i

i is a very simple terminal-based micro-journal built on git.

It takes a couple of ideas from other journaling systems and mixes them with git, to enable easy distribution of the journal between different systems.

It provides some easy ways of presenting the data along with integration with the GPT API to perform analyis of specific time windows in your journal.

It integrates with git to log commit messages made as you work into your journal.

It is intended to be paired with a fork of ai-commit, to help generate better commit messages, which makes for a better journal.

install

Requires git

source i.sh #this creates your journal repo at ~/i

how

Add jornal entries.

❯ i added an entry
❯ i spoke to @john
❯ i had a meeting with @john and @linda, we discussed %project
...
❯ i went for a walk

List entries

❯ i list
21 minutes ago: went for a walk

45 minutes ago: had another conversation with @fred about %anotherproject and he told me to speak to @kelly

45 minutes ago: had a coffee with @fred, he told me about %anotherproject

45 minutes ago: had a meeting with @john and @linda, we discussed %project

54 minutes ago: spoke to @john

54 minutes ago: added an entry

79 minutes ago: created a journal

You can 'mention' names with @ and 'tag' things with %.

List entries between time range

❯ i list since "30 minutes ago"

21 minutes ago: went for a walk

❯ i list until "60 minutes ago"

79 minutes ago: created a journal

❯ i list until "50 minutes ago" since "60 minutes ago"

54 minutes ago: spoke to @john

54 minutes ago: added an entry

❯ i list since "60 minutes ago" until "50 minutes ago"

54 minutes ago: spoke to @john

54 minutes ago: added an entry

See the official git documentation, date-formats.txt for all possible date and time representations since and until support.

List mentions

❯ i mentioned
   2 @john
   2 @fred
   1 @linda
   1 @kelly

List specific entries for people

❯ i mentioned john
44 minutes ago: had a meeting with @john and @linda, we discussed %project
53 minutes ago: spoke to @john

List tags

❯ i tagged
   2 %anotherproject
   1 %project

List entries which mention specific tags

❯ i tagged project
46 minutes ago: had a meeting with @john and @linda, we discussed %project

Count Occurrences

❯ i occurrences told
   2 told

Find things

❯ i find told
51 minutes ago: had another conversation with @fred about %anotherproject and he told me to speak to @kelly
51 minutes ago: had a coffee with @fred, he told me about %anotherproject

GPT Integration

The following actions use the GPT API. For this to work you need GPT_ACCESS_TOKEN to be set in your environment.

To generate an OpenAI key, go to https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys and create a new key.

You can configure the version of the GPT API to use by setting I_GPT_VERSION in your environment. The default is gpt-4.

Get a digest

You can use i to make a weekly digest using your notes.

❯ i digest
# Project
- Had a meeting with **John** and **Linda**
- Discussed **Project**

# AnotherProject
- Had another conversation with **Fred**, he told me to speak to **Kelly**
- Had a coffee with **Fred**, he told me about **AnotherProject**

# General Updates
- Went for a walk
- Spoke to **John**
- Added an entry
- Created a journal

Be reminded of things from last week

Using the GPT API you can ask i to remind you of things from last week.

❯ i remember
- Catch up with **Kelly**

Analyse your journal

You can use the GPT API to easily analyse your journal with arbitrary prompts.

❯ i analyse since "2 days ago" give me a list of names from this along with a sentiment analysis of the conversations
Names mentioned:
1. John
2. Fred 
3. Linda
4. Kelly

Sentiment analysis of the conversations:

1) Conversations with John: Neutral to positive, discussing technical issues and solutions.
2) Conversations with Fred: Neutral to positive, providing guidance and discussing progress on projects.
3) Conversations with Linda: Neutral to positive, discussing technical issues and solutions.

Execute arbitrary git commands

Your journal is just a git repo and the entries are just empty commits with a commit message.

By running i git you can run any git command on its repo.

i git log
commit 34c842819947b7fd6b8bfb1d0fae1ab7c6516058 (HEAD -> master)
Author: You <you@email.com>
Date:   Fri Apr 30 00:11:53 2021 +0100

    went for a walk

commit 56f1aefb2c0e4704c21d9d82783b08a92a6839b3
Author: You <you@email.com>
Date:   Thu Apr 29 23:54:19 2021 +0100

    had another conversation with @fred about %anotherproject and he told me to speak to @kelly

commit 74fc4de053bfb6d6f4c...

Add a remote

i git remote add origin git@my-git.lb.local:me/myi.git

Push to a remote

i git push

Log commits made in other repositories to i.sh

A post-commit hook provided in .githooks/post-commit which will then automatically log commits using i.sh.

Commits will then be logged in the following format as they are made:

34 minutes ago: [repo:i] (branch:main) cmsg: 'doc: Update README with post-commit hook'

You can install it either for a specific repository or globally for all your repositories.

Log commits for a specific repository

1. Modify your PATH variable to include this repository, or place i.sh on your PATH.
2. Copy .githooks/post-commit into .git/hooks

Log commits for all repositories

1. Modify your PATH variable to include this repository, or place i.sh on your PATH.
2. From the root of this repository, run git config --global core.hooksPath $PWD/.githooks

(ALPHA) Import existing repository history for configured git user

Historical commits made in repositories before installing the .githooks/post-commit hook may be imported into your journal as follows:

cd <repository-root-to-import-into-log>

# Verify commits for git user match what you would like to import
git log --author="$(git config user.name)"

# Import the commits into your log
i import

# Repeat for each repository with commit history you would like to import

This edits the commit history in such a way that it is possible it could be irrecoverably lost if an error were to occur. A back-up branch is created before the process begins & is pushed.

If an issue occurs, rewrite the main branch with the backed up main branch as follows: git checkout main-backup-<timestamp> && git branch -f main main-backup-1694812119 && git push origin main -f

The import can then be retried or a bug report raised.

other examples

Once everything is set up, with commits from previous projects imported and new commits being inserted into the log automatically, we can use this personal knowledge-base to remember what we've worked on and done in the past long after we've forgotten the details.

# I'm trying to remember the kinds of things I worked on in 2022 (would need to process the year but this gets the idea across)
i analyse since "2022-01-01" until "2022-01-05" group what I worked on by subject and output as markdown

# I'm filling my timesheet and forget what I worked on on wednesday
i analyse since "last tuesday" until "last wednesday" summarize what I did last wednesday

# I want to see what I did this week (note, if too much, may need smaller time interval)
i analyse since "7 days" group what I worked on by day and output as markdown

# I am curious what other jobs I might be suitable for based on the work I do
i analyse since "14 days ago" until "10 days ago" provide a list of jobs a person with this kind of work log might be suitable fo