QuickNote CLI

A lightning-fast command-line tool for capturing thoughts before they vanish. Written in Rust as a learning project.

Project Status: Complete (Learning Milestone)

This was my first project in Rust, focused on mastering CLI basics, module system and error handling. I have achieved my primary learning goals and am moving on to more complex projects.

Few Key Learning Outcomes

• Memory Safety: Practiced string ownership and borrowing across modules.
• Crates: Integrated chrono for time and colorize for terminal UI.
• Idiomatic Rust: Refactored from if/else to match patterns.
• STD API: Used fs::OpenOptions for file manipulation, PathBuf for path handling, and io::stdin()/stdout() for user interaction.
• String Parsing & Manipulation: Used rsplit_once() for timestamp extraction and trim() variations for input sanitization.

How it Works

QuickNote takes your input and appends it to a file with timestamps. You can specify a custom file path or press Enter to use the default notes.txt. Now includes menu to either add new notes or view existing ones.

Usage:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HaiqalAly/rust-cli-quicknote.git
cd rust-cli-quicknote

# Run the program
cargo run

Features

• View Notes: Read your saved notes directly from the terminal
• Delete Notes: Remove old or unwanted notes by ID
• Interactive Menu: Persistent loop to list, add, or delete notes continuously
• Clear Screen: strict 'clear' command to keep your workspace tidy
• Custom Save Location: Choose where to store your notes on startup
• Interactive Mode: Enter a persistent session to quickly add multiple notes without restarting
• Automatic Timestamps: Each note is prefixed with [YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS]
• Colored Output: Visual feedback with green success messages and colored prompts
• Persistent Storage: Automatically creates and appends to notes.txt
• Zero Overhead: No database required, just plain text
• Rust Powered: Fast, safe, and memory-efficient

See CHANGELOG.md for project updates.

Future Ideas (If i return to this)

Tags & Categories: Organize notes with labels for better filtering
Path Expansion: Support for ~ (home directory) in file paths