Blink

Blink is a capture-first CLI for fast plain-text notes — built in Rust for sub-20ms capture.

One interface

blink <words>     # save a thought (++ prefix), or find one
blink             # keep writing (interactive ›)
blink block       # write more than one line
blink meet        # capture a session

blink help advanced   # reindex, doctor, bench

Principles

• Capture first — file write before index; notes survive index failures
• Local-first — markdown in ~/blink, BM25 search offline, no AI required
• Zero setup — first capture creates ~/blink/notebooks/active/
• Ambient — ✓ or silence on capture; content-only search results

Storage

BLINK_HOME overrides ~/blink.

~/blink/notebooks/active/
├── 2026-06-24.md
├── 2026-06-24.md.offset   # sidecar line counter (internal)
├── index.sqlite           # derived FTS5 index
└── index.queue            # async index spool

Hotkeys

Use explicit capture for hotkeys:

blink ++ buy milk

See platform/mac/blink.scpt and platform/win/blink-hotkey.ps1.

Install

Requires Node.js 18+ to install. Blink itself runs as a native binary.

npm install -g @clype/blink
blink ++ hello world

The package bundles the prebuilt binary for every supported OS — no separate binary download or postinstall step. No Cargo or Rust required.

See docs/install.md for npx, migration, and troubleshooting.

Build from source (developers)

Architecture

blink/src/
├── engine/          # Core — capture, recall, maintenance (no user I/O)
│   └── Blink        # Facade used by CLI, tests, and future bindings
├── cli/             # User interaction — routing, prompts, editor, output
├── capture/         # Internal storage writers (used by engine)
├── index/           # Internal FTS5 index (used by engine)
├── retrieval/       # Internal search helpers (used by engine)
└── storage/         # Paths, config, daily files (used by engine)

The CLI layer never writes files or queries SQLite directly — it calls Blink::capture(), Blink::recall(), etc.

Agent-friendly output: pass --json on any command.

Migrate from Blink v0.2 (Node)

Existing ~/blink/ daily files and index.sqlite are compatible. See docs/migration.md.

npm uninstall -g @noodlemind/blink   # old package, if installed
npm install -g @clype/blink          # native binary, bundled per-platform
blink doctor
blink reindex

Performance

See docs/performance.md and docs/blink-speed-report.md. Run blink bench after building.