Files
narl-workspace/docs/wiki/Getting-Started.md
T
nvrl 176aad8c6f special: keys go to a tile, and Esc only ever leaves
Inside the special workspace the agenda and the calendar could only be
reached with Alt-h/j/k/l, which a desktop that binds Alt to its own windows
never lets through, and the same keys meant two things: t on the agenda put
the whole workspace away, t elsewhere went to it. Three esc buttons, one per
tile, all closed everything.

Now b, t and C only ever go to their tile, from anywhere. Tab and Shift-Tab
walk the tiles, as they walk the spaces elsewhere; l past the board's last
list goes on into the agenda, h in the agenda back to the board, j past its
end into the calendar. S toggles the workspace, and q and Esc leave it from
whichever tile — after leaving fullscreen first. The tile buttons are gone;
each tile's head shows its key instead, lit on the one with focus, and the
bar has a special pill beside the spaces.

A document opened from the workspace — a day of the calendar, an entry of
the agenda, today's entry, a card's notes — comes back to the tile it was
opened from on q.

The board tile shows the board of the space being browsed, or else the last
one shown, so coming from the diary, which has none, no longer leaves it
empty. Card and list actions follow the board on screen, not the browsed
space.
2026-10-21 15:53:24 +02:00

3.3 KiB

Getting started

Run it

You need Rust (1.96 or newer) and bun to build it. The result is one binary with the whole frontend inside, so the machine it runs on needs neither.

git clone https://github.com/narrrl/narl-workspace
cd narl-workspace
cp .env.example .env

Open .env and set three things:

  • WORKSPACE_USER: the name you log in with.
  • WORKSPACE_PASSWORD: the password. The server will not start while it is still change-me.
  • WORKSPACE_SECRET: 32 random characters that sign the login cookie. Make one with openssl rand -base64 32.

Then build and start it:

make build
./target/release/narl-workspace

and open http://127.0.0.1:4242.

With Docker instead, docker compose up -d --build does the same; see Deploying. Every other setting has a default that works on your own machine. Configuration lists them all.

Log in

The login

The workspace has one account, the one in .env. Wrong passwords are answered more slowly each time. A browser that has logged in before is slowed only by its own mistakes, so someone guessing from elsewhere cannot lock you out.

Find your way around

A new workspace has three spaces: diary, work and uni. The bar along the top shows them as numbered pills. 1, 2 and 3 switch between them, and Tab steps to the next one.

The screen has four parts:

  • the bar, at the top: the spaces, where you are in the tree, how many cards are late or due today, and the clock;
  • the list, on the left: what is in the folder you are in;
  • the tiles, on the right: the documents and files you have open;
  • the status line, at the bottom: the mode you are in, and what the last key or command did.

The rail of buttons on the right does the same as the keys, for a mouse.

The first ten minutes

  1. Press 2 to go to work.
  2. Press o. A new document opens in the editor, in insert mode. Write something.
  3. Press Esc to leave insert mode, then type :name Plans for the week and Enter to give it a name. There is no need to save: the document is saved a couple of seconds after you stop typing. :w saves at once anyway.
  4. Type :q to close it. It is in the list now, under today's date.
  5. Press O (capital). The command line opens with :mkdir already typed; add a name and press Enter. l or Enter on the folder goes into it, and h comes back up.
  6. Press c, type try the board, and press Enter. That is a card in the inbox of this space's board. Press b to see the board, and Esc to go back. It shares a special workspace with the agenda and the calendar: S puts it up and away, and Tab walks between them.
  7. Press T. That is today's diary entry, started for you.
  8. Press ? for the list of every key and command. h / l walk its columns, / narrows it down, and Esc closes it.

On a phone the same things are buttons: the dock at the bottom has a new document, a new folder, the board, today's entry, an upload and a search, and the ⋯ on a row (or a long press on it) has what can be done to that row.

The workspace on a phone

Next

The guide goes through a whole day with the workspace and explains each part as it comes up.