zk-nvim

Neovim extension for the zk plain text note-taking assistant.

Installation

This plugin requires Neovim v0.6.0 or later.

Via packer.nvim

use("mickael-menu/zk-nvim")

Via vim-plug

Plug "mickael-menu/zk-nvim"

To get the best experience, it's recommended to also install either Telescope or fzf.

Setup

⚠️ This plugin will setup and start the LSP server for you, do not call require("lspconfig").zk.setup().

require("zk").setup()

The default configuration

require("zk").setup({
  -- can be "telescope", "fzf" or "select" (`vim.ui.select`)
  -- it's recommended to use "telescope" or "fzf"
  picker = "select",

  lsp = {
    -- `config` is passed to `vim.lsp.start_client(config)`
    config = {
      cmd = { "zk", "lsp" },
      name = "zk",
      -- on_attach = ...
      -- etc, see `:h vim.lsp.start_client()`
    },

    -- automatically attach buffers in a zk notebook that match the given filetypes
    auto_attach = {
      enabled = true,
      filetypes = { "markdown" },
    },
  },
})

Note that the setup function will not add any key mappings for you. If you want to add key mappings, see the example mappings.

Notebook Directory Discovery

When you run a notebook command, this plugin will look for a notebook in the following places and order:

1. the current buffer path (i.e. the file you are currently editing),
2. the current working directory,
3. the $ZK_NOTEBOOK_DIR environment variable.

We recommend you to export the $ZK_NOTEBOOK_DIR environment variable, so that a notebook can always be found.

It is worth noting that for some notebook commands you can explicitly specify a notebook by providing a path to any file or directory within the notebook. An explicitly provided path will always take precedence and override the automatic notebook discovery. However, this is always optional, and usually not necessary.

Getting Started

After you have installed the plugin and added the setup code to your config, you are good to go. If you are not familiar with zk, we recommend you to also read the zk docs.

When using the default config, the zk LSP client will automatically attach itself to buffers inside your notebook and provide capabilities like completion, hover and go-to-definition; see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/issues/22 for a full list of what is supported.

Try out different commands such as :ZkNotes or :ZkNew, see what they can do, and learn as you go.

Built-in Commands

" Indexes the notebook
" params
"   (optional) additional options, see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zkindex
:ZkIndex [{options}]

" Creates and edits a new note
" params
"   (optional) additional options, see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zknew
:ZkNew [{options}]

" Creates a new note and uses the last visual selection as the title while replacing the selection with a link to the new note
" params
"   (optional) additional options, see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zknew
:'<,'>ZkNewFromTitleSelection [{options}]

" Creates a new note and uses the last visual selection as the content while replacing the selection with a link to the new note
" params
"   (optional) additional options, see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zknew
:'<,'>ZkNewFromContentSelection [{options}]

" cd into the notebook root
" params
"   (optional) additional options
:ZkCd [{options}]

" Opens a notes picker
" params
"   (optional) additional options, see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zklist
:ZkNotes [{options}]

" Opens a notes picker for the backlinks of the current buffer
" params
"   (optional) additional options, see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zklist
:ZkBacklinks [{options}]

" Opens a notes picker for the outbound links of the current buffer
" params
"   (optional) additional options, see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zklist
:ZkLinks [{options}]

" Opens a notes picker, filters for notes that match the text in the last visual selection
" params
"   (optional) additional options, see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zklist
:'<,'>ZkMatch [{options}]

" Opens a notes picker, filters for notes with the selected tags
" params
"   (optional) additional options, see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zktaglist
:ZkTags [{options}]

The options parameter can be any valid Lua expression that evaluates to a table. For a list of available options, refer to the zk docs. In addition, options.notebook_path can be used to explicitly specify a notebook by providing a path to any file or directory within the notebook; see Notebook Directory Discovery.

Examples:

:ZkNew { dir = "daily", date = "yesterday" }
:ZkNotes { createdAfter = "3 days ago", tags = { "work" } }
:'<,'>ZkNewFromTitleSelection " this will use your last visual mode selection. Note that you *must* call this command with the '<,'> range.
:ZkCd

---

Via Lua

You can access the underlying Lua function of a commands, with require("zk.commands").get.

Examples:

require("zk.commands").get("ZkNew")({ dir = "daily" })
require("zk.commands").get("ZkNotes")({ createdAfter = "3 days ago", tags = { "work" } })
require("zk.commands").get("ZkNewFromTitleSelection")() -- this will use your last visual mode selection

Custom Commands

---A thin wrapper around `vim.api.nvim_add_user_command` which parses the `params.args` of the command as a Lua table and passes it on to `fn`.
---@param name string
---@param fn function
---@param opts? table {needs_selection} makes sure the command is called with a range
---@see vim.api.nvim_add_user_command
require("zk.commands").add(name, fn, opts)

Example 1:

Let us add a custom :ZkOrphans command that will list all notes that are orphans, i.e. not referenced by any other note.

local zk = require("zk")
local commands = require("zk.commands")

commands.add("ZkOrphans", function(options)
  options = vim.tbl_extend("force", { orphan = true }, options or {})
  zk.edit(options, { title = "Zk Orphans" })
end)

This adds the :ZkOrphans [{options}] vim user command, which accepts an options Lua table as an argument. We can execute it like this :ZkOrphans { tags = "work" } for example.

Note: The zk.edit function is from the high-level API, which also contains other functions that might be useful for your custom commands.

