skkeyeandClaude Opus 5.5
3716919db3
The board is the user's design: the document as lists and blocks, the
way Scratch nests blocks inside a loop. Each node without a parent (the
root, then each loose node) is a column with its title in the top border;
its children are cards in it, one under the other; a card with children
on show wraps them in a C: a joint at its bottom left, a bracket down the
left two cells further in, and a foot closing it. Blocks nest as deep as
the tree does. The columns by tag or color the first design had are
dropped (the user's pick), and :board takes no arguments any more.
j and k go down and up a column in reading order, into the blocks; h and
l go to the column beside, onto the card nearest the cursor's height.
Titles are typed right in their cards, and visual mode selects in
reading order as the outline does. <Space>vb or :board shows it.
Move mode (M, the user's pick) moves the card through the tree: h and l
to the end of the column beside, j and k past the cards around it, into
an open block and out of one at its end. A column's own node trades
places with the loose column beside it; the root's column stays first.
A drag does the same with the mouse: dropped on a card it goes after it,
on a block's card into it, on a column at its end.
The fallback message for a key a view ignores now names the view ("does
nothing in the board view"). The version goes to 1.1.0: stage 9 is done.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
137 lines
7.8 KiB
Markdown
137 lines
7.8 KiB
Markdown
# cumulus
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Brainstorm in the terminal: ideas as nodes on a 2D canvas, connected, folded
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and color-coded, across as many documents as you like. Vim keys first; the
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mouse works too. Runs on Windows and Linux.
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> **Status:** v1.1 is built: everything on [DESIGN.md](DESIGN.md)'s v1 and
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> v1.1 lists. What comes later is listed there too.
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## Build and run
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You need Rust ([rustup.rs](https://rustup.rs)). The exact version is pinned in
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`rust-toolchain.toml`, and rustup installs it by itself the first time.
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```sh
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cargo build --release
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```
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The program is `target/release/cumulus` (`cumulus.exe` on Windows): copy it to
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a folder on your `PATH`.
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- **Windows**: nothing else to install. The `.exe` carries its own C runtime
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and runs on any Windows 10 or 11.
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- **Linux** (Void, Fedora…): build the same way. You can also build a static
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Linux binary from Windows with `cargo linux`: it lands in
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`target/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/release/cumulus` and runs on any
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distribution.
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## Starting it
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```sh
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cumulus # ./ideas.cum, or ~/ideas.cum (made the first time)
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cumulus garden.cum # that document (a new one if it isn't there yet)
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cumulus notes/ # that folder's ideas.cum
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cumulus new "Garden plans" # makes ./garden-plans.cum (cumulus new: ./ideas.cum)
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cumulus --paths # where cumulus keeps its settings and data
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```
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Documents are plain text files (`.cum`) that live wherever you like. cumulus
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saves a second after each change, reloads a file another program changed
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(`u` undoes that), and keeps a copy of each document a day in its data folder.
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A document open in another cumulus opens read-only. Each one reopens where you
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left it.
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A file's name follows its root's title: give the root a new title and the
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file is renamed (`ideas.cum` keeps its name), and the portals leading to it
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follow. Portals link documents: a portal shows its document's title, color
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and size, Enter goes through it, and each document knows the portals that
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lead to it (`« 2` on its root, `gu` goes up to them).
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## Settings, keys and themes
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`:config` lists the three config files: `config.toml` (the settings),
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`keys.toml` (your keys) and the theme's file. Enter opens one in your editor
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(the `editor` setting, or `$VISUAL` / `$EDITOR`, or notepad / vi); the first
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time, it's written with every option at its default behind a `#`, explained.
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Take a `#` away, save, and cumulus applies it at once. Each file only needs
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what it changes, and a mistake only skips its own line (the status bar says
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what's wrong).
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- `:set name=value` changes a setting until cumulus quits (`:set name?` shows
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it, Tab lists them).
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- `:theme name` switches to `themes/name.toml`, laid over the built-in theme:
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a theme can say just `accent = "magenta"`.
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- The built-in theme has named styles (`<Space>s`), also put on by tags:
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`#question` (yellow, dashed), `#important` (red, thick), `#done` (faded).
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- `clipboard = "unnamedplus"` makes plain `y`, `d` and `p` use the system
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clipboard, as the vim setting of that name does.
