A personal knowledge graph for org-mode. Headlines become nodes in a durable plain-text store; typed references between them become edges; fast and flexible views show it all without opening a single file.
If you know org-mode, you know almost everything already:
- Headlines are the unit. Every captured headline lives as its own small
org file in a hidden store (
.org-glance/underorg-glance-directory), keyed by an:ORG_GLANCE_ID:property org-glance adds for you. - Tags are collections. An ordinary org tag (
:book:,:article:) groups headlines; a tag exists the moment you capture something with it. Optionally give a tag its own config: todo cycle and capture template (Cin the transient — orCin that tag’s overview / table to edit it directly). - Views are projections. The table and the overview are generated, read-only summaries built from an index — fast, and always rebuildable. You never edit a view: you open the headline behind it, edit ordinary org, save; views refresh themselves.
- Links are edges. A link from one headline to another is indexed as a typed relation, so the graph can answer “what references this?”.
Entrypoint is org-glance-transient (C-x j).
C-x j + → pick (or type) a tag → an org-capture-style buffer opens →
write an ordinary headline, C-c C-c:
* TODO [#A] Kebena Decaf :coffee:
DEADLINE: <2026-08-10 Mon> SCHEDULED: <2026-08-01 Sat>
Light roast, very floral. [[https://example.com][Homepage]]
C-x j o → pick a tag → its table: one row per headline, colour-coded
todo states:
State Title Scheduled Deadline Pri Tags TODO Kebena Decaf <2026-08-01 Sat> <2026-08-10 Mon> A coffee
O toggles to the org-text overview — a plain org buffer, so folding,
C-x j a (agenda) and link clicking all behave exactly as in org. Each
overview heading is self-sufficient:
* TODO [#A] Kebena Decaf :coffee:
DEADLINE: <2026-08-10 Mon> SCHEDULED: <2026-08-01 Sat>
- [[https://example.com][Homepage]]
Act on the row/heading at point without opening anything:
| Key | On the single row at point | With C-u | With marked rows (m) | Pressed again (toggle) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
RET | materialize (open for editing, step 3) | |||
m | mark (u unmarks) | unmark | ||
M / U | mark all visible / unmark all | |||
C-c C-t | change todo state | one prompt sets all | ||
C-c C-s / C-c C-d | schedule / deadline | clear it | ||
+ / - | add a headline to the view’s tag (capture) / remove one from it | |||
C-c + | add a column (drawer property or relation kind) | |||
C-c - | remove the column at point (prompts when point is off a column) | always prompt for the column | ||
: | add another tag to the headline | remove one | ||
j (or !) | open a link inside the headline | |||
@ | table of everything the headline relates to (both directions) | |||
i | edit the cell at point (state: todo prompt; dates: calendar; text: minibuffer) | |||
C-c p | copy the headline (a fresh id, content verbatim) | |||
e | copy a KEY: value from its body | |||
# | encrypt | change password | decrypt | |
l | log occurrences of a repeating headline (step 6) | |||
D | delete | |||
O | switch to the org overview | back to the table | ||
/ | filter by substring | clear the filter | narrow to the marked rows | widen the narrowed view |
^ | sort by the column at point | flip asc ⇄ desc; off a column: cycle columns | ||
g | refresh (table); resets the / filter / narrow to the view’s own filter | |||
? | show the key legend (table) | hide it | ||
C-c C-c | save the layout (reference tables: prompt for a scope) |
Column layout, sort and added columns persist per tag.
RET on a row/heading (or C-x j m anywhere) materializes it: its file
opens in a normal org buffer. Everything org can do works here — this IS
org-mode. C-x C-s saves and re-indexes; open views refresh on their next
display. (The :ORG_GLANCE_ID: drawer is concealed and protected: hand
edits to it revert on save with a warning.)
In a materialized buffer — or while capturing (step 1) — @ at the start of
a word prompts for another headline and inserts a link to it; C-u @ also
asks a reference kind:
roasted by [[org-glance-material:0e904834?kind=roasted-by][Manhattan Coffee Roasters]]
Clicking the link opens the roaster; the graph indexes it as a typed edge, and the views pick it up. The overview heading gains a relation line:
- roasted by [[org-glance-material:0e904834][Manhattan Coffee Roasters]]
and C-c + in the table now offers a Roasted by column with the target
titles:
State Title ... Roasted by TODO Kebena Decaf ... Manhattan Coffee Roasters
In a materialized buffer:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
@ | insert a reference (completion, at word start) |
C-u @ | same, plus a reference kind (roasted by, …) |
C-c @ | table of everything this headline relates to |
A relation table lists both directions in one view — the headlines this one
refers to AND the ones referring to it — and its Relation column names each
row’s direction and kind (> roasted by, <). @ on a row in the table or
the overview opens the same view for that headline.
Relation tables open with the default layout; edits to it are not saved
automatically (an echo-area nudge reminds you) — C-c C-c applies the layout
(columns, order, sort) to a scope of your choice: this headline, or a tag pair
(coffee → roaster, the anchor’s tag first). Every later relation table
matching the scope restores it.
A link can also address a whole view:
[[org-glance-overview:coffee?done=nil][Active coffees]].
Wrap a region in a crypt block with C-c # (no region: the whole body):
#+begin_crypt
bank: 1234-5678
#+end_crypt
On disk it is ciphertext, and a materialized headline opens THAT WAY –
no password prompt until you ask for one. Unseal with C-c # in the
buffer, or materialize with the transient’s -d switch to open decrypted;
then it re-seals on every save (auto-save and backups disabled). Text
OUTSIDE the blocks stays public and searchable.
