Introduction

obsidian-logging is a small command-line tool, written in Rust, for logging directly to today’s daily note from the Linux (or macOS/Windows) command line. It is built for people who keep a daily journal in Obsidian and want a fast, keyboard-driven way to append timestamped entries without opening the app.

Typical use:

obsidian-logging "Had lunch with colleagues"

This appends a timestamped line to today’s daily note, under a configurable section heading. You can also:

• organize entries into categories such as work, personal, or health, each with its own section in the note
• define shorthand phrases for common entries (“gym”, “standup”, …) with optional argument expansion
• list today’s (or a previous day’s) entries back out on the command line
• open today’s note directly in $EDITOR
• choose between bullet-list and markdown-table output, and between 12- and 24-hour timestamps

Who this manual is for

This manual covers everyday usage of the obsidian-logging CLI: installing it, configuring your vault and daily-note layout, and using every command-line switch. It also includes a short chapter on using the underlying Rust library (obsidian-logging on crates.io) in your own projects, and a chapter for contributors who want to build the project from source.

Project layout

The project is a Cargo workspace with two crates:

• obsidian-logging (in lib/) — the core library: configuration, templating, and log file management logic. Published on crates.io and documented on docs.rs.
• obsidian-logging-cli (in app/) — the command-line binary (obsidian-logging) that most users install. Distributed as pre-built binaries via GitHub Releases.

Source and license

The source code is hosted at github.com/ljantzen/obsidian-logging. The project is licensed under a combined MIT/SPPL license — see License and Contact for details.