gj is an open-source journaling CLI that allows you to write journal entries directly from the terminal and save them to Notion.

Idea

I came up with the idea for gj after struggling with sticking to work journaling. Notion is already a great tool for journaling. After reading Atomic Habits by James Clear I realized, there was still some friction in the process of writing journal entries. So I decided to build a tool that would remove that friction and take advantage of me already using my terminal every day.

My original approach was to build a hook that would save your commits and turn them into journal entries. However, I wasn't sure if this would be legal or not. Instead, I kept how one would journal similar to how one would write a commit message.

"gj" is a play on the common phrase "good job" that you would say to yourself after completing a task or writing a journal entry.

Goals

The goal was to build a simple CLI tool that allows you to write your journals directly from the terminal and save them to Notion.

Additionally, I wanted to learn Rust and build a tool with it. I think it is an amazing language and I hope to use it more in the future.

Tech Stack

Well, Rust. And Notion's API.

Key Features

These were my must-haves:

• Journal from the terminal with a simple syntax (gj "hello world")
• Automatically create the Notion page and database

Some nice-to-haves:

• Brag functionality (summarize entries and automatically create a brag document)
• Support non-Notion databases (e.g. local files, other APIs)

Learnings

Although a simple project through gj I learned a lot about Rust and how to build a CLI tool with it.

Aftermath

Due to some limitations in Notion's API, gj was not "as automated" as I wanted it to be. It still ended up being a useful tool. It attracted some users and even some contributors.