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narl-workspace/docs/wiki/Capture.md
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nvrl 2233fa41a6 scratch: the scratchpad is the inbox, with ways out and a search
A note now leaves the scratchpad by becoming something else: `K` keeps it
as a document, as before; `C` makes it a card where `:card` would put one,
the first line its title; `A` opens `:append` with the document on screen
filled in, Tab completing any other title, and puts the note at its end.

`/api/capture` takes `to: "note"` and `to: "document"` (named as a link
names it), and `note`, the scratch note the text came from, dropped once
the text has landed. Appending keeps the revision before it and indexes
links and media, as a save does.

Migration 0028 adds `scratch_fts`; `GET /api/scratch?q=` searches it, and
`/` lists note hits under "notes" after the cards, Enter lowering the
drawer at the note.

The `c` capture line cycles its target with Tab: a card, a note, or a
timed line in today's entry, which `:today <text>` now writes.
2026-10-22 11:22:55 +02:00

2.6 KiB

Capture

A thought arrives when no tab is open. POST /api/capture writes it down from anything that can send a request: a phone shortcut, a script, curl. It takes a token in place of a login.

Tokens

:token add phone     makes one, shows it once and copies it
:token               lists them, with when each was last used
:token rm phone      and that one captures nothing from the next request on

A token opens this one route and nothing else. It cannot read anything, not even the list of spaces. Only its SHA-256 is kept on the server, so it is shown once, when it is made. Wrong tokens slow down the way wrong passwords do, on a line of their own, so guessing at them does not hold up the login.

Sending

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer nwc_…" -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"text":"call the bank"}' https://your-host/api/capture
field meaning
text what to write down; for a card, the first line is the title and the rest its notes
to "card" (the default), "diary", "note" or "document"
space for a card, the slug of the space whose inbox it goes in; for a document, the space its title is looked for in first
document for "document", which one, as a link names it: Plan, [[Plan]] or /n/work/plan
note the id of the scratch note the text came from; it is dropped once the text has landed
  • "to": "card" puts a card in the inbox of the space named by space, or else of the first space that has a board.
  • "to": "diary" adds - 14:05 call the bank to the end of today's entry, in WORKSPACE_TIMEZONE, and starts the entry from templates/day when there is none yet.
  • "to": "note" puts it on the scratchpad, for when it is not clear yet where it belongs.
  • "to": "document" adds it as a paragraph at the end of a document. The text it replaces is kept in the document's history, as a save keeps it.

The answer says where it went: {"to":"card","id":7,"where":"work/backlog"}.

From a phone

iPhone: in Shortcuts, make a shortcut with Ask for Input, then Get Contents of URL:

  • URL: https://your-host/api/capture
  • Method: POST
  • Headers: Authorization = Bearer nwc_…
  • Request body: JSON, with text set to the Provided Input, and to set to diary if that is where it should go.

Android: in HTTP Shortcuts, make a shortcut with a text-input variable, method POST, the same header, and a JSON body {"text": "{{input}}"}.

Either one can sit on the home screen, or behind the share sheet.