Rook ♖

A local, keyboard-first terminal journal for working through one day at a time.

rook ♖  Today — Friday, July 24, 2026
⋆⁺₊ (｡'▽'｡)♡ ₊⁺⋆  "Showing up is the whole trick."

❯ • Finish the presentation
  • Reply to Alex
  > Read Chapter 3
  × Submit the expense report

[n] new   [e/Ent] edit   [x] complete   [>] migrate   [d] delete   [u] undo   [a] archive   [q] quit

Rook is inspired by the simplicity of a paper bullet journal:

• one active list: Today
• direct, in-place editing
• local SQLite storage
• read-only history
• no accounts, cloud sync, reminders, priorities, or telemetry

Installation

Requires Python 3.10 or newer. Install with uv:

uv tool install rook-cli

Then launch:

rook

To upgrade later:

uv tool upgrade rook-cli

Keyboard reference

Mac note: strikethrough on soft-deleted tasks requires a terminal that supports it. macOS Terminal.app does not; iTerm2, Alacritty, and kitty do. The ~ bullet still appears regardless of terminal.

Data and privacy

Tasks are stored in a local SQLite database. Nothing leaves your machine.

To print the exact path on your system:

rook --data-path

Uninstalling Rook does not delete the database.

FAQ

How do I change the archive week layout from Sun–Sat to Mon–Sun?

rook --week-start monday

To switch back to Sunday-start:

rook --week-start sunday

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Janvi Chawla. All Rights Reserved.

Personal use permitted. No redistribution or derivative works without permission.