C-c # is the only crypt key; what it does depends on where point is:
| Point / buffer state | C-c # |
|---|---|
| active region | wrap it in a crypt block |
| sealed buffer (ciphertext) | unseal it (prompts, hardens the buffer) |
| inside a plaintext block | unwrap that block – public on save |
| decrypted, outside any block | seal it back, forgetting the password |
| plaintext headline | encrypt the whole body as one block |
A headline with a repeater (SCHEDULED: <… +1d>) stays ONE headline. With
org-glance-repeat-history-depth set (N newest, t = all, per-headline
:ORG_GLANCE_REPEAT_HISTORY_DEPTH: wins), each completion snapshots the done
state before org resets it; the table’s Rep column marks repeaters, and
l (C-c h in the buffer) opens any past occurrence read-only.
| Variable | Default | |
|---|---|---|
org-glance-directory | org-directory | root of the managed content (store lives in .org-glance/) |
org-glance-overview-default-view | org-glance-table | what o opens; org-glance-overview for org-text |
org-glance-filter-spec | active, -archived, -commented | ambient filter every view starts from (nil = everything) |
org-glance-view-fill-frame | t | views take the whole frame; nil keeps your windows |
org-glance-repeat-history-depth | 0 | occurrence snapshots kept: N / t = all / 0 = off |
org-glance-material-password-ttl | 300 | seconds a crypt password stays cached; 0 = forever |
org-glance-material-hidden-properties | id + hash | drawer keys concealed AND edit-protected in material buffers |
org-glance-table-state-colors | tokyo-night-ish | per-state badge colours (falls back to org-todo-keyword-faces, then …-default-state-color) |
org-glance-plugins | nil | plugins to load at init (e.g. (llm)); I enables one, U disables |
org-glance-conflict-resolution | ask | git-conflict healing: ask / union / nil (error) |
org-glance-tag-config-dir | nil | override dir of per-tag config files (config/tags/) |
org-glance-graph-segment-max-bytes | 256k | WAL segment size before sealing |
org-glance-graph-compact-segment-count | 4 | sealed segments that trigger auto-compaction |
Example — org-text views, everything visible, daily history for a year:
(setq org-glance-overview-default-view 'org-glance-overview
org-glance-filter-spec nil ; show DONE too
org-glance-repeat-history-depth 365)A segmented, append-only JSONL log with atomic commits, compaction, crash
recovery and git-sync conflict healing. The per-headline org files are
canonical; every index is derived and rebuildable (M-x org-glance-reindex).
Deletion (D, M-x org-glance-delete) writes a tombstone after a
confirmation that names any headlines whose links would dangle.
The published package archive is the simplest route. Add the archive, then let
use-package install and set it up:
(add-to-list 'package-archives
'("rails-to-cosmos" . "https://rails-to-cosmos.github.io/elpa/"))
(use-package org-glance
:bind (("C-x j" . org-glance-transient))
:config (org-glance-init)
:ensure t)C-x j opens org-glance-transient, the transient dispatcher (see
Highlights); org-glance-init bootstraps the store.
The rails-to-cosmos archive provides org-glance and its
table-view dependency; the
remaining deps (dash, f, s, aes, transient) come from MELPA, so keep
a MELPA entry in package-archives too. Everything else (org and its
submodules, cl-lib, thunk, subr-x) ships with Emacs 29.1+.
Optional features ship as SEPARATE packages, so a plain install stays minimal.
Two steps, and they belong to different tools: your package manager installs
the package, org-glance enables it. Install it, then list it in
org-glance-plugins — or press I in the transient (U disables). The
transient’s System heading lists what is enabled and marks any plugin whose
library failed to load:
(use-package org-glance-llm
:after org-glance
:ensure t
:init (setq org-glance-plugins '(llm)))- *org-glance-llm* — LLM sessions per headline.
lopens an agnostic-llm session in the headline’s data directory (or its:ORG_GLANCE_PROJECT_DIR:, set withC-c din a materialized buffer);Llists every session (running / exited / stopped) from a persisted cache;C-c lopens the session for the headline at hand. It depends onagnostic-llm(also on therails-to-cosmosarchive), which pulls invterm— loaded lazily on first use. Core org-glance does NOT depend on it.
For hacking on org-glance, clone the repo and load it directly. It is
a multi-directory package: org-glance.el is at the root, modules under
src/data and src/view; it does NOT add those to load-path itself, so
all three must be on it. table-view and agnostic-llm are external
dependencies from the rails-to-cosmos ELPA archive (not on MELPA); the
MELPA deps above are still needed. (Eask is the dev/test harness, not
required to use the package.)
(dolist (dir '("" "src/data" "src/view"))
(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name dir "~/path/to/org-glance")))
(require 'org-glance)With straight.el (also needs recipes for table-view and agnostic-llm):
(use-package org-glance
:straight (org-glance :type git :host github :repo "rails-to-cosmos/org-glance"
:files ("*.el" "src/data/*.el" "src/view/*.el")))
(use-package table-view
:straight (table-view :type git :host github :repo "rails-to-cosmos/table-view"))
(use-package agnostic-llm
:straight (agnostic-llm :type git :host github :repo "rails-to-cosmos/agnostic-llm"))