Note History

Note history provides Git-based version tracking for individual files. If your vault is a Git repository and you use Noteriv's sync feature, you can view the commit timeline for any note, read the content as it existed at any past commit, and diff between versions.

Prerequisites

Note history requires:

1. A Git repository. Your vault must be initialized as a Git repo (git init in the vault root, or let Noteriv's setup wizard handle it).
2. Git sync enabled. Noteriv's built-in sync (Ctrl+Shift+G) commits and pushes changes. Each sync creates a commit, which becomes an entry in the file's history.
3. Git installed on the system. Noteriv calls git log and git show through the Electron backend. Git must be available in the system PATH.

If any of these are missing, the note history panel will show an empty state.

Opening Note History

Open note history from the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P, search for "Note History"). The history panel opens for the currently active file.

Commit Timeline

The history panel displays a chronological list of every commit that touched the current file. Each entry shows:

• Commit hash. The short SHA identifying the commit.
• Author. The name of the person who made the commit.
• Date. When the commit was created, formatted as a human-readable date and time.
• Message. The commit message, typically describing what changed.

The list is ordered newest-first, so the most recent change is at the top.

Following Renames

The commit log uses Git's --follow flag, which means it tracks the file across renames. If you renamed old-name.md to new-name.md and then view the history of new-name.md, the timeline includes commits from before the rename.

Viewing Content at a Commit

Click any entry in the commit timeline to load the file's content as it existed at that commit. The content is retrieved using git show {hash}:{file-path} and displayed in a preview pane.

This is a read-only view -- you cannot edit the historical content directly. If you want to restore it, copy the content and paste it into the editor, or use File Recovery for more recent changes.

Diff Between Versions

Select two commits in the timeline to see a diff between them. The diff is computed using a line-based Longest Common Subsequence (LCS) algorithm and displayed with color coding:

• Green lines (add) -- content present in the newer version but not the older one.
• Red lines (remove) -- content present in the older version but not the newer one.
• Unchanged lines (same) -- content identical in both versions.

The diff gives you a precise view of what was added, removed, or rewritten between any two points in the file's history.

Diff Algorithm

Noteriv uses a custom LCS-based diff rather than calling git diff. The algorithm:

1. Splits both versions into lines.
2. Builds a dynamic programming table to find the longest common subsequence.
3. Backtraces through the table to produce a sequence of same, add, and remove entries.

This runs entirely in the browser, so there is no round-trip to the Git CLI for diffs. The result is identical in substance to git diff for line-level comparisons.

Note History vs. File Recovery

These two features serve different purposes and complement each other:

Use file recovery when you just overwrote something and need it back immediately. Use note history when you want to understand how a file evolved over weeks or months, or when you need to identify who changed what in a collaborative vault.

When History Is Empty

The history panel shows an empty state when:

• The file has never been committed (it exists only as an untracked file in Git).
• The vault is not a Git repository.
• Git is not installed or not in the system PATH.
• The Git backend call fails for any reason (permissions, corrupt repo, etc.).

In all these cases, File Recovery may still have snapshots available.

Workflow Example

A typical workflow combining sync and history:

1. Write notes throughout the day.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+G to sync (commit + push) periodically.
3. Days later, you realize a section was better in a previous version.
4. Open the command palette, select "Note History".
5. Browse the commit timeline to find the version you want.
6. Click to preview the content at that commit.
7. Diff it against the current version to confirm what changed.
8. Copy the relevant section and paste it back into the current file.

Tips

• Sync frequently. Each sync creates a commit, which becomes a point in the timeline. If you only sync once a week, you have only one historical point per week.
• Write meaningful commit messages. Noteriv's sync uses automated messages by default, but meaningful messages make the timeline much easier to navigate.
• Use diff for reviews. Before publishing or sharing a note, diff the current version against the last synced version to see all changes at a glance.
• Combine both history tools. Use file recovery for "I just broke this" moments and note history for "what did this look like last month" questions.
• Check --follow for renamed files. If you renamed a note and wonder where its old history went, note history tracks through renames automatically.