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CLI Reference
IWE New

IWE New

Creates a new document from a template.

Usage 

iwe new <TITLE> [OPTIONS]

Arguments

  • <TITLE>: Title for the new document (required)

Options

  • -t, --template <NAME>: Template name from config (default: “default”)
  • -c, --content <CONTENT>: Initial content for the document
  • -i, --if-exists <MODE>: Behavior when file already exists (default: “suffix”)
    • suffix: Append -1, -2, etc. to filename until unique
    • override: Overwrite existing file
    • skip: Do nothing, exit successfully without output
  • -e, --edit: Open created file in $EDITOR after creation

What it does

  • Creates a new markdown file using the specified template
  • Generates filename from the title (slugified)
  • Supports content from command-line argument or stdin pipe
  • Prints the absolute path of the created file to stdout
  • Optionally opens the file in your configured editor

Template Variables

Templates support the following variables:

  • {{title}}: The provided title argument
  • {{slug}}: Slugified title (kebab-case)
  • {{today}}: Current date (uses library.date_format for key, markdown.date_format for content)
  • {{id}}: Random 8-character alphanumeric ID
  • {{content}}: Content from -c option or stdin

Examples 

# Create a new note with default template
iwe new "My New Note"
# Creates: my-new-note.md (or my-new-note-1.md if exists)

# Create with content
iwe new "Meeting Notes" --content "Discussed project timeline"

# Pipe content from clipboard (macOS)
pbpaste | iwe new "Clipboard Note"

# Create and open in editor
iwe new "Quick Idea" --edit

# Use a custom template
iwe new "Daily Journal" --template journal

# Overwrite existing file
iwe new "My Note" --if-exists override

# Skip if file exists (useful in scripts)
iwe new "My Note" --if-exists skip

Configuration

Templates are defined in .iwe/config.toml:

[library]
default_template = "default"  # Optional: set default template

[templates.default]
key_template = "{{slug}}"
document_template = "# {{title}}\n\n{{content}}"

[templates.journal]
key_template = "journal/{{today}}"
document_template = "# {{today}}\n\n{{content}}"
IWE InitIWE Normalize