Note Skill

Create and manage Denote notes by sending commands to a running Emacs GUI server via emacsclient -s gui.

Prerequisites

Verify a running Emacs server is reachable:

emacsclient -s gui -e "t"

If this fails, tell the user:

No Emacs GUI server found on socket gui. Start one inside Emacs with M-x server-start (or ensure (server-start) is in your config).

denote Function Signature

(denote &optional TITLE KEYWORDS FILE-TYPE DIRECTORY DATE TEMPLATE SIGNATURE IDENTIFIER)

Creating Notes

Always use (quote org) as FILE-TYPE. denote returns the path of the newly created file.

# General note
emacsclient -s gui -e '(denote "My note title" (list "tag1") (quote org))'

# Work note — always use the "work" subdirectory
emacsclient -s gui -e '(denote "Meeting notes" (list "work") (quote org) (concat (denote-directory) "work"))'

# Back-dated note
emacsclient -s gui -e '(denote "Old entry" (list "journal") (quote org) nil "2024-01-15")'

After creating the note, append content to the file:

cat >> "/path/to/note.org" << 'EOF'

<content here>
EOF

Org-mode Formatting

Notes are org-mode files. Always use org-mode syntax — never Markdown.

Code block example:

#+begin_src python
def greet(name):
    return f"Hello, {name}"
#+end_src

Use ~code~ for inline references to commands, variables, filenames, and short code snippets. Use =verbatim= for exact literal strings (e.g., keybindings, output).

Create Note Workflow

1. •Check for a running server: Run emacsclient -s gui -e "t". Stop and report if it fails.
2. •Fetch existing keywords: Run emacsclient -s gui -e "(denote-keywords)".
3. •Determine parameters from the user's request:
   • •Title (required)
   • •Keywords: at most 3 tags. Prefer existing keywords; only introduce new ones if nothing fits.
   • •Directory: work notes → (concat (denote-directory) "work"); general notes → omit (uses default).
   • •Date: only if back-dating.
4. •Create the note with emacsclient -s gui -e '(denote ...)'.
5. •Strip surrounding quotes from the returned path: NOTE=$(echo "$NOTE" | tr -d '"')
6. •Append content using cat >> "$NOTE".
7. •Report: Show the file path and ask the user to refresh the buffer in Emacs.

Renaming Notes / Updating Filetags

Use denote-rename-file to rename a note or update its keywords. It updates both the filename and the front matter atomically.

(denote-rename-file FILE TITLE KEYWORDS SIGNATURE DATE IDENTIFIER)

Pass (quote keep-current) for any parameter to leave unchanged.

Always bind denote-rename-confirmations to nil, denote-save-buffers to t, and default-directory to (denote-directory). Without default-directory, Emacs may compute git mv paths relative to the wrong repo.

# Update keywords only
emacsclient -s gui -e '(let ((denote-rename-confirmations nil) (denote-save-buffers t) (default-directory (denote-directory))) (denote-rename-file "/path/to/note.org" (quote keep-current) (list "tag1" "tag2") (quote keep-current) (quote keep-current) (quote keep-current)))'

# Update title only
emacsclient -s gui -e '(let ((denote-rename-confirmations nil) (denote-save-buffers t) (default-directory (denote-directory))) (denote-rename-file "/path/to/note.org" "New Title" (quote keep-current) (quote keep-current) (quote keep-current) (quote keep-current)))'

Rename/Retag Workflow

1. •Find the note file (use find or the identifier).
2. •Read the current #+filetags: line to see existing keywords.
3. •Determine the new keyword list (sorted alphabetically; prefer existing keywords from (denote-keywords)).
4. •Run denote-rename-file with the bindings above, passing new keywords and (quote keep-current) for all other parameters.
5. •Report: Show the new file path and ask the user to refresh the buffer in Emacs.

Tips

• •Use single-quoted shell strings containing the Elisp to avoid shell escaping issues.
• •Keywords are always a list, even for a single tag: (list "work").