer world. This application is the missing link between applications for managing bibliography (Zotero is our favorite) and plain-text workflows for scholarly writing.

First-time visitors should read our statement on Note Format and instructions for installation. Proceed from there to the User's Guide.

New to the world of plaintext writing? Start with our GDocs Tutorial.