jot
Keep one notebook for nonsense.
That's where your real patterns hide.
jot is a terminal-first notebook and local document viewer.
Capture a thought in one line, then use the same jot open flow to preview local PDFs, Markdown, JSON, and XML in a clean jot-owned viewer window.
Install
npm install -g @intina47/jot
The npm package downloads the matching prebuilt binary from GitHub Releases during install.
Supported targets:
- macOS
x64, arm64
- Linux
x64
- Windows
x64
Quick start
Capture one thought:
jot
Or:
jot init
Capture a richer entry with metadata:
jot capture "Ship the help refresh" --title release --tag cli --project jot
If you omit the content, jot opens your editor:
jot capture --title "standup notes" --tag team
That handles capture.
When you want to inspect a local document:
jot open
Pick a file and jot opens supported document types in the jot viewer.
Read back and open local docs
Browse the timeline:
jot list
Show the full terminal view without truncation:
jot list --full
Open one specific entry by id when a preview tells you to:
jot open dg0ftbuoqqdc-62
Open the native file picker:
jot open
Or open a local PDF in the jot viewer:
jot open "C:\Users\mamba\Downloads\paper.pdf"
Or open Markdown, JSON, or XML in the same jot viewer:
jot open ".\docs\plan.md"
jot open ".\data\sample.json"
jot open ".\feeds\config.xml"
If the argument is not a jot id and points to a local .pdf, .md, .markdown, .json, or .xml, jot starts a lightweight local viewer session and opens the file through jot's own viewer page. On machines with Edge, Chrome, Brave, or Chromium available, jot opens that viewer in a dedicated app-style window instead of a normal browser tab. Other existing files open with the system default app.
That means the same CLI now works well as:
- a note capture tool
- a lightweight local PDF reader
- a Markdown previewer
- a JSON and XML inspection tool
Tasks and Conversion
Use the direct command when you already know the job:
jot convert logo.png ico
jot convert logo.png svg
jot convert screenshot.png jpg
Or use the guided task flow:
jot task
Pick convert image, then choose the source image and target format.
Current image conversion support:
- inputs:
.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif
- outputs:
.png, .jpg, .gif, .ico, .svg
Notes:
.png output preserves raster detail and alpha
.jpg output is optimized for photos and screenshots and flattens transparency onto white
.gif output is single-frame and palette-limited
.ico output builds a multi-size favicon-style icon automatically
.svg output wraps the source raster inside a standalone SVG file; it is not traced vector output
On Windows, you can add an Explorer context-menu entry for files:
jot integrate windows
Remove it with:
jot integrate windows --remove
Templates
Create a dated note from a template:
jot new --template daily
Create multiple notes from the same template on the same day:
jot new --template meeting -n "Team Sync"
List available templates:
jot templates
Help
The CLI now ships a fuller built-in help screen:
jot help
jot help capture
jot help list
Data
- Journal entries are stored locally in
~/.jot/journal.jsonl
- Template-created note files stay in your current working directory
- Nothing is uploaded by the CLI itself
Notes for npm users
- The binary is fetched during
postinstall
- Reinstalling the package downloads the binary for the current platform
- The package depends on the corresponding GitHub release assets already existing