tfw is a command-line tool for managing a collection of timestamped, gpg-encrypted journal entries. It provides a simple, trustless and future-proof way of storing your private thoughts, ideas, memories, etc.
The way it works was largely inspired by pass—a simple password manager that follows the Unix philosophy.
The entries are simply gpg-encrypted plain text files stored in a directory. Each file has a name that conforms to the ISO-8601 (basic) date format. Encryption and decryption happens on the fly where possible, otherwise the script makes use of tmpfs to prevent unencrypted secrets from touching persistent storage. On systems where tmpfs is not available, tfw will try to shred temporary files before deletion (read about its limitations here).
A number of useful subcommands is provided for common tasks such as listing, viewing, editing, grepping, etc., combined with powerful selectors and filters.
The script depends on GnuPG for encryption.
Get the latest release, change into the directory, and run:
$ make && sudo make install
The make command is used to insert the current version number into the script; make install also installs Bash completion.
Most tfw commands expect a selector. Entries can be selected using index selectors, date selectors and index/date ranges.
Index selectors work on a list of entries ordered chronologically. Index 1 selects the oldest entry available. Negative indices may be used to count from the end of the list, e.g. to list the most recent entry:
$ tfw ls -1
42. Tue 14 Jul 2020 07:43:27 PM CEST
Multiple selectors work too:
$ tfw ls 1 4 -1
1. Tue 31 Dec 2019 03:12:22 PM CEST
4. Fri 3 Jan 2020 09:13:49 PM CEST
42. Tue 14 Jul 2020 07:43:27 PM CEST
A date selector is a string that follows the format YYYY-MM-DD. It selects all entries created on the specified date.
$ tfw ls 2019-12-31
1. Tue 31 Dec 2019 03:12:22 PM CEST
2. Tue 31 Dec 2019 03:44:01 PM CEST
Multiple entries may be selected by specifying a range:
$ tfw ls 1:4
1. Tue 31 Dec 2019 03:12:22 PM CEST
2. Tue 31 Dec 2019 03:44:01 PM CEST
3. Thu 2 Jan 2020 02:02:58 PM CEST
4. Fri 3 Jan 2020 09:13:49 PM CEST
$ tfw ls 2020-01-01:2020-02-01
3. Thu 2 Jan 2020 02:02:58 PM CEST
4. Fri 3 Jan 2020 09:13:49 PM CEST
...
Either boundary may be omitted, creating an unbounded range in either direction. To select the 5 most recent entries:
$ tfw ls -5:
Omitting both parts (:) selects all entries.
(TODO)
Initialize the program by setting the GPG key. Any existing entries are re-encrypted using the new key.
$ tfw init "John Doe"
Open the $EDITOR to create a new entry. The entry is created on exit, if the file was saved. The command is invoked implicitly when no command is given.
Print out a list of selected entries. If no selector is given, all entries are selected.
$ tfw ls
1. Tue 31 Dec 2019 08:12:22 PM CEST
2. Tue 31 Dec 2019 03:44:01 PM CEST
...
Decrypt, concatenate and print out selected entries.
Decrypt selected entries and pipe them into less for easy reading.
The entries are concatenated and wrapped to fit the current terminal width, capped at 80 characters. Each entry begins with a header showing the creation time.
Open the $EDITOR to edit the selected file. The entry is updated on exit, if the file was saved.
Decrypt selected entries and pipe them into grep. When no selector is given, all entries are searched.
$ tfw grep -i dolor 1
1. Tue 31 Dec 2019 03:12:22 PM CEST
Lorem ipsum [dolor] sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin et ligula orci.
ante elementum [dolor], quis faucibus tortor risus vel sem. Aliquam varius
Remove the selected entries. Prompt for confirmation when attempting to remove multiple entries.
NOTE: The indices are not IDs. When an entry is removed from the list, the entry immediately following it takes its place. When in doubt, run ls again before removing more entries.
Display helpful information about the commands.
Display program version.
- Improve completion;
- Write completion for other shells besides Bash;
- Add filters (
year:2020,weekday:friday, etc., applied to current selection);
This project is released under the MIT license.