I have been looking for something to keep my bookmarks. I have been a long time user of pinboard and I was looking for a self-hosted or a non-hosted service. And I discovered buku.
So let's see what buku is about!
What is buku?
bukuis a powerful bookmark manager and a personal textual mini-web.
buku is a terminal application, and it also comes with a web based GUI (I have not tried it).
The GitHub repository is https://github.com/jarun/buku, it is made by jarun who also created nnn, which is another tool that I use a lot and I wrote a bit about it here.
buku is made in Python which, as all Python programs I had troubles to make it work. I hope you can find a package for your OS so it can work out of the box.
Using buku
Adding a bookmark
This is done with buku -a <url> <tag1, tag2>, and buku displays the entry:
Note that buku fetches the title for you.
You can also use buku -w to open your favorite editor - which should be Kakoune - and fill all the details yourself.
Searching for bookmarks
❯ buku javascript
1. Everything You Need to Know About JavaScript Import Maps - Honeybadger Developer Blog [6]
> https://www.honeybadger.io/blog/import-maps/
+ Import maps are a new way for web pages to control the behavior of JavaScript imports, potentially enabling you to ditch your build system. In this article, Ayooluwa
Isaiah dives deep into the specification.
# 2022-08,dev,web
2. Navigation API: la navigation côté client la plus moderne - DEV Community [61]
> https://dev.to/this-is-learning/navigation-api-la-navigation-cote-client-la-plus-moderne-33po
+ Introduction Les SPAs, Single Page Application, sont caractérisées par une fonctionnalité... Tagged with javascript, webdev, news, productivity.
# 2022-08,dev,fr,web
1-2/2
buku (? for help)
The number between brackets (like [6] and [61]) is the id of the bookmark in the database. Useful for the next actions.
Editing a bookmark
Use buku -w <id> which opens your editor, allowing you to edit this entry:
# Lines beginning with "#" will be stripped.
# Add URL in next line (single line).
https://www.honeybadger.io/blog/import-maps/
# Add TITLE in next line (single line). Leave blank to web fetch, "-" for no title.
Everything You Need to Know About JavaScript Import Maps - Honeybadger Developer Blog
# Add comma-separated TAGS in next line (single line).
2022-08,dev,web
# Add COMMENTS in next line(s). Leave blank to web fetch, "-" for no comments.
Import maps are a new way for web pages to control the behavior of JavaScript imports, potentially enabling you to ditch your build system. In this article, Ayooluwa Isaiah dives deep into the specification.⏎
Removing a bookmark
Use buku -d <id>, buku asks for confirmation.
Importing / Exporting bookmarks
buku can import bookmarks from browsers with buku -ai, and import from / export to various file formats, using buku -i / buku -e
For example, buku -e links.md -t "2022-08" creates a links.md file matching the tag "2022-08". buku also shows the list of matching links in the terminal and the number of links exported.
Bonus
REPL
Using buku, you get a nice REPL:
❯ buku
buku (? for help) ?
PROMPT KEYS:
1-N browse search result indices and/or ranges
O [id|range [...]] open search results/indices in GUI browser
toggle try GUI browser if no arguments
a open all results in browser
s keyword [...] search for records with ANY keyword
S keyword [...] search for records with ALL keywords
d match substrings ('pen' matches 'opened')
r expression run a regex search
t [tag, ...] search by tags; show taglist, if no args
g taglist id|range [...] [>>|>|<<] [record id|range ...]
append, set, remove (all or specific) tags
search by taglist id(s) if records are omitted
n show next page of search results
o id|range [...] browse bookmarks by indices and/or ranges
p id|range [...] print bookmarks by indices and/or ranges
w [editor|id] edit and add or update a bookmark
c id copy url at search result index to clipboard
? show this help
q, ^D, double Enter exit buku
buku (? for help)
To skip the REPL, use --np
Alias
As described in the README, we can have a short and sweet alias:
alias b='buku --suggest'
A function for my shell
A fish shell function to add something, and automatically add a <year>-<month> tag:
❯ cat ~/.config/fish/functions/ba.fish
function ba --argument-names link
set --local tags (string join ", " $argv[2..-1])
set --local d (date +"%Y-%m")
buku -a $link $tags, $d
end
I call it like this:
❯ ba "https://avestura.dev/blog/zero-knowledge-proofs" dev various
16. Understanding zero-knowledge proofs
> https://avestura.dev/blog/zero-knowledge-proofs
+ What are zero-knowledge proofs, really?
# 2022-08,dev,various
The end
Et voilà ! I hope you give buku a try, the repository is here!
Most commands bring you back to the REPL (except if you use --np), from there ? will show you the help, and buku --help is also here for you.
Enjoy!