Quill

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A quick, keyboard-driven note-taking TUI. Browse, create, edit, and delete plain-markdown notes without leaving the terminal.

Built with Ink (React for the CLI).

Install

Requires Node.js 18 or newer. Install it globally:

npm install -g @nexoe/quill

Then launch it from anywhere:

quill

Or run it once, without installing:

npx @nexoe/quill

Keys

| Key | Action | | -------------- | ----------------------------------- | | ↑ / ↓, j / k | Move selection | | enter / e | Edit the selected note in $EDITOR | | v | View the selected note (rendered markdown) | | n | Create a new note | | f | Filter notes by title (live) | | d | Delete the selected note (confirm) | | s | Toggle sort: last edited ↔ name | | c | Open the config screen | | q | Quit |

While filtering: type to narrow the list, ↑/↓ to move, enter to apply and keep the filter, esc to clear it. With a filter applied, esc in the list clears it. The list scrolls in place when it's longer than the window, so the header and key hints stay on screen.

While viewing: ↑/↓ (or j/k) scroll a line, space/PgDn/PgUp page, g/G jump to top/bottom, e opens the note in your editor, and v or esc returns to the list. The viewer renders markdown — headings, lists, blockquotes, code, and inline emphasis — without touching the file.

Configuration

Run the interactive config screen from the shell:

quill config

…or press c from inside the app. It lets you set your editor and notes directory, saved to ~/.quill/config.json.

Both settings can also come from the environment, which takes precedence over the config file:

| Setting | Resolution order (first wins) | | -------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | Editor | $QUILL_EDITOR → config → $VISUAL → $EDITOR → vi | | Notes dir| $QUILL_DIR → config → ~/.quill/notes |

For GUI editors, remember the wait flag, e.g. code -w or subl -w.

Syncing your notes

Notes are just plain .md files in a single folder, so quill doesn't need any sync logic of its own. You have two easy options:

Keep it local (default). Notes stay in ~/.quill/notes on this machine. Nothing leaves your computer — the simplest, most private option.

Back up / sync with Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, etc. These apps let you choose which folders they sync from their settings. Open your sync app's preferences and add quill's notes folder (~/.quill/notes) to the list of synced folders — or set quill's notes directory (via quill config) to a folder that's already inside your synced drive. Either way, every note you save is backed up and shows up on your other machines automatically.

Because notes are individual markdown files, conflicts are rare — and if two devices edit the same note while offline, your sync app keeps both copies so nothing is lost.

How it works

• Runs fullscreen in the terminal's alternate screen buffer (like vim/less); your shell scrollback is restored untouched on exit. The layout tracks terminal resizes.
• Notes are plain .md files (in the notes dir above).
• A note's title is its first non-empty line.
• Editing hands the terminal to your configured editor, so you get your real editor for the note body.