Anada

A lightweight, terminal-first note-taking tool with Markdown support and bi-directional linking.

NOTE: A detailed documentation is under development and will be available soon.

Why Anada?

• Terminal-first & Lightweight – Fast, distraction-free, runs entirely in the terminal.
• Plain Markdown Notes – Fully persistent .md files accessible with any editor.
• Interactive CLI & REPL – Create, edit, search, and link notes from the command line.
• Bi-directional Linking – [[note]] style links with automatic backlinks.
• Customizable Themes & Editor – Pick your favorite terminal theme and editor.
• Developer-friendly – Scriptable, works with Git, perfect for terminal workflows.

Installation

Install from PyPI

pip install anada

After installation, use anada command:

anada  # Start interactive mode
anada new "my note"  # Create a note
anada list  # List all notes

Install from GitHub

pip install git+https://github.com/sohv/anada.git

Install from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/sohv/anada.git
cd anada

# Install dependencies and package
pip install -e .

# Or install normally
pip install .

Development Installation

git clone https://github.com/sohv/anada.git
cd anada
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install -e .

For deployment instructions, see deployment.

Features

• CRUD Operations - Create, read, update, and delete Markdown notes
• Persistent Storage - All notes saved to disk (~/.notes/notes/) and persist across sessions
• Bi-directional Links - [[note]] style links with automatic backlinks
• Full-text Search - Search notes by content
• Interactive REPL - Command mode with autocompletion and history
• Theming - Multiple color themes (default, dark, nord)
• Lightweight - Minimal dependencies, runs everywhere

Usage

Interactive Mode

python main.py
# or
./main.py

This starts an interactive REPL where you can use commands:

notes> new "project ideas"
notes> edit "project ideas"
notes> list
notes> search "obsidian"
notes> theme dark
notes> help

Command Mode

You can also use Anada as a CLI tool:

# Create a new note
python main.py new "my note"

# Edit a note
python main.py edit "my note"

# Show a note
python main.py show "my note"

# List all notes
python main.py list

# Search notes
python main.py search "keyword"

# Show links in a note
python main.py link "my note"

# Show backlinks
python main.py backlinks "my note"

# Change theme
python main.py theme nord

Commands

Command	Description
new <title>	Create a new note
edit <title>	Open note in your default editor ($EDITOR)
show <title>	Display note content with backlinks
delete <title>	Delete a note
list	List all notes with metadata
search <query>	Search notes by content
link <title>	Show all [[links]] in a note
backlinks <title>	Show notes that link to this note
theme <name>	Change theme (default, dark, nord)
editor [name]	Show or set editor (nano, vim, etc.)
help	Show help message
quit	Exit Anada

Editing Notes

When you use edit <title> or open <title>, Anada opens the note in your default editor. The editor is determined by:

1. The editor setting in ~/.notes/config.yml
2. The $EDITOR environment variable
3. Defaults to vim if neither is set

Setting Up Your Editor

Check or Change Editor:

# In interactive mode
notes> editor          # Show current editor
notes> editor nano     # Change to nano
notes> editor vim      # Change to vim

# Or via command line
anada editor          # Show current editor
anada editor nano     # Change to nano

Set Editor via Environment Variable:

# For current session
export EDITOR=nano

# Permanently (add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
echo 'export EDITOR=nano' >> ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc

Editor Commands Reference:

For comprehensive editor commands (nano and vim), see commands.md:

• Nano commands: Save, exit, navigation, etc.
• Vim commands: Navigation, editing, save/exit, etc.

Configuration

Configuration is stored in ~/.notes/config.yml. You can customize:

• notes_dir: Directory where notes are stored (default: ~/.notes/notes)
• editor: Editor command (default: $EDITOR or vim)
• theme: Current theme name (default: default)

Themes are defined in the config file and can be customized.

Linking Notes

Anada uses Obsidian-style links:

# My Note

This is related to [[another note]].

When you view a note, Anada automatically shows:

• All links in the note
• All notes that link back to this note (backlinks)

Directory Structure

~/.notes/
├── notes/                    # All your notes are stored here
│   ├── my_note.md           # Each note is a .md file
│   ├── project_ideas.md     # Notes persist across sessions!
├── config.yml               # Configuration file
└── .anada_history            # Command history

Important: All notes are saved to ~/.notes/notes/ directory on your filesystem. This means:

• Notes persist across terminal sessions
• Notes are saved immediately when created/edited
• You can access notes even after closing and reopening the terminal
• Notes are plain Markdown files - you can edit them with any text editor

Tech Stack

• Python 3.8+ - Core language
• Rich - Beautiful terminal output
• prompt-toolkit - Interactive REPL with autocompletion
• Click - CLI framework
• PyYAML - Configuration management

Examples

Creating and Linking Notes

notes> new "project ideas"
Created: project_ideas.md

notes> new "terminal tools"
Created: terminal_tools.md

notes> edit "project ideas"
# Opens in your editor - add: "See [[terminal tools]] for inspiration"

notes> show "terminal tools"
# Shows note with backlinks showing it's linked from "project ideas"

Searching

notes> search "project"
# Shows all notes containing "project"

Theming

notes> theme nord
Theme changed to: nord

Future Enhancements

• Graph visualization (ASCII or web export)
• Tag support (#tag parsing)
• Sync/export to Obsidian folder
• Plugin hooks for extensibility
• Enhanced Markdown rendering with syntax highlighting

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.