Files
narl-workspace/docs/wiki/Capture.md
T
nvrl 4eb663e2d7 docs: a guide, a wiki and screenshots
The README grew a section per feature and is a good reference, but nothing
said where to begin. docs/wiki now has a getting-started page, a guide that
walks through one day with the workspace and explains each part where it comes
up, and a page per part of the app, each with screenshots of what it
describes.

Three pages are read out of the code rather than written, so they cannot drift
from it: the keys and commands from Help.svelte and commands.ts, the same lists
`:help` draws; the settings from .env.example, which gains a heading for the
vault, trash and history settings so they no longer sit under mail; and the
API from the README's table. `make wiki` writes them, and `--check` fails when
one is stale or a link between pages leads nowhere. `--publish` lays the pages
out for a GitHub wiki: links without `.md`, images beside them, `[[` escaped so
the wiki does not take a command's help text for a link to a page.

The screenshots are taken by `make screenshots`: the debug binary on a
temporary data directory, with a password made up for the run, filled with an
example workspace over the API, and a headless Chromium driven over the
DevTools protocol through the views the docs show. Nothing outside the
temporary directory is touched but docs/images, and the pictures are cut to
256 colours, a third of their size, which a dark UI does not show.

The README opens with the banner, a CI badge, the guide, the features grouped
by what they are for, and six of the screenshots.
2026-10-21 12:07:32 +02:00

2.0 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) or "diary"
space for a card, the slug of the space whose inbox it goes in
  • "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.

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.