The Cairn Field Guide

What Cairn is

Cairn is a small window that appears when you press AltSpace. You type what you're looking for, the way you remember it ("start the database"), and Cairn finds the exact command you saved months ago (Start-Service postgresql-x64-18). Press Enter and it's on your clipboard.

You can keep five kinds of things in it:

The one habit that makes Cairn work

Every entry has a field called Why: one sentence saying why you saved it.

What you need

• Windows 10 or 11.
• Microsoft Edge WebView2. It's already installed on up-to-date Windows 10 and 11, so you almost certainly have it.
• No account, no internet connection, no sign-up. Ever.

1. Run the installer you were given: cairn_0.1.0_x64-setup.exe (or the .msi).
2. If Windows SmartScreen says "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway. This early version isn't code-signed yet, so Windows doesn't recognise the publisher.
3. Follow the installer's steps. Cairn starts when it finishes.

You'll know Cairn is running when you see its icon in the system tray (bottom-right of the taskbar; it may be hidden behind the ^ arrow). Hover over it: the tooltip says Cairn and shows its shortcut.

Start Cairn with Windows (optional)

Cairn doesn't start automatically yet (a setting for that is coming). Until then:

1. Press WinR, type shell:startup, press Enter. A folder opens.
2. Right-click inside it, choose New → Shortcut, and point it to Cairn (usually in C:\Program Files\cairn\ or %LOCALAPPDATA%\cairn\).

From the next restart, Cairn is ready in the tray as soon as Windows is.

To make Cairn go away without doing anything, press Esc, or just click somewhere else.

The window, top to bottom

Start-Service postgresql-x64-18

Just type

Type what you remember, in any words. Cairn looks in the title, the content, the why and the tags all at once, and puts the best match on top.

• Words are matched as you type: datab already finds database.
• Every word should appear somewhere. If no entry has all of them, Cairn shows the entries that match some of them instead, best first. So "start the database please" still finds your Postgres command.
• Accents don't matter: cafe finds café.

With an empty search box

You see Favorites and recent: your favorites first, then what you used most recently, then everything else, newest first. Most of the time, what you need is already in the top three.

Shortcuts inside the search box

Filter chips

Under the search box: All, Commands, Scripts, Code, Notes and Ideas, each with its number of matches.

• Press Tab for the next chip, ShiftTab for the previous one. It wraps around.
• Or click a chip. You can keep typing right away.

If a chip says "Nothing of this type matches", look at the other chips' numbers: your entry is probably in another kind.

Moving around

Select an entry, then choose what to do with it.

Enter Copy

Copies the entry to the clipboard and hides Cairn. The search box is empty again next time.

CtrlEnter Paste straight into your app

Cairn remembers which window you were in when you pressed AltSpace. CtrlEnter copies the entry, switches back to that window and pastes it for you, at the cursor.

CtrlR Run it in a terminal

For commands and scripts only. Cairn opens Windows Terminal (or a classic console window) in your home folder and runs the entry there. The window stays open so you can read the output.

• Press CtrlR twice. The first press asks "Press Ctrl+R again to run in PowerShell". Running something can't be undone, and Ctrl+R is also "reload" in browsers, so Cairn makes sure you meant it.
• Shells: PowerShell (also used when no shell is set) and cmd. Entries marked bash, zsh and others can't be run yet; Cairn tells you so.
• Entries with {{placeholders}} can't be run yet either (see Placeholders).

Press CtrlN in Cairn. The editor opens, with the kind already set to the chip you were on (Commands if you were on All).

• CtrlEnter saves. You're back in the search with the new entry selected.
• Esc cancels. If you've typed anything, Cairn asks first: "Discard changes? Press Esc again".

How tags are tidied up

Cairn cleans tags so the same tag is never saved twice in different spellings:

Placeholders

Write {{name}} in your content for the parts that change each time, or {{name:default}} with a default value:

docker exec -it {{container}} psql -U {{user:postgres}}

For now, Cairn copies placeholders as they are, so you replace them after pasting. Filling them in from Cairn, with suggestions from the values you used before, is coming soon.

Deleted entries disappear from Cairn right away. They're kept in your database for now, and a way to restore them is planned.

Don't want to learn shortcuts? Press CtrlK (or click Actions at the bottom right). A small menu lists everything you can do with the selected entry:

• Type to filter (fav, del…), ↑ ↓ to move, Enter to run.
• Esc closes the panel. Every shortcut keeps working while it's open.
• Each row shows its shortcut, so the panel teaches you as you go.

Open them with Ctrl, (comma), from CtrlK then Settings, or by right-clicking the tray icon and choosing Settings…. Every change applies immediately, and Cairn remembers it.

From the keyboard: the arrows move between choices (← → along a row, ↑ ↓ to the row above or below), and Enter applies the one you're on. Settings opens on your current theme, so you can start right away.

Press Esc (or click Back to search) to return.

Hide or quit?

Cairn never connects to the internet. No account, no sync, no analytics, no telemetry. Even its fonts are built in.

Everything you save lives in one file on your computer:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\com.ayoubedahlouli.cairn\cairn.db

Paste that into the File Explorer address bar to open the folder.

Backing up

Built-in backup and export are coming. Until then:

1. Quit Cairn (tray icon, then Quit Cairn), so the file isn't in use.
2. Copy cairn.db somewhere safe. If you see cairn.db-wal and cairn.db-shm next to it, copy them too.

To restore, quit Cairn and put the file back in the same folder.

Appearance

By default Cairn follows your Windows light or dark setting (Settings → Personalization → Colors). To choose yourself, open Cairn's own Settings.

Cairn is young. Here's what's on the trail ahead:

• Typo tolerancepostgers will still find postgres.
• Smarter rankingWhat you use often and recently rises to the top.
• Search by meaningFind entries by idea, even with completely different words, using a model that runs on your own computer.
• Fill parameters{{container}} gets a small form, with values you used before suggested. CtrlP.
• Quick captureAltShiftS saves whatever is on your clipboard, in two seconds.
• Shell history importCairn notices commands you keep typing in PowerShell or bash, and offers to keep them.
• Local AI helpersA suggested why, automatic tags, and questions about your own entries (?). All on your machine.
• More settingsDensity, start with Windows, your own shortcut, backup and export.