Personal Note Search Examples

Transform your personal knowledge management with Oboyu. Learn how to effectively search through journals, ideas, learning notes, and personal documentation.

Scenario: Digital Knowledge Worker

Managing personal notes, ideas, learning resources, and life documentation across various topics and formats.

Setting Up Personal Knowledge Base

# Index all personal notes
oboyu index ~/Notes --db-path ~/indexes/personal.db \
    --include "*.md" \
    --include "*.txt" \
    --include "*.org"

# Add specific categories
oboyu index ~/Notes/Journal --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db --update
oboyu index ~/Notes/Learning --db-path ~/indexes/learning.db --update
oboyu index ~/Notes/Ideas --db-path ~/indexes/ideas.db --update

Daily Note-Taking Workflow

Morning Pages

# Find today's journal entry
oboyu query --query "date: $(date +%Y-%m-%d)" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db

# Review yesterday's thoughts
oboyu query --query "reflection thoughts" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db

# Find recurring themes
oboyu query --query "grateful thankful appreciation" --mode vector

Idea Capture

# Find related ideas
oboyu query --query "app idea mobile" --db-path ~/indexes/ideas.db --mode vector

# Find unfinished ideas
oboyu query --query "TODO elaborate expand on this" --db-path ~/indexes/ideas.db

# Connect ideas across time
oboyu query --query "similar to [current idea]" --mode vector

Scenario: Lifelong Learner

Organizing study notes, course materials, book summaries, and skill development tracking.

Learning Management

# Find notes on specific topic
oboyu query --query "python decorators" --db-path ~/indexes/learning.db

# Track learning progress
oboyu query --query "learned: understood: mastered:"

# Find practice exercises
oboyu query --query "exercise: practice: try this:" --db-path ~/indexes/learning.db

Book Notes and Summaries

# Find book summaries
oboyu query --query "book: title: author:" --db-path ~/indexes/personal.db

# Search quotes and highlights
oboyu query --query "quote: highlight: important:"

# Find book recommendations
oboyu query --query "recommended by must read" --mode vector

Scenario: Personal Project Manager

Tracking personal projects, goals, habits, and life administration.

Goal Tracking

# Find current goals
oboyu query --query "goal: objective: target:" --db-path ~/indexes/personal.db

# Track progress
oboyu query --query "progress: milestone: achieved:"

# Review quarterly goals
oboyu query --query "Q1 2024 goals" --mode vector

Habit Tracking

# Find habit logs
oboyu query --query "habit: tracker: streak:"

# Analyze patterns
oboyu query --query "missed skipped failed" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db

# Find motivation notes
oboyu query --query "why important motivation" --mode vector

Advanced Personal Search Patterns

Memory and Recall

# Find memories by date
oboyu query --query "remember when that time" --mode vector

# Search by people
oboyu query --query "with Mom Dad family" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db

# Find by location
oboyu query --query "at Paris Tokyo vacation" --mode vector

Reflection and Insights

# Find insights and learnings
oboyu query --query "realized: learned: insight:" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db

# Track personal growth
oboyu query --query "improved better than before" --mode vector

# Find patterns in thoughts
oboyu query --query "always when every time pattern" --mode vector

Real-World Example: Annual Review

Creating a comprehensive year-in-review using personal notes:

# 1. Gather all monthly reviews
oboyu query --query "monthly review reflection"

# 2. Find major accomplishments
oboyu query --query "accomplished achieved completed proud" --mode vector

# 3. Extract learnings
oboyu query --query "learned lesson mistake growth" --mode vector

# 4. Find memorable moments
oboyu query --query "memorable amazing wonderful special" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db

# 5. Track goal completion
oboyu query --query "goal achieved completed ✓"

# 6. Identify themes
# (Note: word-frequency analysis not available in current implementation)

# 7. Export for review document
oboyu query --query "2023" --db-path ~/indexes/personal.db

Personal Productivity Patterns

GTD (Getting Things Done) Workflow

# Inbox processing
oboyu query --query "inbox: capture: process:"

# Next actions
oboyu query --query "@next @action context:" --db-path ~/indexes/personal.db

# Waiting for
oboyu query --query "@waiting @blocked waiting for" 

# Weekly review
oboyu query --query "added: modified:"

Zettelkasten Method

# Find permanent notes
oboyu query --query "id: [[" --db-path ~/indexes/zettelkasten.db

# Find connections
oboyu query --query "[[.*]]"

# Find orphan notes
# (Note: no-links filter not available in current implementation)
oboyu query --query "*" --db-path ~/indexes/zettelkasten.db

