A local database with a command line interface? (sqlite?)

matcha_addict@lemy.lol to Linux@lemmy.ml – 67 points –

Hi all,

I am looking for a local database that is easily accessible via the command line.

It can be SQL or non-SQL

Whats my use case? I want to use it kinda like a second brain. A place to save my notes, my todo lists, my book reading lists, links / articles to read later, etc.

I want it to be a good CLI citizen so that I can script its commands to create simpler abstractions, rather than writing out the full queries every time.

Maybe sqlite is what I need, but is that ideal for my use case?

Edit: removed notes, as evidently they aren't suitable for this and aren't like the rest.

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@matcha_addict Anything beyond SQLite is too heavy, but if it were me I would use a lightweight wiki like dokuwiki. Having to run SQL to do all these sorts of things sounds like it would just get in the way of both getting and consuming your thoughts.

I don't think it would suffice. It would work for notes, but I want to also have a todo list in there, for example. Be able to check things off, query by due date, by assignee or task, etc.

I don't think a database is a good fit for your use case at all, unless you're willing to reinvent a lot of wheels.

What would then? I haven't found anything that has command line interface and supports dependent tasks and a flexible, queryable tag system

I'm sorry, I don't have a suggestion. If it were me I would not be looking at a CLI solution for this at all.

For todo stuff there's the excellent "todo-txt" for cli use. Though not great for notes. Perhaps separate tools would be fine?

Todo txt lacked some features I needed, which would be trivial to implement as a SQL column.

I do not remember what it was... Maybe it was dependent tasks? I believe so.