Automatic folgezettel (computer-compatible Luhmann-style) bidirectional link generation for howm. A short tutorial is found here. A good introduction is found from 1:15 to 2:00 of this video by Dave Wilson. A well-written booklet about Howm by Andrei Sukhovskii is found here. He also made an animated video in Russian.

Howm is similar to the Emacs package Denote in that it is file-based and does not depend on a database. Howm should scale to 10,000's of notes. Howm inserts a unique identifier in each note, providing a persistent address that survives changes to the note's title. This supports moving subtrees of notes to a new parent note.

Howm differs from Denote in that it also supports smart time management through a simpler, more humane to-do list system than org-agenda. Howm was started in 2002, so it predates Denote by two decades and is even older than org-mode. It can accommodate org-mode, markdown, and txt files. We use org-mode in this package because it is widely used by Emacs users.

We provide support for importing Markdown notes from Obsidian that already have Folgezettel. This support includes the ability to select hundreds of files in the Mac Finder. We plan to add support for importing notes from org-roam and Denote.

This package brings the same workflow as autoslip-roam to Howm users. It uses the folgezettel index in a note's title to determine parent-child relationships, then writes goto-links and come-from anchors so that howm's keyword search retrieves both directions of every relationship. It overrides Howm's default numeric filename format, which is similar to Denotes.

The folgezettel index appears at the start of the title and the filename. The package is compatible with printing notes for storage in a paper-based zettelkasten.

Howm has no central database, no node IDs, and no org-roam-capture- hook. Notes are plain files in a directory tree, and links are wiki keywords. autoslip-howm replaces the org-roam-specific machinery in autoslip-roam with a directory scan, a stable wiki-keyword scheme, and a howm-create-file-hook integration.

The two problems are unchanged from the autoslip-roam README:

1. True automation of bidirectional linking, so that you do not have to add the inverse link by hand.
2. A bridge to a paper-based zettelkasten, because the folgezettel address is also the storage order.

The full motivation for both is in the autoslip-roam README; everything in those sections applies here.

Each note carries a self-anchor on a dedicated line:

<<< autoslip:1.2a:k7n3p3qr

The string after the namespace is the visible folgezettel address. The string after the second colon is a UID minted at note creation. Inbound links are written with the goto marker:

>>> autoslip:1.2a:k7n3p3qr

The UID does the load-bearing work. The address segment can be rewritten on reparent. Inbound goto-links remain valid because their UIDs match.

The title is the first non-empty line of the file. Common howm and org markers (#+TITLE:, = , , M , , ) are stripped before the folgezettel is extracted. Any non-empty first line is acceptable.

ADDRESS-SLUG.EXT

Examples: 1.2a-crystal-symmetry.org, 1.2a-crystal-symmetry.txt. The address comes first by user preference. The slug is generated from the title at the time of creation. The extension is governed by autoslip-howm-default-extension (default .org).

Manual installation:

git clone https://github.com/MooersLab/autoslip-howm.git

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/autoslip-howm")
(require 'autoslip-howm)
(setq autoslip-howm-directory "~/Howm/")
(autoslip-howm-mode 1)

With use-package:

(use-package autoslip-howm
  :load-path "/path/to/autoslip-howm"
  :after howm
  :custom
  (autoslip-howm-directory "~/howm/")
  (autoslip-howm-default-extension ".org")
  :config
  (autoslip-howm-mode 1))

Create a root note in Howm by entering C-c ; c. The first non-empty line is the title:

1. Crystallography

Save the file. The package writes a self-anchor:

1. Crystallography
<<< autoslip:1.:k7n3p3qr

The package also offers a one-step alternative that prompts for the address and the title, creates the file with a leading-address filename, writes the self-anchor, and visits the new buffer:

M-x autoslip-howm-create-note

This is the right command for any note whose address you already know, and especially for minting roots like 1., 2., 3..

Create a child:

M-x autoslip-howm-insert-next-child

The package suggests 1.1, prompts for a title, writes the new file, and inserts:

• a >>> autoslip:1.:k7n3p3qr goto-link in the child under a Parent Note heading,
• a >>> autoslip:1.1:r2x9b7vt goto-link in the parent under a Child Notes heading.