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## Keys
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The plan for the everyday keys (all of them are in DESIGN.md):
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| Keys | What they do |
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|-------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
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| `hjkl` | move to the nearest node that way |
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| `gh gj gk gl` | parent, next sibling, previous sibling, first child |
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| `o` `O` `a` | new sibling below / above, new child: type its title, Enter for the next one |
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| `i` or Enter | edit the title (Esc: vim keys inside it, Esc again: done) |
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| `dd` `x` | delete the branch / just the node (kept in a register, as in vim) |
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| `yy` `p` `P` | yank the branch / paste as children, or as siblings below (`dd` then `p` moves a branch) |
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| `"a` `"+` | before `y`, `d` or `p`: register `a`; `"+` is the system clipboard (nodes go there as Markdown) |
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| `.` | the last change again |
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| `>>` `<<` | under the node above / out a level |
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| `u` `Ctrl-r` | undo / redo |
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| `za` `zf` `zi` | fold, auto-fold, focus |
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| `+` `-` | zoom in / out |
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| `K` | the body in a card beside the node (`i` edits it there) |
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| `v` `V` | select: the nodes between here and where you started (`V`: with their branches); then `d` `y` `>` `<` `M` or `<Space>c` act on all of them |
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| `M` | move the branch with `hjkl` (`M` again: just the node) |
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| `<Space>=` | tidy the branch: `m` a mind map, `c` an org chart, `g` a grid (`:tidy`) |
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| `<Space>a` | in visual mode: line the selection up, `h` `l` `k` `j` left, right, top, bottom, `c` middles (`:align`; `:` in visual mode runs a command on the selection) |
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| `C` | connect: go to another node, Enter links them (`d` removes the line, `>` puts it under that node, `<Space>` `a` `l` `c` `s` `t` style it, Esc takes it all back) |
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| `/` `n` `N` | search: titles, tags and bodies, fuzzily, with the note of each match beside it / the next match / the previous one |
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| `<Space>/` | search every document (open, recent, this folder, and what portals lead to); `n` `N` then go from document to document (`:search text`) |
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| `Ctrl-o` `Tab` | back to where you jumped from / forward again (across documents) |
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| `ma` `'a` `mA` | mark a node / go back to it / a capital mark: from any document |
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| `gd` | follow a cross-link |
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| `<Space>p` | a portal to another document (`:portal file`, or a new document's title) |
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| `<Space>o` | this branch out, into a document of its own, with a portal in its place (`:branchout`) |
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| Enter or `gf` `gu` | through a portal / up to the portals that lead here |
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| `<Space>` | the action menu: `c` color, `t` tags, `b` documents, `i` inbox, `vo` outline, `vn` note, `vb` board… |
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| board | `<Space>vb` or `:board`: a column per node without a parent, its children as cards, a card with children wrapping them as Scratch's loop blocks do; `j` `k` cards, `h` `l` columns, `M` then `hjkl` (or a drag) moves a card |
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| `Ctrl-w v` `Ctrl-w s` | split the pane side by side / stacked (`Ctrl-w hjkl` to move between them) |
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| `gt` `gT` | the next / previous document |
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| `:` `?` | command line, help (search it with `/`, Enter runs the key or command) |
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| `:e` `:new` `:bd` | open a document / make one / close it |
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| `:export md` `:export txt` | the document (or, from visual mode, the selection) as Markdown or an outline (`:export!` writes over a file) |
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| `:import file` | the nodes in a Markdown or text file, under this node |
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| `:marks` `:jumps` `:registers` | what they hold: Enter goes there (or pastes) |
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| `:w` `:q` `ZZ` | save / close the pane (the last one quits) / save and close |
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After the first key of a sequence (`g`, `z`, `d`, `<Space>`…), a popup lists
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what can follow. The right mouse button opens a menu of what you can do with
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a node. Ctrl+click picks nodes one by one, and Ctrl+drag on the empty canvas
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picks the ones in its rectangle. The wheel scrolls; with Shift or Alt held
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(or a wheel that tilts), it scrolls sideways.
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## Development
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```sh
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cargo test # run the tests
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cargo lint # clippy, treating warnings as errors
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cargo fmt # format the code
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```
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To try things without touching your own documents:
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```sh
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cargo run --example canvas # cumulus on copies of two sample documents
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cargo test show_canvas -- --ignored --nocapture # print the sample at each zoom, as text
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```
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The end-to-end tests (`src/app/tests.rs`) type keys and click on a test
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terminal, with the sample documents copied to a temporary folder, and check
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the screen, the documents and the files.
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