🧠 brain

An always-on terminal panel for tasks and notes. Keep it open in a split, type, forget nothing.

brain is a TUI capture pad designed to sit in a terminal split all day. The input bar is always ready: type a thought, hit Enter, get back to work. Tasks with reminders resurface on the right day; notes wait quietly until you need them — or get swept when they go stale.

• Zero-friction capture — no app switch, no mouse, no save button.
• Reminders without a date picker — set a date with arrow keys in two seconds.
• Two worlds, one panel — Tab switches between tasks and notes.
• Self-cleaning notes — unpinned notes older than a week get flagged for a one-keystroke sweep at startup.
• Your data is a JSON file — everything lives in ~/.brain/, editable by hand.
• Zero runtime dependencies — ships as a single self-contained bundle.

Install

npm install -g brain-tui
brain

Requires Node.js ≥ 20.

Usage

Run brain in a dedicated split (e.g. Cmd-D in Ghostty) and leave it open. The bottom bar captures immediately; press ↑ to enter navigation mode.

Run only one instance at a time — two panels would overwrite the same file (last writer wins).

Tasks

| Key | Action | | -------------- | --------------------- | | type + Enter | Capture a task | | ↑ / ↓ | Navigate the list | | Space | Mark done | | r | Set a reminder | | e / d | Edit / delete | | Esc | Back to the input bar |

Setting a reminder (r) opens an arrow-key date stepper: ← / → ±1 day, ↑ / ↓ ±1 week, Backspace clears, Enter confirms. The floor is today — no reminders in the past. Tasks due today are highlighted so they resurface on their own.

Notes

Press Tab to switch worlds. Notes are for things you want to keep — a command, a link, an idea — not things you check off.

| Key | Action | | -------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | type + Enter | Capture a note | | Shift+Enter | Insert a newline (multi-line note) | | p | Pin — moves to the top (📌) and never expires | | e / d | Edit / delete | | Tab | Back to tasks |

Shift+Enter relies on the kitty keyboard protocol (Ghostty, kitty, WezTerm). Elsewhere it degrades to a plain Enter — single-line notes, nothing breaks.

Stale-note sweep — an unpinned note older than a week becomes a cleanup candidate. At startup, brain lists candidates and asks: d delete all · k keep all · r review one by one. Nothing to do day to day.

Google Calendar (optional)

brain can show today's meetings in a status line. It reads your calendar — nothing more (calendar.events.readonly).

1. Create an OAuth "Desktop app" client in Google Cloud Console with the Calendar API enabled.

2. Put its credentials in ~/.brain/google-config.json:

   {"clientId": "…", "clientSecret": "…"}

   (or set BRAIN_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID / BRAIN_GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET.)

3. On startup, press o to authorize in the browser. Re-run anytime by typing /gauth in the input bar.

The refresh token is stored in ~/.brain/google-token.json (mode 600). Only known / commands are intercepted — typing /etc/hosts still saves a normal note.

Data

Plain JSON in ~/.brain/tasks.json and ~/.brain/notes.json. Completed tasks are hidden but kept; swept notes are gone for good.

Development

git clone <repo> && cd brain
npm install
npm start   # run from source via tsx, no build step
npm test    # prettier + xo + node:test

License

MIT