Configuration Reference

    Kimün stores its configuration in kimun_config.toml, typically located in your config directory (e.g., ~/.config/kimun/ on Linux/macOS or %APPDATA%\kimun\ on Windows).

    Top-Level Fields

    FieldTypeDefaultDescription
    config_versioninteger2Config schema version. Do not change manually.
    themestring""Unused at top level — set theme in [global] instead.
    autosave_interval_secsinteger5How often unsaved changes are written to disk (seconds).
    use_nerd_fontsbooleantrueEnable Nerd Font icons in the TUI. Set to false if your terminal lacks Nerd Font support.
    editor_backendstring"textarea"Editor engine. "textarea" uses the built-in editor; "nvim" uses Neovim.
    nvim_pathstring(unset)Path to the nvim binary. Only needed when Neovim is not on PATH.
    default_sort_fieldstring"name"Default sort field for the note browser. Options: "name", "title".
    default_sort_orderstring"ascending"Default sort direction. Options: "ascending", "descending".
    journal_sort_fieldstring"name"Sort field used in the journal view. Options: "name", "title".
    journal_sort_orderstring"descending"Sort direction for journal entries. Descending shows newest first.

    [global] Section

    The [global] section contains workspace-level and theme settings.

    • current_workspace — name of the currently active workspace (e.g. "default"). This workspace will be loaded when Kimün starts.
    • theme — active theme name (e.g. "Nord"). This overrides the theme field at the top level. See Themes for built-in options and how to create custom themes.

    Example:

    [global]
current_workspace = "default"
theme = "Nord"

    [workspaces.<name>] Sections

    Each workspace is a separate section with the naming pattern [workspaces.<name>]. A workspace maps a name to a directory of notes.

    • path — absolute path to the notes directory for this workspace. Kimün will read and write markdown files from this location.

    Example:

    [workspaces.default]
path = "/Users/alice/Documents/Notes"

[workspaces.work]
path = "/Users/alice/work-notes"

[workspaces.archive]
path = "/Users/alice/archive-notes"

    Editor Backend

    By default, Kimün uses a built-in textarea for note editing. You can switch to Neovim as the editor backend to get full modal editing, custom keymaps, plugins, and anything else your init.lua / init.vim provides.

    Requirements

    • Neovim must be installed and available on your PATH (or you can point Kimün at a specific binary — see below).
    • Neovim is launched as a headless embedded process (nvim --embed); no terminal window opens.

    Configuration

    FieldTypeDefaultDescription
    editor_backendstring"textarea"Editor engine. Set to "nvim" to enable the Neovim backend.
    nvim_pathstring(unset)Absolute path to the nvim binary. Omit to use the nvim found on PATH.
    editor_backend = "nvim"

# Optional — only needed if nvim is not on your PATH:
nvim_path = "/usr/local/bin/nvim"

    Behaviour notes

    • Tab key inserts 4 spaces (expandtab, tabstop=4 are set automatically so indentation renders correctly in the TUI).
    • Your personal Neovim config (init.lua / init.vim) is loaded normally, so custom keymaps and plugins work as expected.
    • If Neovim fails to start (binary not found, crash on init, etc.), Kimün logs a warning and falls back to the built-in textarea automatically.

    [key_bindings] Section

    Key bindings map action names to keyboard shortcuts. This lets you customize how Kimün responds to your input.

    Format

    Each action is a list of key combinations:

    ActionName = ["ctrl&X"]
ActionName = ["ctrl&X", "alt+shift&Y"]  # Multiple bindings for one action

    Supported Modifiers

    • ctrl — Control key
    • alt — Alt/Option key
    • shift — Shift key
    • Combine modifiers with + (e.g., "ctrl+shift&P")

    Supported Keys

    • Letters (a–z), uppercase or lowercase
    • F-keys (F1–F12), used bare with no modifier (e.g., ["F2"])

    Unrecognised Combinations

    Any key combination that doesn't follow these rules is silently ignored at load time. This allows you to safely comment out or experiment with bindings without breaking the config.

    Bindable Actions

    Use these action names exactly as shown:

    • Navigation & UI

      • Quit — Exit Kimün
      • OpenSettings — Open the settings dialog
      • ToggleNoteBrowser — Show/hide the note browser panel
      • SearchNotes — Open the search/fuzzy finder
      • OpenNote — Open a note (fuzzy file picker)
      • TogglePreview — Show/hide the preview pane
      • ToggleSidebar — Show/hide the sidebar
      • FocusEditor — Move focus to the editor
      • FocusSidebar — Move focus to the sidebar

    • Note Management

      • NewJournal — Create a new journal entry

    • Sorting

      • CycleSortField — Cycle the sort field (filename → title → filename → …)
      • SortReverseOrder — Toggle sort direction (ascending ↔ descending)

    • File Operations

      • FileOperations — Open the file operations menu (delete, rename, move)

    • Text Formatting

      • TextEditor-Italic — Insert italic markers
      • TextEditor-Image — Insert image markup
      • TextEditor-ToggleHeader — Toggle header level
      • TextEditor-Underline — Insert underline markers
      • TextEditor-Strikethrough — Insert strikethrough markers

    Examples

    Quit = ["ctrl&Q"]
OpenSettings = ["ctrl&P"]
SearchNotes = ["ctrl&E"]
FileOperations = ["F2"]
TextEditor-Italic = ["ctrl&I"]
TextEditor-Image = ["ctrl+shift&L"]

    Minimal Example

    Here's a complete, minimal config file to get started:

    config_version = 2
theme = ""
autosave_interval_secs = 5
use_nerd_fonts = true
default_sort_field = "name"
default_sort_order = "ascending"
journal_sort_field = "name"
journal_sort_order = "descending"

[global]
current_workspace = "default"
theme = "Nord"

[workspaces.default]
path = "/Users/alice/Documents/Notes"

[key_bindings]
Quit = ["ctrl&Q"]
OpenSettings = ["ctrl&P"]
ToggleNoteBrowser = ["ctrl&F"]
SearchNotes = ["ctrl&E"]
OpenNote = ["ctrl&O"]
NewJournal = ["ctrl&J"]
TogglePreview = ["ctrl&Y"]
FileOperations = ["F2"]