Files
narl-workspace/docs/wiki/Files-and-Search.md
T
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

3.4 KiB

Files and search

Files

A file is a node like a document, only with bytes instead of text. It sits in a folder beside the notes about it, shows its size in the list, and Enter opens it.

Put files in:

  • drop them onto the list;
  • :upload picks files for the folder you are in;
  • :import uploads a whole folder, and :import! a zip (see Not losing things);
  • copy them in over the SFTP mount.

Each upload is written to disk as it arrives, never held in memory, so the only limit is WORKSPACE_MAX_UPLOAD_MB (1024 by default) per request.

What opens in place

  • images, video and audio;
  • PDFs, in the browser's own viewer;
  • text and source code of any kind, with line numbers, up to the first 256 KiB;
  • markdown, rendered, with :source to see it as written;
  • CSV and TSV, as a table of the first 500 rows;
  • certificates, keys and keystores (.pem, .crt, .cer, .der, .csr, .key, .p8, .p12, .pfx), read on the server.

A CSV file as a table

A certificate shows its subject, issuer, validity, key, names, usage and fingerprints, and which key belongs to which certificate. A .p12 or an encrypted key asks for its password, which opens it for that one look and is not stored. Nothing of a private key is sent back but its algorithm and size.

A certificate read on the server

Anything else is a download: :download (:dl) fetches the file under the cursor, and gx opens it in a browser tab of its own. Files are renamed with :name, moved like documents, and deleted into the trash with x.

Uploads are only ever served as types that cannot run in the browser. An HTML file or an SVG, for example, downloads instead of opening.

key searches
/ the space you are in
Ctrl-P every space

Results appear as you type, ranked by relevance, each with the space and folder it is in. Tab or Ctrl-N / Ctrl-P walk them without leaving the line, and Enter opens the one lit. Afterwards n and N open the next and previous result beside the list, and :noh clears the search.

Cards are searched too, by their title, description and checklist steps. They are listed after the documents, under cards, with the board and list each is on. Enter on one turns it over on its board; n and N only light it up. Notes on the scratchpad come last, under notes, whatever space is searched; Enter lowers the scratchpad at the note.

A search that found a line in a log file

Each word you type matches the start of a word, so inge finds "ingest". All the words must be there. Punctuation is ignored, so a search of nothing else finds nothing.

Inside files

A search reads the text files in the tree as well as the documents. A file counts as text by its type, or when its first 8 KiB read as UTF-8 with no NUL byte, which covers .log files and Makefiles. The first 256 KiB of each is indexed, the same part the viewer shows. A file found by its text shows the words around the match under its name, with the words that matched lit.

The text is read when a file arrives, by upload, import or the SFTP mount, again when its bytes change, and at start for any file still missing it. PDFs, office documents and images are not read.

A sealed file is never indexed; see The vault. Sealing a file drops its text in the same step, and decrypting it reads it again.