The format is identical to autoslip-roam.

Rules: start with a number; root form is N.; only one period; numbers and letters alternate after the period; lowercase letters only; extended alphabet aa, ab, ..., zz, aaa after z.

The filenames organize the notes in file listings. This display shows the relationship between notes. This really negates the need for a graphical display of the knowledge graph.

• headings (default) writes visible Parent Note and Child Notes sections in the body. In .org files, the heading uses stars; in plain-text files, the heading uses the configurable autoslip-howm-text-heading-format.
• headers writes a top-of-file header block of the form @FZ_PARENT: autoslip:1.:k7n3p3qr and @FZ_CHILDREN: autoslip:1.2:r2x9b7vt, autoslip:1.3:m4q1d9s2. Body stays clean.

Switch modes with (setq autoslip-howm-link-storage 'headers).

The roots of a folgezettel zettelkasten are the small set of major topics that organize everything else. In autoslip-howm, those roots have addresses like 1., 2., 3.. Each root anchors a chain of thought that grows downward through child notes such as 1.2, 1.2a, 1.2a3. The 00. Index of Indices note is a flat catalog of every root, and it lives at a numerically lower address than 1., so it sorts to the top of the tree view and to the top of any directory listing.

The package treats every N. address as a root with no parent. The double-zero in 00. is a sibling root, not a parent of 1., 2., and the rest. This is the right semantics, because the index of indices is a pointer page, not a parent. The single-digit form 0. would also sort early, but 00 reads as an obvious meta-marker.

00. is not a node in the knowledge graph; instead, the root nodes form a multiple-headed graph with parallel chains of thought cross-linked together with connections between notes in separate chains of thought.

Sit with a piece of paper or a whiteboard for an hour and list the major areas of knowledge you want this zettelkasten to cover. Pick between five and fifty. Fewer than five is too coarse. Number the list from 1.

Create each root before you create the index, because the index has to reference each root's stable wiki keyword:

M-x autoslip-howm-create-note RET 1. RET Crystallography RET
M-x autoslip-howm-create-note RET 2. RET Statistical methods RET
M-x autoslip-howm-create-note RET 3. RET Computational tools RET

With the roots in place, create the index with one command:

M-x autoslip-howm-open-index

If the file does not yet exist, the command seeds it with a title line, a self-anchor for 00., a top-level heading, and a sorted list of every root. Subsequent calls open the existing file. Add a one-sentence annotation under each root entry. The annotation is the part that earns its keep over time, because the link list itself is mechanical.

When you mint a new root later, refresh the auto-block in 00. with:

M-x autoslip-howm-insert-root-list

The command writes a fresh, folgezettel-sorted heading block at point. It is non-destructive; you delete the old block by hand before calling it, or place it under a dedicated heading you keep clearing.

Two patterns are worth naming as things to avoid. The first is treating 00. as a parent of the real roots and giving them addresses like 00.1, 00.2, 00.3. This collapses the topology and breaks the parent-walk semantics for any chain of thought. Keep the real roots at 1., 2., 3..

The second is using 00. as the only navigation surface. The tree view, M-x autoslip-howm-show-tree, shows the full vault grouped under each root and is more useful for browsing. The index is the table of contents. The tree view is the table of contents plus every page number. Use both.

• List of major topics drafted on paper
• Each major topic given a root address (1., 2., ...)
• Each root note created via autoslip-howm-create-note
• M-x autoslip-howm-open-index run once
• Each root has a one-sentence annotation in 00.
• C-c m i bound to autoslip-howm-open-index
• C-c m I bound to autoslip-howm-insert-root-list
• Tree view sanity-checked with M-x autoslip-howm-show-tree

The folgezettel numbering system organizes a chain of thought along one vertical axis, but related notes often live in parallel chains. autoslip-howm offers two kinds of in-note index to address both shapes of relation. The two use distinguishable wrapper headings so a reader can tell at a glance which one they are looking at.

