The Configuration File

Each notebook contains a configuration file used to customize your experience with zk. This file is located at .zk/config.toml and uses the TOML format. It is composed of several optional sections:

• [notebook] configures the default notebook

• [note] sets the note creation rules

• [extra] contains free user variables which can be expanded in templates

• [group] defines note groups with custom rules

• [format] configures the note format settings, such as Markdown options

• [tool] customizes interaction with external programs such as:

  • your default editor

  • your default shell

  • your default pager

  • fzf

• [lsp] setups the Language Server Protocol settings for editors integration

• [filter] declares your named filters

• [alias] holds your command aliases

Global configuration file

You can also create a global configuration file to share aliases and settings across several notebooks. The global configuration is by default located at ~/.config/zk/config.toml, but you can customize its location with the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable.

Notebook configuration files will inherit the settings defined in the global configuration file. You can also share templates by storing them under ~/.config/zk/templates/.

Complete example

Here’s an example of a complete configuration file:

# NOTEBOOK SETTINGS
[notebook]
dir = "~/notebook"

# NOTE SETTINGS
[note]

# Language used when writing notes.
# This is used to generate slugs or with date formats.
language = "en"

# The default title used for new note, if no `--title` flag is provided.
default-title = "Untitled"

# Template used to generate a note's filename, without extension.
filename = "{{id}}-{{slug title}}"

# The file extension used for the notes.
extension = "md"

# Template used to generate a note's content.
# If not an absolute path, it is relative to .zk/templates/
template = "default.md"

# Configure random ID generation.

# The charset used for random IDs.
id-charset = "alphanum"

# Length of the generated IDs.
id-length = 4

# Letter case for the random IDs.
id-case = "lower"


# EXTRA VARIABLES
[extra]
author = "Mickaël"


# GROUP OVERRIDES
[group.journal]
paths = ["journal/weekly", "journal/daily"]

[group.journal.note]
filename = "{{format-date now}}"


# MARKDOWN SETTINGS
[format.markdown]
# Enable support for #hashtags
hashtags = true
# Enable support for :colon:separated:tags:
colon-tags = true


# EXTERNAL TOOLS
[tool]

# Default editor used to open notes.
editor = "nvim"

# Default shell used by aliases and commands.
shell = "/bin/bash"

# Pager used to scroll through long output.
pager = "less -FIRX"

# Command used to preview a note during interactive fzf mode.
fzf-preview = "bat -p --color always {-1}"

# NAMED FILTERS
[filter]
recents = "--sort created- --created-after 'last two weeks'"

# COMMAND ALIASES
[alias]

# Edit the last modified note.
edlast = "zk edit --limit 1 --sort modified- $@"

# Edit the notes selected interactively among the notes created the last two weeks.
recent = "zk edit --sort created- --created-after 'last two weeks' --interactive"

# Show a random note.
lucky = "zk list --quiet --format full --sort random --limit 1"

# LSP (EDITOR INTEGRATION)
[lsp]

[lsp.diagnostics]
# Report titles of wiki-links as hints.
wiki-title = "hint"
# Warn for dead links between notes.
dead-link = "error"