YAML files to Apple Notes

README.md

Last working version summary

What it does

• For each YAML file in a chosen folder, creates a new Apple Note.
• Builds the note body as HTML:
  • Title in larger font
  • Body in <pre> to preserve formatting
• Appends the syntax: line if present and not "None".
• Escapes HTML and inserts U+2060 WORD JOINER around operators to prevent the Notes' Math Notes rendering from being applied, e.g. original text c = Cloud.find(3070) that looks like c = Cloud×find(3070) (note the weird × glyph).
• Types hashtags at the bottom via UI scripting so Notes recognizes them as real tags.

Key behavior

• Opens the newly created note in a new window (Window → Open Note in New Window) before typing tags, to ensure keystrokes land in the correct note and the hashtags get promoted automatically (become yellow and show up in the Tags section).
• Closes the detached window after typing tags and waits for it to close before continuing.

Important notes

• ⚠️ Requires Accessibility permission (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility) for UI scripting.
• Uses a window-count wait loop (up to ~2 seconds).
• Intermittent failures can occur due to UI focus/timing.
• ⚠️ Non‑ASCII tag issue: tags are typed using System Events keystroke, which is not Unicode‑safe, so Cyrillic tags can become e.g. #aaaaaaaaaaa instead of #бухгалтерия (the issue still persists).

How to run

• Open up a Script Editor app on a mac
• Paste in the yaml_to_notes.applescript contents
• Press the Run the Script button
• Choose the directory containing YAML files that need to be imported to Apple Notes
  • The script expects each YAML file to contain title, body, syntax (None|Ruby|SQL|...) and tags (as an array) keys
• Choose the account from the list
• Choose the Apple Notes folder where new notes are going to be created (or create a new folder)
• Wait for new notes to be created

yaml_to_notes.applescript

-- Create Apple Notes from all YAML files in chosen folder
-- Uses YAML keys: title, body, syntax, tags
-- Preserves content exactly (HTML-escaped + <pre>)
-- Uses Finder to list files (no sorting)

-- 1) Choose directory
set chosenFolder to choose folder with prompt "Choose a directory containing files:"
set folderPOSIX to POSIX path of chosenFolder

-- Get file names in directory (non-folders only), using Finder
tell application "Finder"
	set fileNames to name of every file of folder chosenFolder
end tell

if fileNames is {} then
	display alert "No files found in the chosen directory."
	return
end if

-- Process all files
set maxToProcess to count of fileNames

-- 2) Choose account (always prompt)
tell application "Notes"
	set accountList to name of accounts
end tell

if accountList is {} then
	display alert "No Notes accounts found."
	return
end if

set chosenAccountName to choose from list accountList with title "Choose Account" with prompt "Select the Notes account:" default items {item 1 of accountList}
if chosenAccountName is false then return
set chosenAccountName to item 1 of chosenAccountName

-- 3) Choose folder (allow new)
tell application "Notes"
	set folderNames to name of folders of account chosenAccountName
end tell

set folderChoices to {"➕ New Folder…"} & folderNames
set chosenFolderName to choose from list folderChoices with title "Choose Folder" with prompt "Select a Notes folder (or create a new one):" default items {item 1 of folderChoices}
if chosenFolderName is false then return
set chosenFolderName to item 1 of chosenFolderName

if chosenFolderName is "➕ New Folder…" then
	set newFolderName to text returned of (display dialog "Enter new folder name:" default answer "")
	if newFolderName is "" then return
	tell application "Notes"
		set chosenNotesFolder to make new folder at account chosenAccountName with properties {name:newFolderName}
	end tell
else
	tell application "Notes"
		set chosenNotesFolder to folder chosenFolderName of account chosenAccountName
	end tell
end if

-- 4) Prepare YAML parser (Ruby / Psych)
set sep to character id 31 -- Unit Separator
set tsep to character id 30 -- Record Separator

set rubyCmd to "/usr/bin/env ruby -E UTF-8 -r psych -e " & quoted form of ¬
	"sep=\"\\u001F\"; tsep=\"\\u001E\"; path=ARGV[0]; data=Psych.safe_load(File.read(path), permitted_classes: [], aliases: true); data = {} unless data.is_a?(Hash); title=data[\"title\"]; body=data[\"body\"]; syntax=data[\"syntax\"]; tags=data[\"tags\"]; if tags.is_a?(String); tags=[tags]; end; tags=Array(tags).compact.map(&:to_s); out=[title, body, syntax, tags.join(tsep)].map{|v| v.nil? ? \"\" : v.to_s}; STDOUT.write(out.join(sep))"

