A personal knowledge management and productivity system — named after Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. Like Elmer, this system is a patchwork of methodologies (GTD, PARA, Zettelkasten, daily tracking, journaling) stitched into one cohesive system.
Elmar = Obsidian vault template + CLI tool. Your vault is the brain, the CLI is your fast terminal interface, and Claude Code/Cowork is the AI layer.
# Install
npm install -g elmar
# Create your vault
elmar init ~/SecondBrain
# Start using it
elmar capture "Read about distributed systems"
elmar log sleep 85
elmar tasks~/SecondBrain/
├── 0-Inbox/ # Quick capture, process during review
├── 1-Projects/ # Active projects with defined outcomes
├── 2-Areas/ # Ongoing responsibilities
├── 3-Resources/ # Research, references, notes
├── 4-Archive/ # Completed/inactive items
├── Journal/ # Daily notes + weekly reviews
├── Templates/ # Note templates (Templater-compatible)
└── _System/ # Metrics registry, dashboard
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
elmar init <path> |
Create a new vault from the template |
elmar capture "text" |
Quick capture to inbox (fast, no questions) |
elmar tasks |
Flat list of all tasks across projects |
elmar tasks --area work |
Filter by area |
elmar tasks --due today |
Due today or overdue |
elmar log sleep 85 |
Log a metric to today's daily note |
elmar log grateful "sunshine" |
Add to gratitude list |
elmar journal "free text" |
Append to today's journal |
elmar done "task text" |
Mark a matching task as complete |
elmar new project "name" |
Create a new project (guided prompts) |
elmar status |
Overview: inbox count, overdue tasks, tracking gaps |
elmar review |
Interactive weekly review (coming soon) |
elmar metrics |
Metric trends (coming soon) |
Track anything with a flexible metric registry. Default metrics:
| Metric | Type | Input |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep | Number (1-100) | Your sleep score |
| Reading | Number (minutes) | Reading time |
| Family | Number (1-10) | Family engagement score |
| Partner | Number (1-10) | Self-assessment as partner |
| Growth | Text | Learning/growth notes |
| Gratitude | List | Things you're grateful for |
| Journal | Text | Free-form journaling |
Add your own: Edit _System/metrics.json and add a new entry. It automatically appears in daily notes and the CLI.
{ "key": "exercise", "label": "Exercise", "type": "number", "unit": "minutes" }Open your vault in Obsidian and install these community plugins:
| Plugin | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Templater | Dynamic daily note templates from metric registry |
| Tracker | Charts/graphs for daily metrics (see _System/dashboard.md) |
| Calendar | Visual navigation for daily notes |
| Dataview | Query engine for task views and dashboards |
| Periodic Notes | Weekly/monthly note generation |
The vault uses Dataview inline fields (key:: value) for all tracking data — no YAML frontmatter needed.
Capture is instant. elmar capture "thing" drops it in the inbox. No questions, no friction. Process it later during your weekly review.
New project is deliberate. elmar new project "Garage renovation" walks you through: outcome, area, first action, deadline, context. Starting a project should be a thinking process.
Tasks live inside project files as - [ ] checkboxes with inline tags:
## Next Actions
- [ ] Draft API spec #work
- [ ] Book flights #family 📅 2026-04-15
- [ ] Waiting for Sara's feedback #work/waitingelmar tasks gives you a flat view across all projects, filterable by area, due date, or waiting status.
The CLI uses the Obsidian CLI when Obsidian is running (link-safe operations), and falls back to direct markdown file I/O when it's not. You never have to think about which mode is active.
Elmar is designed to be AI-friendly. Your vault is markdown files on disk — Claude can read and write them directly, and invoke elmar commands.
Example workflows:
"What's on my plate this week?"
→ Claude runs `elmar tasks` and `elmar status`, summarizes
"Research Kubernetes networking and create a resource note"
→ Claude researches, writes to 3-Resources/kubernetes-networking.md
"Help me process my inbox"
→ Claude reads inbox, suggests where each item should go, you confirm
"How's my sleep been this month?"
→ Claude reads daily notes, gives you a summary and trend
"Create a new project for the Reykjalundur integration"
→ Claude asks you about the outcome, area, first action, then creates the project
- Metrics: Edit
_System/metrics.jsonto add/remove/modify metrics - Areas: Update the
areasfield in~/.elmar.config.json - Folder names: Update paths in
~/.elmar.config.json - Templates: Modify files in
Templates/to change daily note format - Dashboard: Edit
_System/dashboard.mdto change Tracker charts
Config lives at ~/.elmar.config.json (created by elmar init):
{
"vaultPath": "~/SecondBrain",
"inboxFile": "0-Inbox/inbox.md",
"dailyNotesFolder": "Journal",
"weeklyNotesFolder": "Journal/weekly",
"templatesFolder": "Templates",
"systemFolder": "_System",
"areas": ["work", "personal", "family", "finance"]
}Override with ELMAR_CONFIG environment variable to point to a different config file.
Elmar combines three systems:
- PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive) — organizes where things live
- GTD (Getting Things Done) — provides the workflow (capture, clarify, organize, review)
- Zettelkasten — inspires how you build knowledge in Resources (atomic notes, connections)
The daily tracking layer adds personal awareness — sleep, relationships, growth, gratitude — because productivity without wellbeing is just busy work.
MIT