Example 2:

Chances are that this will not be our only custom command following this pattern. So let's also add a :ZkRecents command and make the pattern a bit more reusable.

local zk = require("zk")
local commands = require("zk.commands")

local function make_edit_fn(defaults, picker_options)
  return function(options)
    options = vim.tbl_extend("force", defaults, options or {})
    zk.edit(options, picker_options)
  end
end

commands.add("ZkOrphans", make_edit_fn({ orphan = true }, { title = "Zk Orphans" }))
commands.add("ZkRecents", make_edit_fn({ createdAfter = "2 weeks ago" }, { title = "Zk Recents" }))

High-level API

The high-level API is inspired by the commands provided by the zk CLI tool; see zk --help. It's mainly used for the implementation of built-in and custom commands.

---Cd into the notebook root
--
---@param options? table
require("zk").cd(options)

---Creates and edits a new note
--
---@param options? table additional options
---@see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zknew
require("zk").new(options)

---Indexes the notebook
--
---@param options? table additional options
---@see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zkindex
require("zk").index(options)

---Opens a notes picker, and calls the callback with the selection
--
---@param options? table additional options
---@param picker_options? table options for the picker
---@param cb function
---@see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zklist
---@see zk.ui.pick_notes
require("zk").pick_notes(options, picker_options, cb)

---Opens a tags picker, and calls the callback with the selection
--
---@param options? table additional options
---@param picker_options? table options for the picker
---@param cb function
---@see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zktaglist
---@see zk.ui.pick_tags
require("zk").pick_tags(options, picker_options, cb)

---Opens a notes picker, and edits the selected notes
--
---@param options? table additional options
---@param picker_options? table options for the picker
---@see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zklist
---@see zk.ui.pick_notes
require("zk").edit(options, picker_options)

API

The functions in the API module give you maximum flexibility and provide only a thin Lua friendly layer around zk's LSP API. You can use it to write your own specialized functions for interacting with zk.

---@param path? string path to explicitly specify the notebook
---@param options? table additional options
---@param cb function callback function
---@see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zkindex
require("zk").api.index(path, options, function(stats)
  -- do something with the stats
end)

---@param path? string path to explicitly specify the notebook
---@param options? table additional options
---@param cb function callback function
---@see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zknew
require("zk").api.new(path, options, function(res)
  file_path = res.path
  -- do something with the new file path
end)

---@param path? string path to explicitly specify the notebook
---@param options table additional options
---@param cb function callback function
---@see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zklist
require("zk").api.list(path, options, function(notes)
  -- do something with the notes
end)

---@param path? string path to explicitly specify the notebook
---@param options? table additional options
---@param cb function callback function
---@see https://github.com/mickael-menu/zk/blob/main/docs/editors-integration.md#zktaglist
require("zk").api.tag.list(path, options, function(tags)
  -- do something with the tags
end)

Pickers

Used by the high-level API to display the results of the API.

---Opens a notes picker
--
---@param notes list
---@param options? table containing {picker}, {title}, {multi_select} keys
---@param cb function
require("zk.ui").pick_notes(notes, options, cb)

---Opens a tags picker
--
---@param tags list
---@param options? table containing {picker}, {title}, {multi_select} keys
---@param cb function
require("zk.ui").pick_tags(tags, options, cb)

---To be used in zk.api.list as the `selection` in the additional options table
--
---@param options table the same options that are use for pick_notes
---@return table api selection
require("zk.ui").get_pick_notes_list_api_selection(options)

Example Mappings

vim.api.nvim_set_keymap("n", "<Leader>zc", "<cmd>ZkNew<CR>", { noremap = true })
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap("x", "<Leader>zc", ":'<'>ZkNewFromTitleSelection<CR>", { noremap = true })
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap("n", "<Leader>zn", "<cmd>ZkNotes<CR>", { noremap = true })
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap("n", "<Leader>zb", "<cmd>ZkBacklinks<CR>", { noremap = true })
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap("n", "<Leader>zl", "<cmd>ZkLinks<CR>", { noremap = true })
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap("n", "<Leader>zt", "<cmd>ZkTags<CR>", { noremap = true })

Miscellaneous

Syntax Highlighting Tips

These code snippets only work if you use Neovim's built-in Markdown syntax highlighting.

Proper syntax highlighting for Wikilinks. This is a wiki link.

autocmd Filetype markdown syn region markdownWikiLink matchgroup=markdownLinkDelimiter start="\[\[" end="\]\]" contains=markdownUrl keepend oneline concealends

Conceal support for normal Markdown links. Overwrite the syntax regions like so

autocmd Filetype markdown syn region markdownLinkText matchgroup=markdownLinkTextDelimiter start="!\=\[\%(\%(\_[^][]\|\[\_[^][]*\]\)*]\%( \=[[(]\)\)\@=" end="\]\%( \=[[(]\)\@=" nextgroup=markdownLink,markdownId skipwhite contains=@markdownInline,markdownLineStart concealends
autocmd Filetype markdown syn region markdownLink matchgroup=markdownLinkDelimiter start="(" end=")" contains=markdownUrl keepend contained conceal

nvim-lsp-installer

Not recommended, instead install the zk CLI tool and make it available in your $PATH.

If you insist to use nvim-lsp-installer for zk, the following code snippet should guide you on how to setup the zk server when installed via nvim-lsp-installer.

require("nvim-lsp-installer").on_server_ready(function(server)
  local opts = {
    -- customize your options as usual
    --
    -- on_attach = ...
    -- etc, see `:h vim.lsp.start_client()`
  }
  if server.name == "zk" then
    require("zk").setup({
      lsp = {
        config = vim.tbl_extend("force", server:get_default_options(), opts),
      },
    })
  else
    server:setup(opts)
  end
end)

Telescope Plugin

Not recommended, instead just use the :ZkNotes command.

It's possible (but unnecessary) to also load the notes picker as a telescope plugin.

require("telescope").load_extension("zk")

:Telescope zk notes
:Telescope zk notes createdAfter=3\ days\ ago