systems-obscure/posts/note-taking-routine.md

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---
title: "Note-taking routine"
slug: /note-taking-routine/
date: 2024-03-01
tags: ["log", "productivity", "zettelkasten", "personal", "eolas"]
---
![Notes view](./img/full-note-view.png)
I keep my notes in a repository called [Eólas](). Eólas (_awlus_) is an Irish
word meaning knowledge or information, especially knowledge gained by experience
or practice.
I have designed it as a technical knowledge management system or "second-brain"
comprising notes from my autodidactic study of software engineering and computer
science.
It is a [Zettelkasten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten) work in
progress. It previously had a hierarchical structure made up of topic-based
subdirectories however I have recently converted this into a single flat
directory structure organised by tags. I'm in the process of partitioning longer
notes into smaller informational units.
I use the [zk](https://github.com/zk-org/zk) CLI package to help with indexing
and task automation alongside its [zk-nvim](https://github.com/zk-org/zk-nvim)
Neovim wrapper (my main editor). I occassionally utilise
[Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) alongside Neovim for when I want to view my
notes as a knowledge graph or read them alongside their rich content (images,
videos etc).
![Viewing backlinks in Telescope](./img/zk-tags.png)
## Commands
On my local machine I have aliased several commands to help me manage the
knowledge base:
<table class="table table-bordered table-striped">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Alias</th>
<th>Command</th>
<th>Output</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code>z</code></td>
<td><code>cd $HOME/repos/eolas</code></td>
<td>Access Zettelkasten</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><code>zn</code></td>
<td><code>zk new --title ...</code></td>
<td>Create new entry from template</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><code>&lt;leader&gt; zk</code></td>
<td><code>:ZkNotes</code></td>
<td>Access Zettelkasten from anywhere within <code>nvim</code></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><code>&lt;leader&gt; zi</code></td>
<td><code>:ZkIndex</code></td>
<td>Index Zettelkasten within <code>nvim</code></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><code>&lt;leader&gt; zt</code></td>
<td><code>:ZkTags</code></td>
<td>View tags via <a href="https://github.com/nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim">Telescope</a> within <code>nvim</code></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><code>&lt;leader&gt; ztt</code></td>
<td><code>:ObsidianTags</code></td>
<td>View tags in a Vim buffer via within <code>nvim</code> using <a
href="https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim">obsidian-nvim</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><code>&lt;leader&gt; zl</code></td>
<td><code>:ZkLinks</code></td>
<td>View links in current entry via Telescope within <code>nvim</code>, using <a
href="https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim">obsidian-nvim</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><code>&lt;leader&gt; zb</code></td>
<td><code>:ZkBacklinks</code></td>
<td>View backlinks to current entry via Telescope within <code>nvim</code>, using <a
href="https://github.com/epwalsh/obsidian.nvim">obsidian-nvim</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
## Frontmatter
When I run the `zn` command this generates a new Zettelkasten entry with the
following frontmatter template:
```yaml
---
id: o8yzcrtv
title: test
tags: []
created: Saturday, February 17, 2024 | 17:44
---
```
## Scripts
The [scripts](https://github.com/thomasabishop/eolas/tree/master/scripts)
directory contains several Bash and Python scripts I use for general
housekeeping, such as formatting image URLs, removing unused assets, and
autosaving.
## Autosave
I use a
[bash script](https://github.com/thomasabishop/eolas/blob/master/scripts/auto_save.sh)
to create autosave functionality via Git. This script runs every 15 minutes via
a `cron` timer. It tidies up the directory (removes unused images, ensures all
file names use underscores rather than spaces and hyphens etc) and commits and
pushes to GitHub.
## Usage
I want to be able to access my notes instantly whatever I am working on so I
typically have them open, alongside my knowledge graph and GPT-4 client in a
secret [Hyprland](https://hyprland.org/) window overlay (pictured above).