zet

A tui wrapper around my personal sqlite db that I use for technical notes and developer journal.

This is filling a real need for me but also largely just exploring some technologies and techniques:

• OxCaml fork of OCaml, though so far I'm not using any of its interesting features.

• bonsai_term an Elm architecture/mvu type tui framework.

• Bonsai's approach to state and incremental UI updates lets you sequence events directly in tests and then assert against the text output by the view at that point. Combined with snapshot testing you get the most straightforward testing possible for a tui app. Basically just saving screenshots of your app.

Develop

Requires the 5.2.0+ox opam switch (the OxCaml compiler):

opam switch create 5.2.0+ox \
  --repos ox=git+https://github.com/oxcaml/opam-repository.git,default
opam install . --deps-only --with-test

CI installs from the committed zet.opam.locked (opam install . --deps-only --locked), which pins the exact transitive closure from a known-good switch. Regenerate it after a dependency change with opam lock ..

Common tasks are in a justfile (just — brew install just); just with no args lists them.

recipe	dune command
just build	dune build
just run	dune exec bin/main.exe
just zet <args>	dune exec bin/main.exe -- <args>
just test	dune runtest
just test-force	dune runtest --force
just promote	dune runtest --auto-promote
just fmt	dune build @fmt --auto-promote

Testing

Snapshot tests live in test/test_zet.ml. Each test sequences events against an in-memory SQLite database seeded from db/schema.sql + db/seed.sql, then asserts on the rendered ASCII frame. A representative snapshot:

let%expect_test "app renders two panes with list focused, first note selected" =
  let handle = notes_handle () in
  Handle.show handle;
  [%expect
    {|
    ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
    │╭ Notes ──────────────────────╮╭ Detail <tab> ─────────────────────────────────╮│
    ││> Hello, zet                 ││Hello, zet                                     ││
    ││  OCaml type system          ││#1  note                                       ││
    ││  Morning pages              ││slug: hello-zet                                ││
    ││  Quick capture              ││date: 2026-06-03                               ││
    ││  2026-05-28                 ││                                               ││
    ││                             ││This is the first seeded note. It exists so the││
    ...
    |}]

Events are dispatched through the real handler — send_event handle (key (ASCII '/')) — the Bonsai graph stabilizes, and Handle.show renders the resulting View.t to ASCII. dune runtest --auto-promote accepts new or changed output.

Run

just run and bare dune exec bin/main.exe both use the default db path: $ZET_DB if set, else ~/.zet/zet.db, else zet.db in the working directory. Pass -db PATH to override. just zet <args> runs a headless subcommand (e.g. just zet search foo).