A hub index lists only the direct children of the current note. Use it at the top of a hub note, or at any branching point inside a chain of thought, when you want a one-screen overview of the immediate descendants without the rest of the subtree. Grandchildren and deeper descendants are intentionally omitted.

M-x autoslip-howm-insert-hub-index

The block is wrapped in a level-2 heading Children of N.M, where N.M is the current note's folgezettel. Each child becomes a level-3 heading, with a goto-link on the line below.

A topic index lists every note in the vault whose body matches a regular expression. Use it to surface cross-references that span chains of thought: notes about Bayesian methods that you wrote inside the protein-structure chain, the cryo-EM chain, and the statistics chain, all in one block.

M-x autoslip-howm-insert-topic-index RET symmetry RET

The block is wrapped in a level-2 heading Topic Index: SEARCH-TERM. Each matching note becomes a level-3 heading with a goto-link. The current note is excluded from its own topic index even when its body matches.

The wrapper headings are deliberately different:

** Children of 1.2a       <- hub index, vertical
** Topic Index: kinetics  <- topic index, horizontal

That way a reader scanning a hub note can tell at a glance which kind of index they are looking at, and what scope to expect.

(define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c m H") #'autoslip-howm-insert-hub-index)
(define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c m T") #'autoslip-howm-insert-topic-index)

(setq autoslip-howm-hub-index-heading-format "Children of %s")
(setq autoslip-howm-topic-index-heading-format "Topic Index: %s")

Both formats receive a single argument (the folgezettel for the hub index, the search term for the topic index). Change them if you want a different banner shape, but keep the two formats distinguishable.

Topic-index search ships with three backends, selected by autoslip-howm-search-backend:

In auto mode the package picks the first available of rg, grep, and the in-Emacs scan, in that order. Install ripgrep with your package manager (brew install ripgrep or apt install ripgrep) for the fastest experience; for tens of thousands of notes the difference is roughly two orders of magnitude.

;; Pin a backend if you prefer not to rely on auto-detection.
(setq autoslip-howm-search-backend 'rg)
;; Custom executable paths if needed.
(setq autoslip-howm-rg-program "/opt/homebrew/bin/rg")
(setq autoslip-howm-grep-program "/opt/homebrew/opt/grep/libexec/gnubin/grep")

Subprocess output is post-filtered against the cached note list, so any hits inside .git, backup files, or non-howm clutter under the howm directory are dropped automatically.

The regex flavor depends on the chosen backend. For literal words, character classes, anchors (^, $), alternation, and the common quantifiers, all three flavors behave identically. Word-boundary syntax differs: rg and the in-Emacs scan accept \b, but grep with -E does not. If you depend on \b, \<, \>, or other Emacs-specific syntax, pin the backend to emacs.

If you already maintain a 00. Index of Indices note in an Obsidian vault, the package can bootstrap a Howm zettelkasten from it in one step. The Obsidian file is expected to contain markdown links of the form [N. Title](N.%20Title.md), with a ## Project Support heading that splits a knowledge section from a project-management section. Project entries are renumbered on import to keep them visually separated from the knowledge roots.

M-x autoslip-howm-import-from-obsidian RET /path/to/00.-Index-of-Indices.md RET

For each entry in the markdown file, the package creates a Howm root note with the corresponding folgezettel address. Numbers in the project section are offset by autoslip-howm-obsidian-project-offset (default 400), so Obsidian's 100. Research programs becomes Howm's 500. Research programs. The default value matches the recommended layout of keeping knowledge roots in 1. through 99. and project-management roots from 500. upward.

If a Howm 00. index file already exists when you run the import, the command prompts:

An index already exists. Master list: [obsidian | howm | cancel]

For each Obsidian entry, the importer tries to reuse an existing file before minting a new one. The dispatch is:

1. Address match. A Howm note exists at the imported address. If its title already matches, the note is left alone. If the title differs and the master is Obsidian, the title line is rewritten. If the master is Howm, the title is preserved.
2. Title match. No note has that address, but a note with the same title (compared by slug after stripping any leading folgezettel) exists at a different address, or at no address at all. With Obsidian as master, the existing note is renumbered to the imported address: title line, self-anchor, inbound goto-links, and file name are all rewritten in place. With Howm as master, the existing note keeps its address and nothing new is created for that title.
3. File on disk. No address match and no title match in the cache, but the canonical destination file already exists on disk (a half-finished prior import, a file copied in from elsewhere, an empty stub). The importer adopts that file: it ensures the first non-empty line reads ADDRESS TITLE and that a self-anchor for the address is present, while leaving the rest of the body untouched.
4. Create. None of the above. A fresh root note is minted with the canonical filename and content.