Creative Writing and Ideas

Story and Content Ideas

# Find story seeds
oboyu query --query "what if imagine suppose" --db-path ~/indexes/ideas.db

# Character development
oboyu query --query "character: personality: trait:" --mode vector

# Plot elements
oboyu query --query "conflict twist revelation" --mode vector

Blog Post Management

# Find draft posts
oboyu query --query "draft: status: unpublished" --db-path ~/indexes/blog.db

# Research for posts
oboyu query --query "research: source: reference:"

# Find evergreen content
oboyu query --query "timeless evergreen always relevant" --mode vector

Personal Database Searches

Contact and Relationship Notes

# Find notes about people
oboyu query --query "met talked with discussed" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db

# Birthday and important dates
oboyu query --query "birthday anniversary important date" 

# Gift ideas
oboyu query --query "likes enjoys interested in gift idea" --mode vector

Health and Fitness Logs

# Find workout logs
oboyu query --query "workout exercise gym"

# Track symptoms or health notes
oboyu query --query "feeling symptom doctor health" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db

# Diet and nutrition
oboyu query --query "ate meal calories nutrition"

Japanese Personal Notes

For bilingual note-takers:

# Japanese diary entries
oboyu query --query "日記 今日" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db

# Mixed language notes
oboyu query --query "meeting 会議 notes メモ" --mode hybrid

# Study notes
oboyu query --query "勉強 学習 覚える" --db-path ~/indexes/learning.db

# Personal reminders
oboyu query --query "忘れない 重要 リマインダー"

Note Organization Best Practices

Effective Note Structure

---
date: 2024-01-15
tags: [learning, python, programming]
type: study-note
---

# Python Decorators Study

## Key Concepts
- Decorators are functions that modify other functions
- Use @syntax for clean code

## Examples
```python
@timer
def slow_function():
    pass

Questions

How do parameterized decorators work?

TODO

Practice writing custom decorators
Read Real Python decorator guide

### Searchable Patterns
- Use consistent date formats: `YYYY-MM-DD`
- Tag liberally: `#idea #todo #learning`
- Use markers: `TODO:`, `IDEA:`, `REMEMBER:`
- Include context: people, places, projects
- Cross-reference: `See also: [[other-note]]`

## Daily Routines with Oboyu

### Morning Routine
```bash
# Review yesterday and plan today
morning_notes() {
    echo "=== Yesterday's Highlights ==="
    oboyu query --query "accomplished done completed"
    
    echo "=== Today's Priorities ==="
    oboyu query --query "todo today priority"
    
    echo "=== Upcoming Deadlines ==="
    oboyu query --query "deadline due date"
}

Evening Review

# Reflect on the day
evening_review() {
    echo "=== Today's Entries ==="
    oboyu query --query "*" --db-path ~/indexes/journal.db
    
    echo "=== Gratitude ==="
    oboyu query --query "grateful thankful appreciate"
    
    echo "=== Tomorrow's Focus ==="
    oboyu query --query "tomorrow next day"
}

Integration Tips

Quick Capture

# Add to shell config for quick notes
note() {
    echo "$(date +%Y-%m-%d): $*" >> ~/Notes/quick-capture.md
    oboyu index ~/Notes/quick-capture.md --update
}

# Usage
note "Great idea for app: voice-controlled task manager"

Template System

# Create note from template
new_note() {
    template=$1
    title=$2
    cp ~/Notes/templates/$template.md ~/Notes/$(date +%Y%m%d)-$title.md
    oboyu index ~/Notes --update
}

# Usage
new_note "meeting" "team-standup"
new_note "book" "atomic-habits"

Personal Knowledge Metrics

Note-Taking Analytics

# Most active topics
# (Note: word-frequency analysis not available in current implementation)
oboyu query --query "*" --db-path ~/indexes/personal.db

# Note creation frequency
# (Note: timeline analysis not available in current implementation)
oboyu query --query "*" --db-path ~/indexes/personal.db

# Most connected notes
# (Note: link statistics not available in current implementation)
oboyu query --query "[[*]]"

Next Steps

Set up CLI Workflows for personal productivity
Configure Search Optimization for your note structure
Explore Automation for note management

Scenario: Digital Knowledge Worker​

Setting Up Personal Knowledge Base​

Daily Note-Taking Workflow​

Morning Pages​

Idea Capture​

Scenario: Lifelong Learner​

Learning Management​

Book Notes and Summaries​

Scenario: Personal Project Manager​

Goal Tracking​

Habit Tracking​

Advanced Personal Search Patterns​

Memory and Recall​

Reflection and Insights​

Real-World Example: Annual Review​

Personal Productivity Patterns​

GTD (Getting Things Done) Workflow​

Zettelkasten Method​

Creative Writing and Ideas​

Story and Content Ideas​

Blog Post Management​

Personal Database Searches​

Contact and Relationship Notes​

Health and Fitness Logs​

Japanese Personal Notes​

Note Organization Best Practices​

Effective Note Structure​

Questions​

TODO​

Evening Review​

Integration Tips​

Quick Capture​

Template System​

Personal Knowledge Metrics​

Note-Taking Analytics​

Next Steps​