Kimün

A terminal-based notes app focused on simplicity and powerful search.

Notes are plain Markdown files stored in a directory you own. Kimün indexes them into a local SQLite database for fast full-text and structured search.

Small disclaimer: Although by no means this has been vibe coded — the core has been written manually — there is a good chunk of AI-assisted code (using Claude) with manual reviews. Mostly for tedious refactors, data structures I'm too lazy to code myself, but also to help me building the foundations of more complex stuff, especially on the UI side. Use AI as a tool, not as a replacement.

Installation

cargo install kimun-notes

On first launch, Kimün will open the Settings screen so you can set your notes directory. It will create a kimun.sqlite file in the root of your notes directory.

Configuration

The config file is created automatically on first run:

• Linux / macOS: ~/.config/kimun/kimun_config.toml
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\kimun\kimun_config.toml

You can also pass a custom config path:

kimun --config /path/to/my-config.toml

How it works

Kimün opens in a terminal UI with a few screens:

• Browse — file tree navigator for a directory
• Editor — Markdown editor with a file browser pane
• Settings — configure your notes directory, theme, key bindings, and more

Your notes directory is called the workspace. Kimün creates a kimun.sqlite file at the workspace root to store the search index. Everything else is plain .md files — no lock-in.

Search

Open search with Ctrl+E. The search box looks across note content and file paths.

Free text

Searches both content and filenames. Case-insensitive, diacritics ignored, * wildcard supported.

kimun          → matches "Kimün", "KIMÜN", "kimun", etc.
kimu*          → matches anything starting with "kimu"
*meeting*      → matches any note containing "meeting" anywhere

Filter by filename — @ or at:

@tasks         → only notes whose filename contains "tasks"
at:tasks       → same

Filter by section — > or in:

Sections are defined by Markdown headers (#, ##, etc.). The search term must appear within that section.

>personal      → only content under a "Personal" heading
in:personal    → same

Combine filters

Filters compose freely:

@tasks >work report       → in a file called "tasks", under a "Work" section, containing "report"
>personal kimun           → any note with "kimun" under a "Personal" section
@thoughts kimun           → a file called "thoughts" containing "kimun"
screen*                   → matches "screenshot", "screens", etc.

Example

Given these notes:

tasks.md

# Work
## TODO
* Talk with Bill
* Finish the report

# Personal
* Make the search in Kimün awesome
* Buy groceries

projects.md

# Projects
## Personal
### Kimün
The simple but great note taking app!

Search	Returns
kimun	projects.md, tasks.md
>personal kimun	projects.md, tasks.md
>personal report	tasks.md
@tasks >work	tasks.md
screen*	any note with "screenshot", "screens", etc.

Key bindings

Default bindings (all configurable in the config file):

Action	Default
Quit	Ctrl+Q
Settings	Ctrl+P
Search notes	Ctrl+E
Open note (fuzzy finder)	Ctrl+O
Toggle note browser	Ctrl+F
Toggle preview	Ctrl+Y
New journal entry	Ctrl+J
Toggle sidebar	Ctrl+B
Focus editor	Ctrl+L
Focus sidebar	Ctrl+H
Sort by name	Ctrl+N
Sort by title	Ctrl+G
Reverse sort order	Ctrl+R
File operations (rename/move/delete)	F2
Bold	Ctrl+B
Italic	Ctrl+I
Strikethrough	Ctrl+S
Toggle header	Ctrl+T

Roadmap

• Command palette
• Display key shortcuts in command palette and help modal
• Backlinks panel
• Inline tags and search by tag (#important)
• Resolve relative paths on links and images
• Paste images into notes
• Calendar view for journal browsing
• Auto-continue list formatting on Enter
• Multiple workspaces
• Search under Markdown sections
• File management (create, rename, move, delete notes and directories)
• Autosave
• Wikilinks in preview
• Navigate notes via links in preview
• Embed neoVim as an option