The end-of-run message reports five counters so you can see what happened:

Imported 47 entries: 12 created, 3 renamed, 5 renumbered, 7 adopted, 20 unchanged (master: obsidian)

The 00. file body is regenerated at the end so it lists every current root in folgezettel order. Hand-written annotations in the existing 00. file are not preserved across regeneration. Copy them aside before importing if they matter.

Two variables tune the parser:

(setq autoslip-howm-obsidian-project-heading-regexp
      "^##[ \\t]+Project[ \\t]+Support[ \\t]*$")
(setq autoslip-howm-obsidian-project-offset 400)

Set the offset to 0 to import project numbers unchanged, or to a different value to land the project section at any base address you prefer.

A separate command imports a markdown file that lists the children of one parent note. This is the workflow when you have an Obsidian note like 1. Crystallography.md whose body is a bullet list of [1.1 Introduction](1.1%20Introduction.md), [[1.14 quantum crystallography]], etc. Both standard markdown links and Obsidian wikilinks are accepted.

M-x autoslip-howm-import-children-from-obsidian RET /path/to/1.\ Crystallography.md RET 1. RET

The two prompts are the markdown source and the parent's folgezettel address. When the current buffer is already a tracked howm note, that note's address is offered as the default parent, so you can press RET to accept.

For each child entry the same four-tier reconciliation applies (address match, title-slug match, file-on-disk, create). Entries whose address does not lie under the parent are skipped silently, so a ## Index of Indices or Master Node block at the end of the file is harmless. After the dispatch, four things happen:

• Each child receives a backlink to the parent under the heading named by autoslip-howm-backlink-heading (default Parent Note), or in the parent property when headers storage is selected.
• The parent receives a forward link to each child under the heading named by autoslip-howm-forward-link-heading (default Child Notes). Each entry is a level-3 heading carrying the child's full title (address plus title), followed by a goto-link to the child's keyword on the line below.
• The parent receives one upward link to the 00. index of indices, under the heading named by autoslip-howm-master-link-heading (default Master Node).
• The parent's Child Notes section is rebuilt at the end of the run in folgezettel order, so entries appear sorted regardless of import order. The rebuild also replaces any older bare-goto entries with the new heading-plus-goto format.

All four insertions are deduplicated, so re-running the command after adding new children to the source file inserts only what was missing.

A typical Child Notes block then looks like:

** Child Notes

*** 1.1 Preparing for your study
>>> autoslip:1.1:hdfdep85

*** 1.1a Molecular structure defines function
>>> autoslip:1.1a:jxxfjbew

Earlier releases wrote bare goto-lines under Child Notes, without the title heading. To upgrade a parent file in place, open it and run:

M-x autoslip-howm-rebuild-child-notes

That replaces the section with a sorted listing, with each entry as a level-3 heading carrying the child's title, followed by a goto-link.

When autoslip-howm-mode is enabled and you are inside an .org index file, put the cursor on any line containing an autoslip wiki keyword (either a >>> goto-link or a <<< self-anchor) and press C-c C-o. The package hooks into Org's org-open-at-point-functions, so Org's standard "open at point" command recognizes autoslip keywords and visits the corresponding note. Resolution uses the keyword's UID first and falls back to the address, which means the link keeps working after a reparent.

If you are in a plain-text howm file or just prefer a dedicated keybinding, use:

M-x autoslip-howm-follow-link-at-point

;; Suggested key binding for any major mode.
(define-key global-map (kbd "C-c m o") #'autoslip-howm-follow-link-at-point)

If autoslip-howm-mode is off, Org's C-c C-o falls back to its default behavior and ignores autoslip keywords.

