howzit

Keeping track of your build systems so you don’t have to

Howzit is a tool that allows you to keep Markdown-formatted notes about a project’s tools and procedures. It functions as an easy lookup for notes about a particular task, as well as a task runner to automatically execute appropriate commands.

Features

  • Match topic titles with any portion of title
  • Automatic pagination of output, with optional Markdown highlighting
  • Use @run(), @copy(), and @open() to perform actions within a build notes file
  • Use @include() to import another topic’s tasks
  • Use fenced code blocks to include/run embedded scripts
  • Sets iTerm 2 marks on topic titles for navigation when paging is disabled
  • Inside of git repositories, howzit will work from subdirectories, assuming build notes are in top level of repo
  • Templates for easily including repeat tasks
  • Grep topics for pattern and choose from matches
  • Use positional and named variables when executing tasks

Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • Ruby 2.4+ (It probably works on older Rubys, but is untested prior to 2.4.1.)
  • Optional: if fzf is available, it will be used for handling multiple choice selections
  • Optional: if bat is available it will page with that
  • Optional: mdless or mdcat for formatting output

Installing

You can install howzit by running:

gem install howzit

If you run into permission errors using the above command, you’ll need to use gem install --user-install howzit. If that fails, either use sudo (sudo gem install howzit) or if you’re using Homebrew, you have the option to install via brew-gem:

brew install brew-gem
brew gem install howzit

Usage

See the wiki for documentation.

Author

Brett Terpstra - brettterpstra.com

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.txt file for details.

Warranty

This software is provided “as is” and without any express or implied warranties, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantibility and fitness for a particular purpose.

Documentation

Download

Download the howzit script on GitHub.

Changelog

Click to expand

2.1.16

2024-08-13 10:59

IMPROVED

  • Add extra linebreak before @include headers

2.1.15

2024-08-07 13:10

FIXED

  • Prompt for editor when $EDITOR is not defined
  • Use exec for CLI editors provide a separate process
  • Remove tests for editor in main executable

2.1.14

2024-08-06 16:36

IMPROVED

  • Better algorithm for best match when multiple_matches: best is set

2.1.13

2024-08-05 12:04

2.1.12

2024-08-05 12:01

2.1.11

2024-08-05 12:01

2.1.10

2024-04-09 14:59

NEW

  • –no option (opposite of –yes) to answer no to all yes/no prompts

2.1.9

2023-09-07 11:02

NEW

  • Add –templates-c to get a completion-compatible list of available templates

2.1.8

2023-05-31 11:58

FIXED

  • Colors.rb error when code is integer

2.1.7

2023-05-29 12:59

FIXED

  • Handle variable replacements on lines containing colons outside of variable

2.1.6

2023-05-29 12:42

FIXED

  • Remove empty undefined variables with no default

2.1.5

2023-04-12 15:13

FIXED

  • Allow tilde in path to editor

2.1.4

2023-03-07 12:52

NEW

  • A theme file is automatically created where you can change the default output of any color that Howzit outputs. They can be 2-3 digit ANSI escape codes, or ‘#XXXXXX’ RGB hex codes

2.1.3

2023-03-07 11:21

FIXED

  • Annoying warning about color template format string having too many arguments

2.1.2

2023-03-07 10:24

IMPROVED

  • Merge metadata into named variables so they’re also available as ${NAME}

2.1.1

2023-03-07 09:47

FIXED

  • Allow variables names to contain numbers and underscores

2.1.0

2023-03-07 09:24

NEW

  • Use TOPIC_TITLE (var1, var2) to have access to ${var1} ${var2} in text and scripts, populated with positional variables on the command line
  • Add a default (fallback) value to any variable placeholder with ${var_name:default value}

2.0.34

2023-01-15 13:32

FIXED

  • Fail to partial match include commands after running fzf

2.0.33

2023-01-15 13:26

2.0.32

2023-01-15 10:46

IMPROVED

  • When using fzf chooser, make matching exact to avoid running multiple topics

2.0.31

2022-08-31 07:17

FIXED

  • Color template formatting of task output

2.0.30

2022-08-31 07:15

FIXED

  • Formatting of –help and –version commands

2.0.29

2022-08-30 04:20

NEW

  • –yes flag will answer yes to all prompts when executing
  • –force flag will continue executing directives after an error

IMPROVED

  • A non-zero exit status on a run directive will stop processing additional directives
  • A little extra output formatting, more descriptive results logging

2.0.28

2022-08-29 18:42

IMPROVED

  • If a topic runs multiple directives, stop processing them if one returns a non-zero exit status

