If a person forgets an idea that they love, it's a horror...

my notes are

• chaotic: one big .txt .md file
• ephemeral: like temp storage things written down are unfinished
• boring: no backticks, colours, tags, views, formulas, comments, ai, etc.

what I use

• .md:
  • because I can take it anywhere
  • because I want to render code blocks and images
• sheets.google.com:
  • because 100 columns on markdown is jank as
  • because tables are easy to reason about
  • because I need to share it with someone else

what I want with a note taking tool

• minimal: the ideal state is zero decisions
• responsive: must not be fiddly, jank, or clunky
• malleable: like handing someone else a piece of paper or an orange
• centralised: why two tool when one tool do trick
• accessible: to view it on the go
• portable: so that I have an escape plan
• resourceful: if it costs nothing to run then I never need to close it
• local: I'm offline sometimes

• ghostty (kitty default)
• zed (ayu darker)
• helium
• obsidian
• hammerspoon[1]
• sublime merge
• codex
• aldente
• cap
• betterdisplay
• stats
• yaak
• foobar
• soulseek
• ocenaudio
• cli [2]
  • btop
  • atuin
  • zoxide
  • zsh-autosuggestions
  • zsh-syntax-highlighting
  • fzf
  • eza

appendix

[1] hammerspoon config

-- ~/.hammerspoon/init.lua

-- 6-zone layout for vertically stacked monitors

-- ⌃⌥ (Ctrl+Opt) = current screen snapping

-- ⌃⇧ (Ctrl+Shift) = top monitor snap

-- ⌃⌘ (Ctrl+Cmd) = bottom monitor snap

-- ⌃⌥ ↑ / ↓ = move vertically (preserve left/right/full)

  

hs.window.animationDuration = 0

  

--------------------------------------------------

-- Screen Helpers

--------------------------------------------------

  

local function getScreens()

local screens = hs.screen.allScreens()

  

if #screens < 2 then

hs.alert.show("Only 1 display detected")

return screens[1], screens[1]

end

  

table.sort(screens, function(a, b)

return a:frame().y < b:frame().y

end)

  

return screens[1], screens[2] -- top, bottom

end

  

--------------------------------------------------

-- Zones

--------------------------------------------------

  

local left = { x = 0, y = 0, w = 0.5, h = 1 }

local right = { x = 0.5, y = 0, w = 0.5, h = 1 }

local full = { x = 0, y = 0, w = 1, h = 1 }

  

--------------------------------------------------

-- Move To Specific Screen

--------------------------------------------------

  

local function moveTo(screen, rect)

local f = screen:frame()

  

return {

x = f.x + (f.w * rect.x),

y = f.y + (f.h * rect.y),

w = f.w * rect.w,

h = f.h * rect.h,

}

end

  

local function applyRect(win, screen, rect)

win:move(moveTo(screen, rect))

end

  

--------------------------------------------------

-- Horizontal Snap

--------------------------------------------------

  

local function moveCurrent(rect)

return function()

local win = hs.window.focusedWindow()

if not win then return end

applyRect(win, win:screen(), rect)

end

end

  

local function moveToScreen(screenPicker, rect)

return function()

local win = hs.window.focusedWindow()

if not win then return end

  

local top, bottom = getScreens()

local screen = (screenPicker == "top") and top or bottom

applyRect(win, screen, rect)

end

end

  

--------------------------------------------------

-- Detect Window Side (left/right/full)

--------------------------------------------------

  

local function detectZone(win)

local screen = win:screen()

local f = screen:frame()

local wf = win:frame()

  

local relX = (wf.x - f.x) / f.w

local relW = wf.w / f.w

  

if relW > 0.9 then

return "full"

elseif relX < 0.25 then

return "left"

else

return "right"

end

end

  

--------------------------------------------------

-- Vertical Toggle (Preserve Side)

--------------------------------------------------

  

local function moveVertical()

local win = hs.window.focusedWindow()

if not win then return end

  

local top, bottom = getScreens()

local currentScreen = win:screen()

local zone = detectZone(win)

  

local target = (currentScreen:id() == top:id()) and bottom or top

local rect = (zone == "left" and left)

or (zone == "right" and right)

or full

  

applyRect(win, target, rect)

end

  

--------------------------------------------------

-- Key Bindings

--------------------------------------------------

  

-- ⌃⌥ (Current screen)

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "alt" }, "left", moveCurrent(left))

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "alt" }, "right", moveCurrent(right))

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "alt" }, "return", moveCurrent(full))

  

-- ⌃⇧ (Top monitor)

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "shift" }, "left", moveToScreen("top", left))

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "shift" }, "right", moveToScreen("top", right))

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "shift" }, "return", moveToScreen("top", full))

  

-- ⌃⌘ (Bottom monitor)

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "cmd" }, "left", moveToScreen("bottom", left))

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "cmd" }, "right", moveToScreen("bottom", right))

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "cmd" }, "return", moveToScreen("bottom", full))

  

-- ⌃⌥ ↑ / ↓ (Vertical toggle)

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "alt" }, "up", moveVertical)

hs.hotkey.bind({ "ctrl", "alt" }, "down", moveVertical)

  

hs.alert.show("🔲 6-Zone Vertical Layout Loaded")

[2] zsh config

# ─── oh-my-zsh ───────────────────────────────────────────────
export ZSH="$HOME/.oh-my-zsh"
ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"
plugins=(git)
source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh

# ─── zsh-syntax-highlighting & autosuggestions ───────────────
source /opt/homebrew/share/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh
source /opt/homebrew/share/zsh-autosuggestions/zsh-autosuggestions.zsh
# Shift+Tab accepts the whole autosuggestion
bindkey '^[[Z' autosuggest-accept

# ─── fzf ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
eval "$(fzf --zsh)"
export FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS='--walker-skip .git,node_modules,target --preview "bat -n --color=always {}" --bind "ctrl-/:change-preview-window(down|hidden|)"'

# ─── atuin (shell history) ───────────────────────────────────
. "$HOME/.atuin/bin/env"
eval "$(atuin init zsh)"

# ─── zoxide (smarter cd) ─────────────────────────────────────
eval "$(zoxide init zsh)"
alias cd='z'
alias cdi='zi'

# ─── eza (ls with icons) ─────────────────────────────────────
alias ls='eza $eza_params --icons'

# ─── Git aliases ─────────────────────────────────────────────
alias gs='git status'
alias ga='git add .'
alias gp='git push'
alias gl='git pull'
alias gnb='git checkout -b'
alias gsw='git checkout -'
alias gst='git stash'
alias gstp='git stash pop'
alias gmain='git checkout main && git pull'
alias gc='git commit -m'
alias gco='git checkout'

# Clone using personal GitHub account SSH key
gclone-personal() {
  git clone "$(echo "$1" | sed 's/github\.com/github.com-personal/')" "${@:2}"
}

# Git aliases cheatsheet
unalias gg 2>/dev/null
gg() {
  echo "gs    → git status"
  echo "ga    → git add ."
  echo "gp    → git push"
  echo "gl    → git pull"
  echo "gc    → git commit -m"
  echo "gco   → git checkout"
  echo "gnb   → git checkout -b <branch>"
  echo "gsw   → git checkout - (switch back)"
  echo "gst   → git stash"
  echo "gstp  → git stash pop"
  echo "gmain → git checkout main && git pull"
}