Simple journal command-line tool.

This project is generated by an AI agent.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alvpickmans/jrnl/refs/heads/main/install | bash

This will:

• Download jrnl to ~/.jrnl/bin/
• Make it executable
• Add it to your PATH in your shell config file

After installation, restart your shell or source your config file:

source ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

Add a simple journal entry (text must be quoted):

jrnl "Important meeting at 3pm"
jrnl 'TODO: review pull request'

Add an entry with detailed notes using your default editor (text must be quoted):

jrnl -i "Startup meeting"

Specify a different editor:

jrnl -i -e nano "Startup meeting"

This will open your editor (defaults to vi, respects $EDITOR) with a .jrnl file for LSP support. The file will be pre-populated with the date and title header, allowing you to edit both the title and add indented notes below it.

Open the journal file in your editor:

jrnl open

Specify a different editor:

jrnl open -e nano

Display the entire journal:

jrnl read

The output is pipeable, so you can combine it with other tools:

jrnl read | grep "meeting"
jrnl read | less
jrnl read | tail -20

Display the current version:

jrnl -v
# or
jrnl --version

Display usage information:

jrnl -h
# or
jrnl --help

• JRNL_FILE - Path to the journal file (default: ~/main.jrnl)
• EDITOR - Editor to use for interactive mode (default: vi)

export JRNL_FILE=~/work.jrnl
jrnl "Team sync meeting"

Each entry starts with the date in YYYY-MM-DD format, followed by the entry title. Interactive entries can include multiple indented lines of notes.

Example journal file:

2026-01-13 Important meeting at 3pm

2026-01-13 Startup meeting
    Discussed roadmap
    Action items assigned
    Follow-up on Friday

2026-01-13 TODO: review pull request

Flags must come BEFORE the note text.

• -i - Interactive mode (opens editor for detailed notes)
• -e <editor> - Open command: use specified editor
• -v, --version - Show version
• -h, --help - Show help message