simple-denote.nvim

This Neovim plugin provides a command :Denote note that prompts for a title and keywords (tags), then creates a new file in a flat notes directory using the Emacs Denote package’s file-naming scheme:

DATE==SIGNATURE--TITLE__KEYWORDS.EXTENSION

For example:

20240601T174946--how-to-tie-a-tie__lifeskills_clothes.md
20240601T180054--title-only.org
20240601T193022__only_keywords.norg
20240601T200121.txt
20240601T213392==1a1--i-have-a-signature__denote.csv

That’s all this does: create and consistently rename text files using the above scheme. No frontmatter, links, etc. I have overcomplicated my notes too many times with fancy Org Mode and Zettelkasten systems and this is my minimalist endgame.

The file-naming should be 1:1 with denote.el, down to minor things like triming/combining excess whitespace, removing special characters, disallowing multi-word keywords, and separating signature terms with = (e.g. ==three=word=sig).

Installation / Config

Example config via lazy.nvim

{
  "https://git.historia.vg/git/simple-denote.nvim",
  opts = {
    ext = "md",             -- Note file extension (e.g. md, org, norg, txt)
    dir = "~/notes",        -- Notes directory (should already exist)
    add_heading = true,     -- Add a md/org heading to new notes
    retitle_heading = true, -- Replace the first line heading when retitling
    directories = {},       -- Optional: multiple notes directories (see below)
  },
},

The heading options automatically support Markdown (#) and Org/Norg (*) headings.

Keymaps

Maybe you want to set keymaps for the commands as well

vim.keymap.set({'n','v'}, '<leader>nn', ":Denote note<cr>",      { desc = "New note"         })
vim.keymap.set({'n','v'}, '<leader>nt', ":Denote title<cr>",     { desc = "Change title"     })
vim.keymap.set({'n','v'}, '<leader>nk', ":Denote keywords<cr>",  { desc = "Change keywords"  })
vim.keymap.set({'n','v'}, '<leader>nz', ":Denote signature<cr>", { desc = "Change signature" })
vim.keymap.set({'n','v'}, '<leader>ne', ":Denote extension<cr>", { desc = "Change extension" })
vim.keymap.set({'n','v'}, '<leader>nd', ":Denote dir<cr>",       { desc = "Switch directory" })

Manual Install

To install without a plugin manager:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/simple-denote.nvim/start
cd ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/simple-denote.nvim/start
git clone https://historia.vg/historia/simple-denote.nvim

Add the following to ~/.config/nvim/init.lua

require('simple-denote').setup({
  ext = "md",
  dir = "~/notes",
  add_heading = true,
  retitle_heading = true,
})

:Denote Command

" Creates a new note in the `dir` directory with `ext` extension
" Keywords are space delimited. The title or keywords can be blank.
:Denote note

" Renames the current note with the new title
" If `retitle_heading` is true, overwrites the first line heading as well
:Denote title

" Renames the current note with the new list of keywords (space delimited)
:Denote keywords

" Rename the current note with a signature
" This has a user-defined meaning and no particular purpose
:Denote signature

" Rename the current file to a new extension
:Denote extension

" Switch active notes directory (requires directories = {...} config)
:Denote dir

Multi-Directory Support

To work with multiple notes directories, add them to directories:

require('simple-denote').setup({
  dir = "~/notes",                              -- default active directory
  directories = { "~/notes", "~/work", "~/projects" },
})

Use :Denote dir to select a directory. The active directory is exposed as vim.g.denote_dir so other plugins can read it.

When directories is empty (the default), nothing changes and the plugin works identically so I don’t break anything for anyone who happens to be using this.

Credits

HumanEntity/denote.nvim - This project was based on denote.nvim and modified to suit my personal preference or closer adhere to the original Denote spec.
denote.el - The original Emacs package

License

MIT