cnote 🎩

Casual Note is a minimalist, ephemeral CLI note-taking tool for Linux/macOS.

It is designed for the "scratchpad" workflow: you need to remember something right now, but you don't need it forever.

The Hook: cnote has no database and no config file. Notes live in RAM. When you add a note, a lightweight session starts. When you clear your list (or remove the last note), the session dies and frees all memory.

🚀 Installation

You have two options for installing cnote:

Option 1: Using Pre-built Binaries (Recommended)

The easiest way is to download a binary from our GitHub Releases page.

1. Download: Find the latest release and download the file appropriate for your system:

   • Linux: cnote_[version]_linux_amd64.tar.gz
   • macOS (Intel/M1/M2): cnote_[version]_darwin_amd64.tar.gz

2. Extract: Unpack the archive to get the cnote executable.

   tar -xzf cnote_[version]_linux_amd64.tar.gz

3. Install: Move the binary to a directory in your system's PATH (e.g., /usr/local/bin).

   sudo mv cnote /usr/local/bin/

4. Verify: Check the version to ensure it's installed correctly.

   cnote --version

Option 2: Build from Source (Requires Go)

If you have Go installed and prefer to build it yourself:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/amirfarzamnia/cnote.git
cd cnote

# Build and install the binary
go build -o cnote .
sudo mv cnote /usr/local/bin/

🎩 Usage

1. Start a session: Just add a note. If cnote isn't running, it starts itself.

cnote add "Deploy to production at 4pm"
# Note added (ID: 1)

2. Add more: Add some more notes.

cnote add "Buy milk"
# Note added (ID: 2)
cnote add "Check server logs" --pin
# Note added (Pinned) (ID: 3)

3. View notes: List added notes.

cnote list
# ID  PINNED  CREATED  CONTENT
# --  ------  -------  -------
# 3   Yes     15:30PM  Check server logs
# 1           15:31PM  Deploy to production at 4pm
# 2           15:32PM  Buy milk

4. Pin important stuff: See how pinning notes works.

cnote pin 1
# Pinned note 1

5. Smart Removal: You can use IDs, or keywords first and last.

cnote remove last
# Removed note 3

6. The "Done" Button: When you clear the list, cnote shuts down completely.

cnote clear
# All notes cleared.

🧠 Under the Hood (Architecture)

cnote is built for maximum efficiency using a Client-Daemon architecture hidden inside a single binary.

1. Lazy Loading: When you run cnote add, the client checks for a Unix Domain Socket (/tmp/cnote.sock). If missing, it silently spawns a background process (the daemon).
2. In-Memory: The daemon holds your notes in a Go slice (RAM). No disk I/O, no JSON files, no SQLite.
3. Aggressive Garbage Collection: Every time a note is removed, the daemon checks the list size. If count == 0, the daemon calls os.Exit(0), instantly returning all resources to the OS.

This ensures you never have a stray background service eating RAM when you aren't actually working on something.

📜 License

MIT