Geeknote is a command line client for Evernote that can be use on Linux, FreeBSD and OS X.

It allows you to:

• create notes in your Evernote account;
• create tags, notebooks;
• use Evernote search from the console using different filters;
• edit notes directly in the console using any editor, such as nano, vim or mcedit;
• synchronize your local files and directories with Evernote;
• use Evernote with cron or any scripts.

Geeknote is free and open source and written in Python. Geeknote can be used anywhere you have Python installed (even in Windows if you like).

In this document we will show how to work with Evernote notes, notebooks, and tags using Geeknote and how to use Geeknote sync.

You can install Geeknote using Homebrew/Linuxbrew, or from its source.

(Generate formula by brew create --python --set-version 3.0.1 https://github.com/vitaly-zdanevich/geeknote/archive/refs/tags/v3.0.1.tar.gz)

brew install --HEAD https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vitaly-zdanevich/geeknote/master/geeknote.rb

https://github.com/gentoo/guru/tree/master/app-doc/geeknote

emerge -a geeknote

# Install dependencies. (This example for Debian-based systems):
sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get -y install python-setuptools
pip install wheel

# Download the repository.
git clone [email protected]:vitaly-zdanevich/geeknote.git

cd geeknote

# Installation

python setup.py build
pip install --upgrade .

