README.md

   1
   2 ## Setup
   3
   4 1. Clone this repository.
   5 2. Add `minion/bin` to your `PATH`.
   6
   7 > `/usr/bin/bash` must be available, but does not need to be your default shell.
   8
   9 Create a folder `~/Journal`.
  10
  11 ## Basic Usage
  12
  13 Run `mn TOPIC DESCRIPTION` to start a new note file.
  14 A new file called `~/Jounal/2026/06-TOPIC-DESCRIPTION.md` will be opened in `vim`.
  15
  16 Run `ml TOPIC` to list all notes with `TOPIC` in the file name, under `~/Journal/2026`.
  17
  18 Run `mo TOPIC` to open all `.md` files in `~/Journal/2026` that contain `TOPIC` in the file name.
  19
  20 Use `mla` and `moa` variants to search all year folders in `~/Journal/`. (`~/Journal/2025`, `~/Journal/2026`, etc.)
  21
  22 Run `mh` to see `help` further available commands.
  23
  24 ## Common Commands
  25
  26 Tracking daily work
  27
  28 `daily` - opens MM-daily.md to track things I want to check on each day.
  29
  30 Organizing past notes files
  31
  32 `ml 02-` list all journal files from February of this year.
  33 `mma 02-` archive all journal files from February of this year.
  34 `ml quantum` list all journal files with `quantum` in the name, this year.
  35 `mg quantum pqc` gather the content of all files with `quantum` or `pqc` in the name into a new `09-quantum.md` file, and archive the previous files into the `archive-2026` folder.
  36
  37
  38 ## Recommended Usage
  39
  40 - For ongoing daily work, I keep one file each month with `mn daily` and `mo 06-daily`.
  41 - For a random meeting, use `mn meeting topic with some key terms` to create `~/Journal/2026/06-meeting-topic-with-some-key-terms.md`
  42 - When too many old files match my favorite search term, I move old ones into `~/Journal/archive/2026`, where `mla` and `moa` can still find them, in a pinch.
  43
  44 ## Customizing
  45
  46 `minion` will respect your `$EDITOR` setting. If `$EDITOR` is not set, `minion` will open files with `nano`.
  47
  48 > `minion` will *not* judge you if $EDITOR is not set to `vi`.
  49
  50 You could modify the scripts to change the journal home folder, which defaults to `$HOME/Journal`.
  51
  52 ## Advanced Features
  53
  54 - To use `mp` to open files as HTML, install [mdtohtml](https://github.com/sgaunet/mdtohtml/releases) and ensure it is on your PATH.
  55 - To use `ms` to run an interactive spelling check on all matching files, install [aspell](https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/aspell/aspell.1.en.html) and ensure it is on your PATH.
  56