-- 5) Process all files
repeat with i from 1 to maxToProcess
	set fileName to item i of fileNames
	set filePath to folderPOSIX & fileName
	set baseName to my stripExtension(fileName)
	
	-- Parse YAML
	set parsed to ""
	set hadError to false
	try
		set parsed to do shell script rubyCmd & " " & quoted form of filePath
	on error errMsg number errNum
		set hadError to true
		display alert "YAML parse failed for " & fileName message errMsg
	end try
	
	if hadError is false then
		-- Split parsed fields
		set AppleScript's text item delimiters to sep
		set parts to text items of parsed
		set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
		
		-- Ensure 4 parts
		set yamlTitle to ""
		set yamlBody to ""
		set yamlSyntax to ""
		set yamlTagsStr to ""
		
		if (count of parts) ≥ 1 then set yamlTitle to item 1 of parts
		if (count of parts) ≥ 2 then set yamlBody to item 2 of parts
		if (count of parts) ≥ 3 then set yamlSyntax to item 3 of parts
		if (count of parts) ≥ 4 then set yamlTagsStr to item 4 of parts
		
		-- Build final title: "basename - yamlTitle" (or just basename if yamlTitle missing)
		if yamlTitle is "" then
			set finalTitle to baseName
		else
			set finalTitle to baseName & " - " & yamlTitle
		end if
		
		-- Tags list
		set tagList to {}
		if yamlTagsStr is not "" then
			set AppleScript's text item delimiters to tsep
			set tagList to text items of yamlTagsStr
			set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
		end if
		
		-- Compose note text (body + syntax)
		set composedBody to yamlBody
		
		if yamlSyntax is not "" and yamlSyntax is not "None" then
			if composedBody is not "" then set composedBody to composedBody & return & return
			set composedBody to composedBody & "syntax: " & yamlSyntax
		end if
		
		-- Insert invisible WORD JOINER around math operators (body/syntax only)
		set composedBody to my insertWordJoiners(composedBody)
		
		-- Build hashtags line (no word-joiners)
		set tagLine to ""
		if (count of tagList) > 0 then
			set tagLine to my tagsToHashtags(tagList)
		end if
		
		-- Escape HTML
		set escapedContents to my htmlEscape(composedBody)
		set escapedTitle to my htmlEscape(finalTitle)
		
		-- Body: title (20px) + blank line + content in <pre>
		set htmlBody to ""
		set htmlBody to htmlBody & "<div style=\"font-size:20px; font-weight:600; line-height:1.2;\">" & escapedTitle & "</div>"
		set htmlBody to htmlBody & "<div><br></div>"
		set htmlBody to htmlBody & "<pre style=\"font-family: -apple-system, Menlo, SFMono-Regular, monospace; white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-text-size-adjust:100%;\">" & escapedContents & "</pre>"
		
		-- Create and show the note
		tell application "Notes"
			set newNote to make new note at chosenNotesFolder with properties {body:htmlBody}
			show newNote
			set selection to newNote
			activate
		end tell
		
		-- UI-type hashtags ONLY if tags exist
		if tagLine is not "" then
			my typeTagsLineInDetachedWindow(tagLine)
			--delay 0.3 -- settle before next note
		end if
	end if
end repeat

-- ===== Helpers =====

-- Strip the last file extension (e.g., "a.b.txt" -> "a.b")
on stripExtension(fileName)
	if fileName does not contain "." then return fileName
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "."
	set parts to text items of fileName
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
	if (count of parts) ≤ 1 then return fileName
	-- Rejoin all but the last part
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "."
	set baseName to (items 1 thru -2 of parts) as text
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
	return baseName
end stripExtension

