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A local database with a command line interface? (sqlite?) (lemy.lol)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by matcha_addict@lemy.lol to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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Hi all,

I am looking for a local database that is easily accessible via the command line.

It can be SQL or non-SQL

Whats my use case? I want to use it kinda like a second brain. A place to save ~~my notes~~, my todo lists, my book reading lists, links / articles to read later, etc.

I want it to be a good CLI citizen so that I can script its commands to create simpler abstractions, rather than writing out the full queries every time.

Maybe sqlite is what I need, but is that ideal for my use case?

Edit: removed notes, as evidently they aren't suitable for this and aren't like the rest.

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[–] pe1uca@lemmy.pe1uca.dev 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I can't imagine this flow working with any DB without an UI to manage it.
How are you going to store all that in an easy yet flexible way to handle all with SQL?

A table for notes?
What fields would it have? Probably just a text field.
Creating it is simple: insert "initial note"... How are you going to update it? A simple update to the ID won't work since you'll be replacing all the content, you'd need to query the note, copy it to a text editor and then copy it back to a query (don't forget to escape it).
Then probably you want to know which is your oldest note, so you need to include created_at and updated_at fields.
Maybe a title per note is a nice addition, so a new field to add title.

What about the todo lists? Will they be stored in the same notes table?
If so, then the same problem, how are you going to update them? Include new items, mark items as done, remove them, reorder them.
Maybe a dedicated table, well, two tables, list metadata and list items.
In metadata almost the same fields as notes, but description instead of text. The list items will have status and text.

Maybe you can reuse the todo tables for your book list and links/articles to read.

so that I can script its commands to create simpler abstractions, rather than writing out the full queries every time.

This already exists, several note taking apps which wrap around either the filesystem or a DB so you only have to worry about writing your ideas into them.
I'd suggest to not reinvent the wheel unless nothing satisfies you.

What are the pros of using a DB directly for your use case?
What are the cons of using a note taking app which will provide a text editor?

If you really really want to use a DB maybe look into https://github.com/zadam/trilium
It uses sqlite to store the notes, so maybe you can check the code and get an idea if it's complicated or not for you to manually replicate all of that.
If not, I'd also recommend obsidian, it stores the notes in md files, so you can open them with any software you want and they'll have a standard syntax.

[–] matcha_addict@lemy.lol 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

First, I want to apologize for mentioning notes. Notes should be separate from the rest, and I agree with you on what you said about notes.

For the rest, I've asked before on suggestions for apps to save my todos, links, etc. There were a couple issues

  • I couldn't find something that gives me the same interface for all of these. They are all lists of things with some attributes and relations, but most apps out there handled each one of these separately and differently

  • they lacked features I wanted. For example, dependent tasks, a flexible tag system I can query by, etc.

A DB would let me do all of that.

[–] pe1uca@lemmy.pe1uca.dev 1 points 4 months ago

Ah, that makes sense!
Yes, a DB would let you build this. But the point is in the word "build", you need to think about what is needed, in which format, how to properly make all the relationships to have data consistency and flexibility, etc.
For example, you might implement the tags as a text field, then we still have the same issue about addition, removal, and reorder. One fix could be have a many tags to one task table. Then we have the problem of mistyping a tag, you might want to add TODO but you forgot you have it as todo, which might not be a problem if the field is case insensitive, but what about to-do?
So there are still a lot of stuff you might oversight which will come up to sidetrack you from creating and doing your tasks even if you abstract all of this into a script.

Specifically for todo list I selfhost https://vikunja.io/
It has OAS so you can easily generate a library for any language for you to create a CLI.
Each task has a lot of attributes, including the ones you want: relation between tasks, labels, due date, assignee.

Maybe you can have a project for your book list, but it might be overkill.

For links and articles to read I'd say a simple bookmark software could be enough, even the ones in your browser.
If you want to go a bit beyond that I'm using https://github.com/goniszewski/grimoire
I like it because it has nested categories plus tags, most other bookmark projects only have simple categories or only tags.
It also has a basic API but is enough for most use cases.
Other option could be an RSS reader if you want to get all articles from a site. I'm using https://github.com/FreshRSS/FreshRSS which has the option to retrieve data form sites using XMLPath in case they don't offer RSS.

If you still want to go the DB route, then as others have mentioned, since it'll be local and single user, sqlite is the best option.
I'd still encourage you to use any existing project, and if it's open source you can easily contribute the code you'd have done for you to help improve it for the next person with your exact needs.

(Just paid attention to your username :P
I also love matcha, not an addict tho haha)