jrnl

jrnl is a journal application for the command line. It is used to create, search, and view journal entries from the terminal. Journals are stored as human-readable plain text files, and can optionally be encrypted with AES encryption.

Entries are created by passing text directly to the command, for example jrnl yesterday: Called in sick. Used the time to clean the house and write my book. The leading yesterday: is parsed as a timestamp. Text up to the first sentence ending (., ?, or !) becomes the title, and the remainder becomes the body. The resulting file entry looks like [2012-03-29 09:00] Called in sick. followed by the body on the next line.

Running jrnl with no arguments prompts you to compose an entry interactively. It can also be configured to use an external editor. The tool is aimed at developers and other terminal users who want a plain-text, optionally encrypted journal or note log. Fuller documentation is available at jrnl.sh.