##### Testing
Geeknote has a non-destructive unit test suite with fair coverage.

Ensure pytest framework is installed
``` sh
pip install --upgrade pytest

Execute the tests

py.test

If originally installed via homebrew,

brew remove geeknote

If originally installed from source,

pip uninstall geeknote

After installation, Geeknote must be authorized with Evernote prior to use. To authorize your Geeknote in Evernote launch the command login:

geeknote login

This will start the authorization process. Geeknote will ask you to enter your credentials just once to generate access token, which will be saved in local database. Re-authorization is not required, if you won't decide to change user. After authorization you can start to work with Geeknote.

If you want to change Evernote user you should launch logout command:

geeknote logout

Afterward, you can repeat the authorization step.

If you want to use Evernote's separate service in China Yìnxiàng Bǐjì (印象笔记), you need to set the environment variable GEEKNOTE_BASE to yinxiang.

GEEKNOTE_BASE=yinxiang geeknote login
# or
export GEEKNOTE_BASE=yinxiang
geeknote ...commands...

Yìnxiàng Bǐjì (印象笔记) is faster in China and it supports Chinese payment methods. Be aware that Yìnxiàng Bǐjì will not have support for sharing social features like Twitter or Facebook. Furthermore, since data are stored on servers in China, Chinese authorities have the right to access their data according to current regulations.

For more information, see: Evernote Launches Separate Chinese Service

Geeknote requires a Developer token after an unsuccessful OAuth request.

You can obtain one by following the next simple steps:

• Create an API key for SANDBOX environment
• Request your API key to be activated on production
• Convert it to a personal token

To do so, go to Evernote FAQ and refer to the section "How do I create an API key?". As directed, click on the "Get an API Key" button at the top of the page, and complete the revealed form. You'll then receive an e-mail with your key and secret.

When you receive your key and secret, activate your key by following the instructions on the "How do I copy my API key from Sandbox to www (production)?" section of the FAQ. Be sure to specify on the form that you're using the key for the "geeknote" application.

Once your API key activation is processed by Evernote Developer Support, they will send you an email with further instructions on obtaining the personal token.

$ geeknote settings
Geeknote
******************************
Version: 3.0
App dir: /Users/username/.geeknote
Error log: /Users/username/.geeknote/error.log
Current editor: vim
Markdown2 Extras: None
Note extension: .markdown, .org
******************************
Username: username
Id: 11111111
Email: [email protected]

You can edit notes within console editors in plain text or markdown format.

You can setup the default editor you want to use. To check which editor is now set up as a default call:

geeknote settings --editor

To change the default editor call:

geeknote settings --editor vim

To use gvim you need to prevent forking from the terminal with -f:

geeknote settings --editor 'gvim -f'

$ geeknote settings --editor
Current editor is: nano
$ geeknote settings --editor vim
Editor successfully saved
$ geeknote settings --editor
Current editor is: vim

You can enable Markdown2 Extras you want to use while editing notes. To check which settings are currently enabled call:

geeknote settings --extras

To change the Markdown2 Extras call:

geeknote settings --extras "tables, footnotes"

$ geeknote settings --extras
current markdown2 extras is : ['None']
$ geeknote settings --extras "tables, footnotes"
Changes saved.
$ geeknote settings --extras
current markdown2 extras is : ['tables', 'footnotes']

The main functionality that we need is creating notes in Evernote.

geeknote create --title <title>
               [--content <content>]
               [--tag <tag>]
               [--created <date and time>]
               [--resource <attachment filename>]
               [--notebook <notebook where to save>]
               [--reminder <date and time>]
               [--url <url>]

This command allows us to create a new note in Evernote. Geeknote has designed for using in console, so we have some restrictions like inability to use double quotes in --content option. But there is a method to avoid it - use stdin stream or file synchronization, we show it later in documentation.

Creating a new note with a PDF attachment:

geeknote create --title "Shopping list"
                --content "Don't forget to buy milk, turkey and chips."
                --resource shoppinglist.pdf
                --notebook "Family"
                --tag "shop" --tag "holiday" --tag "important"

Creating a new note and editing content in editor (notice the lack of content argument):

geeknote create --title "Meeting with customer"
                --notebook "Meetings"
                --tag "projectA" --tag "important" --tag "report"
                --created "2015-10-23 14:30"

You can easily search notes in Evernote with Geeknote and output results in the console.

geeknote find --search <text to find>
             [--tag <tag>]
             [--notebook <notebook>]
             [--date <date or date range>]
             [--count <how many results to show>]
             [--exact-entry]
             [--content-search]
             [--url-only]
             [--reminders-only]
             [--deleted-only]
             [--ignore-completed]
             [--with-tags]
             [--with-notebook]
             [--guid]

Use find to search through your Evernote notebooks, with options to search and print more detail. Geeknote remembers the result of the last search. So, you can use the ID number of the note's position for future actions. For example:

$ geeknote find --search "Shopping"

Total found: 2
  1 : 2006-06-02 2009-01-19 Grocery Shopping List
  2 : 2015-02-22 2015-02-24 Gift Shopping List

$ geeknote show 2
################### URL ###################
NoteLink: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s1/nl/2079/7aecf253-c0d9-407e-b4e2-54cd5510ead6
WebClientURL: https://www.evernote.com/Home.action?#n=7aecf253-c0d9-407e-b4e2-54cd5510ead6
################## TITLE ##################
Gift Shopping List
=================== META ==================
Notebook: EverNote
Created: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2012-02-24
|||||||||||||||| REMINDERS ||||||||||||||||
Order: None
Time: None
Done: None
----------------- CONTENT -----------------
Tags: shopping
Socks
Silly Putty
Furby

That will show you the note "Gift Shopping List".

geeknote find --search "How to patch KDE2" --notebook "jokes" --date 2015-10-14/2015-10-28
geeknote find --search "apt-get install apache nginx" --content-search --notebook "manual"

With Geeknote you can edit your notes in Evernote using any editor you like (nano, vi, vim, emacs, etc.)

geeknote edit --note <title or GUID of note to edit>
             [--title <the new title>]
             [--content <new content or "WRITE">]
             [--resource <attachment filename>]
             [--tag <tag>]
             [--created <date and time>]
             [--notebook <new notebook>]
             [--reminder <date and time>]
             [--url <url>]

Renaming the note:

geeknote edit --note "Naughty List" --title "Nice List"

Renaming the note and editing content in editor:

geeknote edit --note "Naughty List" --title "Nice List" --content "WRITE"

You can output any note in console using command show either independently or as a subsequent command to find. When you use show on a search made previously in which there was more than one result, Geeknote will ask you to make a choice.

geeknote show <text or GUID to search and show>

$ geeknote show "Shop*"

Total found: 2
  1 : Grocery Shopping List
  2 : Gift Shopping List
  0 : -Cancel-
: _

As we mentioned before, show can use the results of previous search, so if you have already done the search, just call show with number of previous search results.

$ geeknote find --search "Shop*"

Total found: 2
  1 : Grocery Shopping List
  2 : Gift Shopping List

$ geeknote show 2

You can remove notes with Geeknotes from Evernote.

geeknote remove --note <note name or GUID>
               [--force]

geeknote remove --note "Shopping list"

Geeknote can find and remove duplicate notes.

geeknote dedup [--notebook <notebook>]

Geeknote can locate notes that have the same title and content, and move duplicate notes to the trash. For large accounts, this process can take some time and might trigger the API rate limit. For that reason, it's possible to scope the de-duplication to a notebook at a time.

geeknote dedup --notebook Contacts

Geeknote can display the list of all notebooks you have in Evernote.

geeknote notebook-list [--guid]

With Geeknote you can create notebooks in Evernote right in console!

geeknote notebook-create --title <notebook title>

geeknote notebook-create --title "Sport diets"

With Geeknote it's possible to rename existing notebooks in Evernote.

geeknote notebook-edit --notebook <old name>
                       --title <new name>

geeknote notebook-edit --notebook "Sport diets" --title "Hangover"

With Geeknote it's possible to remove existing notebooks in Evernote.

geeknote notebook-remove --notebook <notebook>
                         [--force]

geeknote notebook-remove --notebook "Sport diets" --force

You can get the list of all tags you have in Evernote.

geeknote tag-list [--guid]

Usually tags are created with publishing new note. But if you need, you can create a new tag with Geeknote.

geeknote tag-create --title <tag name to create>

geeknote tag-create --title "Hobby"

You can rename the tag:

geeknote tag-edit --tagname <old name>
                  --title <new name>

geeknote tag-edit --tagname "Hobby" --title "Girls"

Gnsync is an additional application installed with Geeknote. Gnsync allows synchronization of files in local directories with Evernote. It works with text data and html with picture attachment support.

gnsync --path <path to directory which to sync>
      [--mask <unix shell-style wildcards to select the files, like *.* or *.txt or *.log>]
      [--format <in what format to save the note - plain, markdown, or html>]
      [--notebook <notebook, which will be used>]
      [--all]
      [--logpath <path to logfile>]
      [--two-way]
      [--download]

The application gnsync is very useful in system administration, because you can synchronize you local logs, statuses and any other production information with Evernote.

gnsync --path /home/project/xmpp/logs/
       --mask "*.logs"
       --logpath /home/user/logs/xmpp2evernote.log
       --notebook "XMPP logs"

• Vitaliy Rodnenko
• Simon Moiseenko
• Ivan Gureev
• Roman Gladkov
• Greg V
• Ilya Shmygol