lisq 2025.7.29

A single file note-taking app that work with .txt files

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From Polish "lisek / foxie" – lisq is a single file note-taking app that work with .txt files.

Lightweight, fast and portable. It's meant to be used as terminal aplication.

Code available under a non-commercial license (see LICENSE file).

Copyright © funnut www.github.com/funnut

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Instalation

With installed Python,

• Copy src/lisq.py somewhere inside $PATH folder, then make it executable ( chmod +x filename ) and start by typing filename.
• Alternatively you can install Lisq by pip* : pip install lisq

* Python language Package Manager

How to install Python packages visit this site.

CLI USAGE

lisq [command [arg1] [arg2] ...]
lisq add "my new note"  # alternatively use / instead of add

COMMANDS

Basic functionality:

It's design to be simple so there are just three core commands: add/show/del.

: quit, q       # exit the program
: clear, c      # clear screen
: cmds      # list of all available commands
: edit      # open the notes file in set editor
: [--]help      # show help page
: [--]version   # show version
:
: add, / <str>  # adds a note (preferably enclosed in quotation marks)
:
: show, s   # show recent notes (default 10)
:      <int>    # show number of recent notes
:      <str>    # show notes containing <string>
:      all      # show all notes
:      random, r    # show a random note
:
: del <str>     # delete notes containing <string>
:     last, l   # delete the last note
:     all   # delete all notes

Additional functionality:

You can encrypt your notes or any other file with a URL-safe Base64-encoded 32-byte token (use with caution!).

[!WARNING] This functionality requires the cryptography package. If it is not already installed via package manager, please run: pip install -r requirements.txt

: encryption on|off|set     # enables or disables login functionality; 'set' stores the token so it won't be requested again
: changepass    # changes the password (token)
:
: encrypt ~/file.txt    # encrypts any file
: decrypt ~/file.txt    # decrypts any file
:
: settings  # lists all settings
: reiterate     # renumber notes' IDs
: echo <str>    # prints the given text
: type <str>    # types the given text

You can add your own functions by:

• defining them,
• then adding to dispatch table.

SETTINGS

Default settings are:

• default notes path is ~/notesfile.txt,
• default key path is set to wherever main file is,
• default history path is set to wherever the main file is,
• default color accent is green,
• default editor is set to nano,
• default encryption is set to off.

To change it, set the following variable in your system by adding it to a startup file (eg. ~/.bashrc).

export LISQ_SETTINGS='{
    "notes-path": "~/path/notesfile.txt",
    "key-path": "~/path/key.lisq",
    "hist-path": "~/path/history.lisq",
    "color-accent": "\\033[34m",
    "editor": "nano",
    "encryption": "set"
    }'

Source your startup file or restart terminal.

You can check current settings by typing settings (both default and environmental drawn from LISQ_SETTINGS var).