textarea-cli

textarea in the terminal. Type text for a menu, or text buy milk to jot something down without opening anything. The notes are the same Markdown files the web app's Folder sync writes, and they sync with Obsidian, Apple Notes and any folder.

Features · Install · Use it · Sync · Settings · Limits · Contributing

Project page: gitguy268.github.io/textarea-cli · textarea-cli.vercel.app

Install with Homebrew

brew trust gitguy268/tap
brew install gitguy268/tap/textarea-cli

Installs the text command.

Run it locally, step by step

1. Install Go 1.27 or newer.

2. Get the code:

   git clone https://github.com/Gitguy268/textarea-cli.git
   cd textarea-cli
   

3. Build it:

   go build -o text ./cmd/text
   

4. Run it:

   ./text
   ./text buy milk
   

Features

	What you get
Menu	text opens a numbered menu. Pick a row with ↑/↓, its number or its letter. Esc goes back.
Quick capture	text call the plumber #home saves a note and returns to the prompt. echo … | text - reads stdin.
Today	text today walked the dog adds a timestamped line to the day's note.
Notes	Open with a fuzzy filter, read with Markdown highlighting, and edit in the built-in editor or $EDITOR. Pin, archive, backlinks, [[wikilinks]] and word counts.
Search	The web app's grammar: words, #tag, on:2026-10-25, is:pinned, is:archived.
Tasks	Every open - [ ] across your notes in one list. x ticks a task in its note.
Share	A link that opens the note in the web app, optionally with a password (AES-256-GCM), plus a QR code in the terminal. text open-link keeps a note from such a link.
Export	Plain text, Markdown, HTML, JSON, CSV, XML, RTF, LaTeX and YAML, to a file or the clipboard.
Sync	Two-way with any folder (iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, a USB stick), an Obsidian vault, or Apple Notes on a Mac.
Trash	Deleted notes wait 30 days and can be restored.
Optional AI	Speech to text with whisper.cpp, and the web app's five writing tools with llama.cpp, a llamafile or Ollama. Both run on your machine, and their menu rows appear only when the tools are installed.

Install

With Go 1.27 or newer:

go install github.com/Gitguy268/textarea-cli/cmd/text@latest

Or build from a clone:

git clone https://github.com/Gitguy268/textarea-cli.git
cd textarea-cli
go build -o text ./cmd/text

It is pure Go (no CGO), so GOOS=linux, darwin or windows cross-compiles.

Use it

text                          # the menu
text buy milk #home           # capture a note
text -- rm the old boxes      # capture words that start like a command
echo "from a script" | text - # capture from stdin
text today called the bank    # add a timestamped line to today's note

While reading a note: e edit, m all actions, Tab next task and x ticks it, L share link, y copy as, Esc back. ? in the menu lists every key.

Every command that lists notes takes --json. A note can be named by its file name, its id or the start of it, or any piece of its title (its first line when it has no heading) that only one note matches.

Command	What it does
text ls [query]	List notes, filtered by the search grammar
text show <note>	Print a note
text edit <note>	Edit in the built-in editor or $EDITOR
text new [text]	Make a note and open it in the editor
text tasks [--all]	Open tasks across the library (--all adds done ones)
text link <note> [-p password]	Print a share link
text open-link <url>	Keep a note from a share link
text export <note> -f md	Export as txt, md, html, json, csv, xml, rtf, tex or yml
text sync [name] [--dry-run] [--watch 30s]	Sync every target, or one
text rm <note>	Move a note to the trash
text trash [restore|empty]	The trash
text config [path]	Print the settings, or where they live

Sync

The library is a folder, ~/Documents/Textarea by default. Each note is Title.md with a short front matter block (id, created, updated, words, style) and then the text, exactly as the web app's Folder sync writes it. To share notes with the web app, point its Folder sync at the same folder; nothing needs converting.

text sync --add folder --path ~/Dropbox/Notes
text sync --add obsidian                # finds your vault; --path picks one
text sync --add applenotes              # macOS: a "Textarea" folder in Notes
text sync --dry-run                     # what the next sync would do
text sync                               # do it

Or use Sync › in the menu.

Sync is the same decision table as the web app's Folder sync, translated to Go and tested against it:

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