2.0.27

2022-08-23 12:25

IMPROVED

  • Code cleanup

2.0.26

2022-08-23 11:36

IMPROVED

  • Add ctrl-a/d bindings to fzf menu for select/deselect all

2.0.25

2022-08-09 12:46

FIXED

  • Template metadata inheritence

2.0.24

2022-08-09 09:04

FIXED

  • Avoid reading upstream files multiple times

2.0.23

2022-08-09 05:51

FIXED

  • –grep function regression

2.0.22

2022-08-08 13:49

IMPROVED

  • Paginate output of –templates

FIXED

  • –templates attempting to create new build note
  • Fix handling of paths when the same as note_file

2.0.21

2022-08-08 13:16

IMPROVED

  • Use os-agnostic copy function for –hook
  • Rename link title for –hook

2.0.20

2022-08-08 11:38

NEW

  • –hook command for macOS to copy a link to the build note to clipboard

FIXED

  • Error on –edit-config
  • Fzf preview empty

2.0.19

2022-08-08 06:18

IMPROVED

  • Sort options in help output

2.0.18

2022-08-08 03:48

NEW

  • Use –ask to require confirmation of all tasks when running a topic

2.0.17

2022-08-07 06:09

2.0.16

2022-08-07 06:05

NEW

  • –edit-template NAME will open a template in your editor, offering to create it if missing

FIXED

  • If –show-code is given (or :show_all_code: is set to true), show content of @directives instead of title

2.0.15

2022-08-05 17:16

IMPROVED

  • -R can take an argument to filter results
  • Show a topic preview when using fzf to select from available topics
  • Paginate help output
  • Refactor Topic.run

FIXED

  • Invalid options for more pager
  • Error running grep command
  • Show method not accepting paginate option

2.0.14

2022-08-05 13:24

FIXED

  • Travis CI fixes

2.0.13

2022-08-05 13:19

IMPROVED

  • Add tests for more ruby versions via Docker

2.0.12

2022-08-05 11:27

IMPROVED

  • Show how many tasks will be included when requesting confirmation for an include? directive

2.0.11

2022-08-05 11:21

IMPROVED

  • Update fish completions with all current command line options

2.0.10

2022-08-05 08:17

IMPROVED

  • Provide more helpful feedback if no content is found in build note
  • Confirm whether the user wants to create a new note when one isn’t found

2.0.9

2022-08-05 07:29

IMPROVED

  • Avoid error trace on interrupt
  • Better stty settings for y/n prompt
  • Better coloring of default options in dialogs

FIXED

  • Encoding issues with older ruby versions
  • Globbing for build notes was picking up files that contained “build” but not at the beginning of the filename

2.0.8

2022-08-04 13:28

FIXED

  • Bugfixes

2.0.7

2022-08-04 13:04

NEW

  • –debug flag (shortcut for :log_level: 0)

IMPROVED

  • Console output now gets log levels, so :log_level: config option and –quiet/verbose have more utility

2.0.6

2022-08-04 11:08

2.0.5

2022-08-04 10:50

NEW

  • Make any task optional when running by adding a ? (@open?(…))
  • Optional tasks default to yes when you hit enter, invert by using a ! (@open?!(…)) to make default “no”

FIXED

  • Replace escaped newlines in task list output so that they don’t trigger a newline in the shell

2.0.4

2022-08-04 06:25

IMPROVED

  • Ask to open new buildnote for editing after creation

FIXED

  • Loop when creating new buildnote

2.0.3

2022-08-04 05:31

IMPROVED

  • General code cleanup
  • Attempt at os agnostic @copy command, hopefully works on Windows and Linux systems

FIXED

  • Not displaying action if title is missing

2.0.2

2022-08-03 18:26

IMPROVED

  • If a title is provided after an @command, display it instead of the contents when viewing

2.0.1

2022-08-03 12:46

FIXED

  • Failure to create new notes file when one isn’t found

2.0.0

2022-08-03 12:37

FIXED

  • Positional arguments not rendering in tasks
  • Fix degradation where arguments are empty

1.2.19

2022-08-03 12:18

FIXED

  • –config-get returning non-default options

1.2.18

2022-08-03 12:13

FIXED

  • Unwritable content property

1.2.17

2022-08-03 12:10

FIXED

  • Variables in topics not being replaced with metadata
  • Allow default response in yes/no prompt

1.2.16

2022-08-03 11:41

IMPROVED

  • Complete code refactoring

FIXED

  • Multiple includes of upstream files when templates are specified

1.2.15

2022-08-02 11:59

NEW

  • Option to set :header_format: to block for alternate topic title appearance

FIXED

  • Missing spacing around topic titles when displaying multiple topics

1.2.14

2022-08-02 11:01

NEW

  • Config option and flag to determine how to handle multiple results (first, best, all, choose)
  • –config-get and –config-set flags for working with config options

IMPROVED

  • Allow multiple selections when using fzf
  • Clean up newlines in output

1.2.13

2022-08-01 20:50

1.2.12

2022-08-01 16:23

IMPROVED

  • Replace ANSI escape codes with color template system
  • When @including an external file, if the file doesn’t contain any level 2+ headers, import it as plain text.

