skkeyeandClaude Opus 5.5
84aefbecdb
Titles are typed right in their boxes on the canvas: the box grows with the text, the terminal's cursor sits in it (a bar while typing, a block on the letter with vim keys), and the border turns the insert color. `i`, `A` and Enter edit at the end, `I` at the start, `cc` and `S` type the title anew. The document follows the text as it's typed, so the layout stays current, and the whole edit is one undo step. Esc gives vim's normal mode inside the text (TextEditor, in ui/): h l w b e 0 ^ $, f t F T with ; and ,, the d c y operators with any of those motions or the iw aw i" a" i( a( text objects, x X s S D C Y, r ~, p P, counts, u and Ctrl-r for the edit's own changes, and `.` for the last one, typing included. j k gg G and J work on lines, for bodies. It follows vim where it's quirky too: cw acts like ce, dw stops at the end of the line, Esc steps back onto the last letter. Keys have two new tables, `text` and `insert`, and in text an operator takes motions as targets (`dw`, `c$`, `2d3fx`), which which-key lists. Rapid entry: after `o`, `O` or `a`, the new idea's title is typed at once; Enter starts the next idea, Tab puts the one being typed under the idea above, Shift-Tab takes it out a level, and Enter on an empty idea stops. An idea left empty goes away without a trace in the undo history (a group whose edits cancel out leaves no step); a title left empty comes back as it was. Inside a title, `o` and `O` start a new sibling. Registers are shared by the whole app, so text yanked in one title pastes into another; `"a`-`"z` and `"_` work, and `"+` stays inside cumulus until the app core connects the clipboard. The mouse while editing: a click in the text moves the text cursor, a click anywhere else keeps the text and finishes the edit, and a double-click on a title starts editing at that letter. `>>` and `<<` now move nodes: under the node above, as its last child, or out a level, right after the old parent, with counts taking in the next siblings. The command line's input became TextInput, line-aware so the editor can use it for bodies too; bodies themselves get edited in the Note view. The example's tests type every key above into the app and check the text and the cursor after each one against what vim does. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
2.7 KiB
2.7 KiB
cumulus
Brainstorm in the terminal: ideas as nodes on a 2D canvas, connected, folded and color-coded, across as many documents as you like. Vim keys first; the mouse works too. Runs on Windows and Linux.
Status: being built, one stage at a time. See DESIGN.md for the plan; this README grows with the app.
Build and run
You need Rust (rustup.rs). The exact version is pinned in
rust-toolchain.toml, and rustup installs it by itself the first time.
cargo build --release
The program is target/release/cumulus (cumulus.exe on Windows): copy it to
a folder on your PATH.
- Windows: nothing else to install. The
.execarries its own C runtime and runs on any Windows 10 or 11. - Linux (Void, Fedora…): build the same way. You can also build a static
Linux binary from Windows with
cargo linux: it lands intarget/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/release/cumulusand runs on any distribution.
Keys
The plan for the everyday keys (all of them are in DESIGN.md):
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
hjkl |
move to the nearest node that way |
gh gj gk gl |
parent, next sibling, previous sibling, first child |
o O a |
new sibling below / above, new child: type its title, Enter for the next one |
i or Enter |
edit the title (Esc: vim keys inside it, Esc again: done) |
dd x |
delete the branch / just the node |
>> << |
under the node above / out a level |
u Ctrl-r |
undo / redo |
za zf zi |
fold, auto-fold, focus |
+ - |
zoom in / out |
C M v |
connect, move, select |
<Space> |
the action menu |
: ? |
command line, help |
After the first key of a sequence (g, z, d, <Space>…), a popup lists
what can follow.
Development
cargo test # run the tests
cargo lint # clippy, treating warnings as errors
cargo fmt # format the code
While the app is being built, the examples try out each part:
cargo run --example canvas # the canvas, vim keys, which-key, :commands, editing titles
cargo test show_canvas -- --ignored --nocapture # print it at each zoom, as text
cargo test --example canvas # type key sequences into it, and check what they do