--- title: I Was Tired of Leaving the Terminal, So I Built Nikki description: A developer shares the story behind building Nikki, a small terminal-based note and reminder tool for Linux, created to avoid the context switching of leaving... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-was-tired-of-leaving-the-terminal-so-i-built-nikki-sni47arro twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I Was Tired of Leaving the Terminal, So I Built Nikki | daily.dev og:description: A developer shares the story behind building Nikki, a small terminal-based note and reminder tool for Linux, created to avoid the context switching of leaving... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-was-tired-of-leaving-the-terminal-so-i-built-nikki-sni47arro og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/sni47aRRo.png og:image:alt: I Was Tired of Leaving the Terminal, So I Built Nikki og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I Was Tired of Leaving the Terminal, So I Built Nikki **[Nikhil](https://daily.dev/sources/eu0vyqyqfvh0fncyiet0w)** · [@nikhil3](https://daily.dev/nikhil3) · 2 min read · 158 upvotes · 24 comments ## Summary A developer shares the story behind building Nikki, a small terminal-based note and reminder tool for Linux, created to avoid the context switching of leaving the terminal to jot down quick thoughts. The tool supports adding, searching, and listing notes, desktop notifications, and reminders via a background systemd service. The author reflects on solving workflow friction by removing steps rather than adding new tools, and invites readers to share their own terminal workflow pain points. ## Content I kept forgetting small things while working. Not something important enough to create a proper task for, but things like “check this tomorrow”, “try this command later”, or “look into this bug when I get time”. My usual solution was to open a notes app, write it down, and continue working. But after doing that enough times, I realized the problem wasn't really taking notes. The problem was the context switching. I was already in the terminal, so why was I leaving it just to write something down? So I decided to solve the problem the way I usually approach these things as an engineer: remove the unnecessary step. I started building **Nikki**, a small terminal-based note and reminder tool for Linux. The idea was simple: if I'm already working in the terminal, I should be able to capture something without leaving it. Something as simple as: `nikki add "check MongoDB indexes"` and continue working. From there, it grew a little. I added searching and listing notes, reminders, desktop notifications, and a background systemd service to handle reminders even after the terminal is closed. It's still a small project, but I found the process more interesting than I expected. It made me think about how often we solve problems by adding another tool instead of questioning whether the existing workflow itself is the problem. I'm still figuring out what Nikki should become next. If you work heavily from the terminal, I'd genuinely like to know: **what small friction in your workflow would you try to eliminate?** ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@hemna** · 7 upvotes > and no link to the app at all in an article. who proof reads these things? **@devguy51** · 7 upvotes > does it start screaming "NO NO NO NO NO I THOUGHT WE WERE HAVING A NICE TIME" if you try to uninstall **@f4nt0** · 5 upvotes > Good software, It helps, I Wonder If can have some TUI to Interact in separated group of tasks (work,fun,todo) and check the status in one visualization in terminal? **@toddyholiday** · 1 upvotes > I think this way of thinking and method of problem solving is only going to get more common. "Wait, why am I leaving the terminal for X?" leading to the invention of handy tools and integrations, particularly in the age of AI agents, is going to 100x QOL for lots of devs :)) **@bobbyiliev** · 1 upvotes > Aweomse! I actually built the same thing last year hehe > > https://github.com/bobbyiliev/donectl --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#cli](https://daily.dev/tags/cli) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-was-tired-of-leaving-the-terminal-so-i-built-nikki-sni47arro) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-was-tired-of-leaving-the-terminal-so-i-built-nikki-sni47arro","headline":"I Was Tired of Leaving the Terminal, So I Built Nikki","text":"A developer shares the story behind building Nikki, a small terminal-based note and reminder tool for Linux, created to avoid the context switching of leaving the terminal to jot down quick thoughts. 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I actually built the same thing last year hehe\nhttps://github.com/bobbyiliev/donectl","datePublished":"2026-09-17T05:39:25.514Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/sni47aRRo#c-LjBbPUF2B","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Bobby Iliev","url":"https://daily.dev/bobbyiliev","image":"https://avatars3.githubusercontent.com/u/21223421?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/eu0vyqyqfvh0fncyiet0w","name":"Nikhil"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nikhil","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/eu0vyqyqfvh0fncyiet0w"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I Was Tired of Leaving the Terminal, So I Built Nikki"}]} ```