-- Inserts U+2060 WORD JOINER around operators that trigger Math Results
on insertWordJoiners(t)
	if t is "" then return t
	set wj to character id 8288 -- U+2060 WORD JOINER (invisible)
	set specials to {"=", "+", "-", "*", "/", ".", "(", ")", "[", "]", "{", "}", "<", ">", ":", ";", ",", "|", "&", "%", "!", "?"}
	repeat with s in specials
		set t to my replaceText(t, s as text, wj & (s as text) & wj)
	end repeat
	return t
end insertWordJoiners

on tagsToHashtags(tagList)
	set outTags to {}
	repeat with t in tagList
		set clean to my sanitizeTag(t as text)
		if clean is not "" then set end of outTags to "#" & clean
	end repeat
	if (count of outTags) is 0 then return ""
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " "
	set resultText to outTags as text
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
	return resultText
end tagsToHashtags

on sanitizeTag(t)
	set t to my trimText(t)
	if t begins with "#" then
		if (length of t) > 1 then
			set t to text 2 thru -1 of t
		else
			return ""
		end if
	end if
	set t to my replaceText(t, " ", "_")
	set t to my replaceText(t, tab, "_")
	set t to my replaceText(t, return, "_")
	set t to my replaceText(t, linefeed, "_")
	return t
end sanitizeTag

on trimText(t)
	repeat while t begins with " " or t begins with tab or t begins with return or t begins with linefeed
		set t to text 2 thru -1 of t
	end repeat
	repeat while t ends with " " or t ends with tab or t ends with return or t ends with linefeed
		set t to text 1 thru -2 of t
	end repeat
	return t
end trimText

on htmlEscape(t)
	set t to my replaceText(t, "&", "&amp;")
	set t to my replaceText(t, "<", "&lt;")
	set t to my replaceText(t, ">", "&gt;")
	set t to my replaceText(t, "\"", "&quot;")
	set t to my replaceText(t, "'", "&#39;")
	return t
end htmlEscape

on replaceText(theText, searchString, replacementString)
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to searchString
	set theItems to text items of theText
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to replacementString
	set theText to theItems as text
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
	return theText
end replaceText

-- UI typing of hashtags line in a detached note window (requires Accessibility)
-- Blocks until the detached window is closed, to avoid overlap with next note creation
on typeTagsLineInDetachedWindow(tagLine)
	--delay 0.5
	tell application "System Events"
		if not (UI elements enabled) then
			display alert "UI Scripting is not enabled" message "Enable Accessibility for Script Editor or osascript in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility."
			return
		end if
		tell process "Notes"
			set frontmost to true
			--delay 0.2
			
			-- Record current window count
			set initialWindowCount to (count of windows)
			
			-- Open selected note in its own window (Window menu)
			try
				click menu item "Open Note in New Window" of menu "Window" of menu bar 1
			on error
				-- Fallback shortcut (if available)
				keystroke "o" using {shift down, command down}
			end try
			
			-- Wait for new window to appear (up to 2 seconds)
			set t0 to (current date)
			repeat while ((count of windows) < (initialWindowCount + 1))
				--delay 0.05
				if ((current date) - t0) > 2 then exit repeat
			end repeat
			
			--delay 0.2
			
			-- Now the front window should be the note window
			try
				if (exists scroll area 1 of front window) then
					set sa to scroll area 1 of front window
					if (exists text area 1 of sa) then
						click text area 1 of sa
					else
						click sa
					end if
				else if (count of text areas of front window) > 0 then
					click item 1 of text areas of front window
				else
					click front window
				end if
			end try
			
			--delay 0.1
			-- Go to end of note
			key code 125 using command down -- Cmd+Down
			--delay 0.1
			-- Insert two newlines then tags, with trailing space
			keystroke return
			keystroke return
			keystroke tagLine
			keystroke " "
			
			--delay 0.1
			-- Close detached window to avoid clutter
			keystroke "w" using command down
			
			-- Wait for window count to return to initial (up to 2 seconds)
			set t1 to (current date)
			repeat while ((count of windows) > initialWindowCount)
				--delay 0.05
				if ((current date) - t1) > 2 then exit repeat
			end repeat
		end tell
	end tell
end typeTagsLineInDetachedWindow