RustyDiary 📝

Cranes.io

RustyDiary is a Rust utility that helps you merge dated Markdown files into a single chronological log. It's perfect for combining daily notes, journal entries, or any date-stamped Markdown files.

Features

• 📅 Automatically detects and merges files with date-based names (YYYY-MM-DD.md)
• ⬇️ Sorts entries in reverse chronological order (newest first)
• 🔄 Preserves existing content in the output file
• ⚙️ Configurable separators between entries
• 🛡️ Robust error handling and validation

Installation

1. Ensure you have Rust installed on your system. If not, install it from rustup.rs.

2. Clone this repository:

git clone [your-repository-url]
cd rusty-diary

3. Build the project:

cargo build --release

The compiled binary will be available in target/release/rusty-diary.

Usage

Basic usage (current directory):

rusty-diary -h

A markdown diary with SQLite persistence

USAGE:
    rusty_diary [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [directory]

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information
    -v, --verbose    Verbosity level

OPTIONS:
        --date-pattern <date-pattern>    Custom date pattern for files
        --db <db>                        Database file path

ARGS:
    <directory>    Directory containing markdown files

Specify a different directory:

rusty-diary /path/to/your/files

File Naming Convention

Files should follow the pattern: YYYY-MM-DD.md

Examples:

• 2024-01-01.md
• 2024-12-31.md

Configuration

The default configuration can be modified by creating a custom Config instance:

let config = Config {
    directory: PathBuf::from("your/path"),
    date_pattern: String::from(r"^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}(\.md)?$"),
    output_filename: String::from("writing-log.md"),
    separator: String::from("\n---\n"),
};

Development

Prerequisites

• Rust (latest stable version)
• Cargo (comes with Rust)

Dependencies

• regex: For pattern

Opportunities for Future Improvement

RustyDiary has a solid foundation, and there are many exciting ways to expand its capabilities. We welcome contributions in any of these areas—whether you're fixing a small bug, adding a new feature, or improving documentation. Here are some ideas to get you started:

🤖 AI and Intelligence

• LLM Integration: Integrate large language models to generate summaries, insights, or trends from your diary data. Imagine getting weekly summaries or mood analysis automatically!

📅 Date and Format Flexibility

• Flexible Date Formats: Support various date formats beyond YYYY-MM-DD.md, including custom patterns, locale-specific formats, and mixed naming conventions.

⚙️ Configuration and Customization

• Enhanced Configuration Options: Add more output formats (JSON, HTML, PDF), metadata extraction, and advanced sorting options (by tags, topics, or custom criteria).

🗄️ Database and Search

• Advanced Database Integration: Implement sophisticated filtering and search capabilities, including full-text search, tag-based queries, and date range filtering.
• Dashboard and Visualizations: Create a statistics dashboard with visualizations of your writing habits, word counts over time, and sentiment trends.

🖥️ User Experience

• Refined CLI/UX: Improve command-line interface with better help text, interactive prompts, and progress indicators.
• GUI Development: Build a graphical interface for users who prefer not to use the command line, making diary management more accessible.

📚 Documentation

• Comprehensive Documentation: Expand guides for contributors, troubleshooting tips, usage examples, and best practices.
• Tutorial Content: Create step-by-step tutorials for common workflows and advanced use cases.

🧪 Testing and CI/CD

• Automated Test Coverage: Increase unit and integration test coverage to ensure reliability.
• Continuous Integration: Set up CI/CD workflows for automated testing, linting, and releases.

🔄 Interoperability

• Import/Export Support: Enable seamless import and export with popular journaling and note-taking apps like Day One, Obsidian, Joplin, Notion, and more.
• Format Converters: Build converters for common formats (Markdown variants, plain text, rich text).

🔌 Extensibility

• Plugin System: Develop a plugin architecture allowing users to extend functionality without modifying core code.
• API Development: Create APIs for programmatic access to diary operations and data.
• Notification System: Add support for reminders, writing streaks, and custom notifications.

Getting Started with Contributing

Interested in working on any of these ideas? Check out the contribution guidelines (if available) or open an issue to discuss your ideas. We're excited to see what you'll build!