1.2.11

2022-08-01 08:23

IMPROVED

  • Code cleanup and refactoring

1.2.10

2022-08-01 07:45

FIXED

  • Headline formatting when iTerm markers are inserted

1.2.8

2022-08-01 07:01

FIXED

  • Frozen string error

1.2.6

2022-08-01 06:09

NEW

  • Use @before…@end and @after…@end to specify prerequisites and a post-run message. Topics with @before will require y/n verification before running

FIXED

  • ITerm markers weren’t being inserted when paging was off

1.2.3

2022-07-31 14:20

IMPROVED

  • Don’t include a topic multiple times in one display
  • Don’t execute nested topics more than once
  • Indicate nested includes in headers
  • Code cleanup

1.2.2

2022-07-31 08:56

  • Add -F option to pager setup (quit if less than one screen)

1.2.1

2022-07-31 05:12

  • Add handling for delta pager to not clear screen on exit

1.2.0

2022-07-31 04:59

  • Add grep feature, searches topic/content for pattern and displays matches (selection menu if multiple matches)

1.1.27

2022-01-17 11:45

NEW

  • Use fzf for menus if available
  • “@run() TITLE” will show TITLE instead of command when listing runnable topics
  • @include(FILENAME) will import an external file if the path exists

1.1.26

  • Fix for error in interactive build notes creation

1.1.25

  • Hide run block contents by default
  • :show_all_code: config setting to include run block contents
  • –show-code flag to display run block contents at runtime
  • Modify include display

1.1.24

  • Use ~/.config/howzit/ignore.yaml to ignore patterns when scanning for build notes
  • Use required and optional keys in templates to request that metadata be defined when importing
  • Allow templates to include other templates

1.1.23

  • Add flags to allow content to stay onscreen after exiting pager (less and bat)

1.1.21

  • Merge directive and block handling so execution order is sequential

1.1.20

  • Template functionality for including common tasks/topics

1.1.19

  • Add --upstream option to traverse up parent directories for additional build notes

1.1.15

  • Code refactoring/cleanup
  • Rename “sections” to “topics”
  • If no match found for topic search, only show error (:show_all_on_error: false option)

1.1.14

  • Fix removal of non-alphanumeric characters from titles
  • -s/–select option to display a menu of all available topics
  • Allow arguments to be passed after -- for variable substitution
  • Allow –matching TYPE to match first non-ambigous keyword match

1.1.13

  • –matching [fuzzy,beginswith,partial,exact] flag
  • –edit-config flag
  • sort flags in help

1.1.12

  • After consideration, remove full fuzzy matching. Too many positives for shorter strings.

1.1.11

  • Add full fuzzy matching for topic titles
  • Add @include(TOPIC) command to import another topic’s tasks

1.1.10

  • Add config file for default options

1.1.9

  • Use system instead of exec to allow multiple @run commands
  • Add code block runner

1.1.8

  • Add -e/--edit flag to open build notes in $EDITOR

1.1.7

  • Use exec for @run commands to allow interactive processes (e.g. vim)

1.1.6

  • Add option for outputting title with notes
  • Add option for outputting note title only

1.1.4

  • Fix for “topic not found” when run with no arguments

1.1.1

  • Reorganize and rename long output options
  • Fix wrapping long lines without spaces

1.1.0

  • Add -R switch for listing “runnable” topics
  • Add -T switch for completion-compatible listing of “runnable” topics
  • Add -L switch for completion-compatible listing of all topics

1.0.1

  • Allow topic matching within title, not just at start
  • Remove formatting of topic text for better compatibility with mdless/mdcat
  • Add @run() syntax to allow executable commands
  • Add @copy() syntax to copy text to clipboard
  • Add @url/@open() syntax to open urls/files, OS agnostic (hopefully)
  • Add support for mdless/mdcat
  • Add support for pager
  • Offer to create skeleton buildnotes if none found
  • Set iTerm 2 marks for navigation when paging is disabled
  • Wrap output with option to specify width (default 80, 0 to disable)

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