Having a fun day fiddling with the Templater plugin for Obsidian.

Here’s the template code I have at the moment, if that’s the sort of thing that interests you. Borrowed heavily from ThoughtAsylum and Red Gregory.

This is the template I invoke to create a new jot file. It prompts me for an optional topic, creates the file, and inserts a link wherever my cursor is.

With syntax highlighting, since inside the <%* ... %> it’s just JavaScript.

<%*
// Jot title is a Zettel timestamp and optional topic
const timestamp = tp.date.now("YYYYMMDDhhmm");
let title = timestamp;

const jotSubject = await tp.system.prompt("What's this jot about?");

if (jotSubject) {
    title = `${title} ${jotSubject}`;
}

// Where I keep my quick jots
const targetPath = "jots";

// The template used to generate the new jot
const templateName = "_templates/jot-new";

// Create the folder object
let folder = app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(targetPath);
// Get the template file content
let templateFile = await tp.file.find_tfile(templateName);
let rawContent = await app.vault.read(templateFile);

// Create the new file in the folder from the template (do not open it by default)
await tp.file.create_new(rawContent, title, false, folder);

// Insert a link at the current cursor position to the new file
const link = `[[${title}]]`;
tR += link;
%>

This template sets the content of the new file. If I provided something for a topic when invoking `jot-insert.md`, that will be used as the display title.

Without syntax highlighting. Markdown, YAML, and JavaScript all mixed in — can Hugo / Chroma even do that?

---
<%*
const fileTitle = tp.file.title;
let pageTitle = fileTitle;

if (fileTitle.length > 12) {
    pageTitle = fileTitle.slice(13);
}
-%>
title: <% pageTitle %>
created_at: <% tp.file.creation_date() %>
tags:
- jot
---

up:: <% `[[${tp.file.creation_date('gggg-MM-DD')}]]` %>

# <% pageTitle %>

<% tp.file.cursor() %>

Got the up:: link there for the Breadcrumbs. That way the jot links back to whatever day I made the jot, even if it’s a jot for some unrelated topic. “When?” is as important of a question as “what?” when I’m trying to track my thoughts.

Looks a bit like Zettelkasten, but the only thing intentionally Zettel about it is the timestamp.

Been focusing on the less outliner-oriented note systems to simplify copy and paste to / from the outside world. But that means a single page can get unwieldy if I’m not careful. Now I can link out for stuff like meeting notes and whatever to keep my daily notes from become 10,000 word walls of text.

Oh and I know I can export from Org Mode to whatever I need for pasting. I may get there. This is an incremental process. Right now I’m dealing with the fact that most of my notes are in one flavor of Markdown or another.