You can add Org notes while you are browsing in Nyxt. Here we look at the basics of how to store a link to read later.

Disclaimer: this blog aims to be an updated version of https://nyxt.atlas.engineer/article/emacs-hacks.org. Thanks a lot Pierre Neidhardt!

I like to open a lot of web pages while I am browsing. I get a lot of open tabs in the browser. Then one by one, I skim through and select those that I would like to read later. In order to do that, I copy the tabs with a browser extension (Firefox's Copy All Tabs) and usually convert to an Epub.

For those I cannot download as an Epub, I manually copy the URL in a Org note. I know there is org-protocol, but I never found the wish to make it work.

But now that I use a Lispy browser as Nyxt, should not there be a more direct way to save notes?

You can do marvellous things with Org mode capturing. The basic this is managing your TODO list. You can also build a contact repository (org-contacts). Or you can build a knowledge base (org-roam).

So if we managed to make Nyxt create a Org note for us while browsing, we would also open a world of integration!

There was already proof that Nyxt could do Org notes. Pierre Neidhardt shared how in one of the earliest blog about Nyxt. That article started my interest in Nyxt. When I tried the Org mode integration today a few things had changed. So here I am going to just update what he wrote.

Earlier I shared how to tell Emacs to do things from Nyxt. Now it is just a matter of putting that to good use.

Note: all that I share here is available if you load https://github.com/ag91/emacs-with-nyxt/blob/master/emacs-with-nyxt.el.

As a recap, we need the following to be loaded in Nyxt.

(defun replace-all (string part replacement &key (test #'char=))
  "Return a new string in which all the occurences of the part is replaced with replacement."
  (with-output-to-string (out)
    (loop with part-length = (length part)
          for old-pos = 0 then (+ pos part-length)
          for pos = (search part string
                            :start2 old-pos
                            :test test)
          do (write-string string out
                           :start old-pos
                           :end (or pos (length string)))
          when pos do (write-string replacement out)
            while pos)))

(defun eval-in-emacs (&rest s-exps)
  "Evaluate S-EXPS with emacsclient."
  (let ((s-exps-string (replace-all
                        (write-to-string
                         `(progn ,@s-exps) :case :downcase)
                        ;; Discard the package prefix.
                        "nyxt::" "")))
    (format *error-output* "Sending to Emacs:~%~a~%" s-exps-string)
    (uiop:run-program
     (list "emacsclient" "--eval" s-exps-string))))

This code allows us to send expressions to Emacs (you need to run Emacs in server mode though: so (server-start) in your init file).

Given your Nyxt can speak with Emacs, we just need an Org Capture template.

(add-to-list
 'org-capture-templates
 `("wN" "Web link" entry (file+headline ,(car org-agenda-files) "Links to read later")
   "* %?%a \nSCHEDULED: %(org-insert-time-stamp (org-read-date nil t \"Fri\"))\n"
   :immediate-finish t :empty-lines 2))

Above the template I use. Two things to note: I like to read on Friday, so I set the SCHEDULED date on the next Friday from now with (org-read-date nil t \"Fri\"); also I make sure that Emacs saves the Org note without any input from me with :immediate-finish. Ah! Maybe another thing: this stores a note in your first org-agenda-files, and adds a Links heading.

Now let's get into the Nyxt command: org-capture.

(define-command-global org-capture ()
  "Org-capture current page."
  (eval-in-emacs
   `(org-link-set-parameters
     "nyxt"
     :store (lambda ()
              (org-store-link-props
               :type "nyxt"
               :link ,(quri:render-uri (url (current-buffer)))
               :description ,(title (current-buffer)))))
   `(org-capture nil "wN"))
  (echo "Note stored!"))

This calls org-capture using the template above (via they key "wN"). It also emits a little "Note stored!" in the Nyxt minibuffer after storage. Pretty easy!

And to give an extra Emacs vibe to our Nyxt, let's define a keybinding!

(define-configuration nyxt/web-mode:web-mode
  ;; Bind org-capture to C-o-c, but only in emacs-mode.
  ((keymap-scheme (let ((scheme %slot-default%))
                    (keymap:define-key (gethash scheme:emacs scheme)
                      "C-c o c" 'org-capture)
                    scheme))))

That is my preferred keybinding, you can modify that for yourself. Note this key is only available when you are using Nyxt's emacs-mode.

Now we can store links! And we opened the doors to much more!!

Again you can try this out by just loading https://github.com/ag91/emacs-with-nyxt/blob/master/emacs-with-nyxt.el. That will load also other useful things (you may not need). Still, have fun storing notes while you are browsing!

Happy browsing!