Welcome to TiddlyZettelKasten, usually known as tzk (pronounced /tษ'ziหk/, tuh-ZEEK). tzk is an occasionally updated version of Soren's Zettelkasten in a format that you can use as a launching point for your own Zettelkasten or similar wiki.
You are expected and encouraged to make tzk your own by changing its conventions, tools, tags, and so on as you learn more about the Zettelkasten approach to note-taking. Rather than a full-service application, tzk is a framework you can use to build your own system (although it works out of the box if you happen to like Soren's highly opinionated approach).
It's recommended that you have a basic understanding of TiddlyWiki before getting started with tzk. Grok TiddlyWiki is a free online textbook you can use to learn TiddlyWiki; completing at least chapters 1 and 2 is recommended before getting too serious with tzk. (Jumping in first is totally fine, but if you find yourself with lots of questions about how things work, check Grok TiddlyWiki before getting frustrated).
If you're viewing this page on the web, you have two options for installation:
As a single file
You can start out by downloading the wiki as a single HTML file and working with it directly in your browser:
You will need a way of saving changes to this file as you work. You can view the full list of options at tiddlywiki.com; if you've never used TiddlyWiki before and aren't sure what to pick, I recommend TiddlyDesktop.
You can always convert your single-file wiki to Node.js later using the tzk convert command.
Through Node.js (full-service)
tzk is primarily designed for use with Node.js and has an associated helper command-line interface. Using tzk this way is more involved and technical but offers the following features you can't get in the single-file version:
- Instant setup of your wiki on Node.js.
- Highly configurable builds, allowing you to publish different versions of your wiki โ a common use case is publishing some of your content on the web and keeping some of it private.
- Space-efficient backups and version history with Git.
Full instructions for installing and initializing the tzk command-line tool can be found on Read the Docs.
If you're familiar with command-line tools like tzk, you can get a quick start by making sure you have Git, NPM, and Python 3.6 or greater installed, then running:
$ pip install tzk
$ mkdir my_wiki_folder
$ cd my_wiki_folder
$ tzk init
$ tzk listenIf everything goes well, this will launch a web server and tell you what URL to enter into your web browser, and when you go there you'll have your wiki waiting for you.
Once you have a copy of tzk, open it up on your computer and get started with the following quick-start wizard!
WARNING and DISCLAIMER
tzk should be considered alpha software. The underlying platform, TiddlyWiki, is extremely stable, and it is highly unlikely you will lose any data as a result of using tzk, nor will the system become obsolete or unusable in the near future. However, there may not be an obvious upgrade path to newer versions, I cannot guarantee support if you encounter problems, and the edition remains primarily focused on my specific needs.
In other words, it's safe to use tzk for your production Zettelkasten, but you should expect to have to dive into some system tiddlers to make the edition work the way you want, and you may have to do some manual merging and copy-pasting of tiddlers if you want to backport features that I add to tzk in the future to your wiki. Think of the current version of tzk as a piece of hardware that you bought: you get it as-is, and if you want changes or upgrades to it, you have to make them yourself. If you're not willing to take on that responsibility, please do not use tzk for real work.
Why?
I need to preserve my ability to rapidly make changes to my tooling. Worrying about backwards compatibility, upgrades, supportability, and changing things so they work well for other users and not just me reduces iteration speed and mental flexibility. If I tried to supply these things, I wouldn't be able to publish this at all. (Ordinarily I would just keep the tools to myself, but I have gotten so many curious people casting jealous looks at my public notes that I'm making an exception.)