Interstitial Journal - VSCode Extension

Quick logging throughout your day - Press Cmd+Shift+J (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+J (Windows/Linux) anytime to instantly record what you're doing

English | 日本語

🎯 What is Interstitial Journaling?

Interstitial Journaling is the practice of writing brief log entries multiple times throughout the day to track your work, thoughts, and progress. Instead of writing one long journal entry at the end of the day, you capture quick notes in the moment.

Why use this?

• 📝 Capture thoughts instantly - Press a shortcut and start typing immediately
• 🧠 Reduce context switching cost - Clear your mind when moving between tasks
• 📊 Track your actual work patterns - See what you really spend time on
• 🎯 Stay focused - Writing what you're doing helps you stay on track
• 📅 Build a searchable work history - Find what you did and when

⚡ Quick Start

1. Press the shortcut anytime during your day

Keyboard Shortcut: Cmd+Shift+J (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+J (Windows/Linux)

→ A new journal entry opens instantly with a template → Cursor is already positioned - just start typing → Save and close when done (Cmd+S / Ctrl+S)

2. Repeat throughout your day

• ☕ Starting your morning? Log it
• 🔄 Switching tasks? Log it
• 💡 Just had an insight? Log it
• 🐛 Found a tricky bug? Log it
• ✅ Finished something? Log it

That's it! The extension handles organization, timestamps, and tracking for you.

3. Review your timeline

Click the Journal Timeline icon in the sidebar to see:

• 🏠 Home tab: Today's entries in chronological order
• 📅 Calendar tab: Overview of all logged days
• 🔍 Search tab: Find entries by keyword

✨ Features

Recording

• Quick Record - Cmd+Shift+J / Ctrl+Shift+J - Instantly create a new entry
• Auto-timestamp - Every entry is automatically timestamped
• Template - Pre-formatted with sections (Completed, Insights, Next Tasks, Notes)

Timeline View

Home Tab

• 📊 Number of entries today
• 🕐 Time since last entry
• ⏱️ Time elapsed between entries
• Click any entry to preview

Calendar Tab

• Monthly calendar view
• Dots indicate days with entries
• Click a day to see that day's timeline

Search Tab

• AND/OR keyword search
• Regular expression support
• Date range filtering (today / this week / this month / custom range)

Summaries

Generate summaries with one command:

• Daily Summary - Today's work overview
• 7-Day Summary - Last week's highlights
• Monthly Summary - This month's progress
• Last Week Summary - Previous week (Mon-Sun)

All summaries include:

• ✅ Completed tasks
• 💡 Insights and reflections
• 📋 Next tasks
• 📝 Notes
• Links back to original entries

🌍 Language Support

The extension supports 6 languages:

• 🇬🇧 English (default)
• 🇯🇵 日本語 (Japanese)
• 🇪🇸 Español (Spanish)
• 🇧🇷 Português (Brazilian Portuguese)
• 🇨🇳 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
• 🇹🇼 繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)

Change language in VSCode Settings: Interstitial Journal: Language

⚙️ Settings

Configure in VSCode Settings (settings.json):

{
  "interstitialJournal.journalPath": "~/.journal",
  "interstitialJournal.autoTimestamp": true,
  "interstitialJournal.template": "default",
  "interstitialJournal.language": "en"
}

📁 File Organization

Journals are automatically organized:

~/.journal/
└── 2025/
    └── 11/
        ├── 20251110_0930.md       # Nov 10, 2025 at 09:30
        ├── 20251110_1145.md       # Nov 10, 2025 at 11:45
        ├── 20251110_1500.md       # Nov 10, 2025 at 15:00
        ├── 20251110_day.md        # Nov 10 daily summary
        └── 202511_month.md        # November monthly summary

💡 Example: A Day of Interstitial Journaling

09:30 - Starting the day

## 2025/11/11 09:30

### Next Tasks

- [ ] Implement user authentication API
- [ ] Create database migration
- [ ] Add unit tests

11:45 - Finished first task

## 2025/11/11 11:45

### Completed

- User authentication API implementation done

### Insights

- Set JWT token expiration to 1 hour
- Need to implement refresh token functionality

### Next Tasks

- [ ] Create database migration

15:30 - Found an issue

## 2025/11/11 15:30

### Notes

- Migration missing index on user_email column
- Added index, performance improved 10x

18:00 - End of day

## 2025/11/11 18:00

### Completed

- User authentication API ✅
- Database migration ✅
- Unit tests (85% coverage) ✅

### Insights

- Almost forgot to add index in migration
- Found edge cases through testing

### Next Tasks

- [ ] Tomorrow: Design refresh token feature

📄 License

MIT

🎨 Icon Credits

Edit Pencil icon by Icons8