;; Suggested key binding.
(define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c m C") #'autoslip-howm-import-children-from-obsidian)

The command is the right tool for bulk ingestion. To add an upward link to 00. from any note without running an import, use M-x autoslip-howm-add-master-link directly.

For migrating one Obsidian note at a time, with body content intact, use:

M-x autoslip-howm-import-note-from-obsidian RET /path/to/1.1a Title.md RET

The file is expected to look like this:

---
title: Molecular structure defines function
tags:
  - index-note
  - crystallography
date-created: 2026-03-25
source: "[[1.1 Preparing for your study]]"
---

# Molecular structure defines function

The molecular structure of matter defines its properties and function,
motivating the use of X-ray crystallography for atomic-resolution
structure determination.

## Parent Note
- [1.1 Preparing for your study](1.1%20Preparing%20for%20your%20study.md)

## Child Notes


## Related Notes
- (to be filled in later)

What the importer extracts:

• Address. From the file name's leading folgezettel (1.1a here).
• Title. From the YAML title field if present, otherwise the H1, otherwise the rest of the file name.
• Body. Everything between the H1 and the first auto-managed section (## Parent Note, ## Child Notes, ## Related Notes). Auto-managed sections are dropped because Howm regenerates them from cache.
• Parent address. From the YAML source field (parsed for a leading folgezettel inside [[...]]), falling back to the address-derived parent.

After parsing, the file is routed through the same four-tier reconciliation. The imported body is then written into the body region between the self-anchor and the first Howm-managed section. The default body strategy is replace; change it with:

(setq autoslip-howm-import-note-body-strategy 'append)   ;; or 'prompt

If the parent note exists in the Howm vault, a bidirectional link is set up: the imported note gets a Parent Note reference back to the parent, and the parent gets a Child Notes reference forward to the imported note. Both inserts are deduplicated.

Tags, date-created, and the Obsidian-managed Parent Note / Child Notes / Related Notes sections in the source file are not carried over. If you want them in Howm, add them by hand after the import.

;; Suggested key binding.
(define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c m N") #'autoslip-howm-import-note-from-obsidian)

Two commands wrap the single-note importer for bulk migration.

Select the .md files you want to migrate in Finder, then in Emacs:

M-x autoslip-howm-import-notes-from-finder-selection

The command shells out to osascript to read Finder's current selection, filters the list to .md files, asks for confirmation, and then routes each file through the single-atomic-note path. The macOS dependency is real: the command refuses to run when osascript is not on PATH. The AppleScript snippet is exposed as autoslip-howm-finder-selection-applescript if you need to customize it (for example to walk into bundles).

Per-file failures are collected in *Autoslip-Howm Bulk Import Errors* and do not abort the rest of the run. The end-of-run message reports the totals:

Imported 24/26 files from Finder selection (1 skipped, 1 errors)

skipped counts files whose name carries no leading folgezettel; errors counts files that failed during parse or reconciliation.

In this bulk path the prompt value of autoslip-howm-import-note-body-strategy silently falls back to replace to avoid asking once per file. Set the strategy to 'replace explicitly if you want this behavior always, or to 'append to add the imported body below any existing content.

Cross-platform alternative when you have your Obsidian notes laid out in a folder:

M-x autoslip-howm-import-notes-from-directory RET /path/to/obsidian/vault RET

Non-recursive by default. Prefix-argument (C-u M-x ...) descends into subdirectories.

;; Suggested key bindings.
(define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c m F") #'autoslip-howm-import-notes-from-finder-selection)
(define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c m D") #'autoslip-howm-import-notes-from-directory)

(with-eval-after-load 'howm
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o c") #'autoslip-howm-insert-next-child)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o p") #'autoslip-howm-add-backlink-to-parent)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o u") #'autoslip-howm-goto-parent)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o d") #'autoslip-howm-list-children)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o t") #'autoslip-howm-show-tree)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o i") #'autoslip-howm-open-index)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o I") #'autoslip-howm-insert-root-list)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o h") #'autoslip-howm-show-chain-of-thought)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o H") #'autoslip-howm-insert-chain-of-thought)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o r") #'autoslip-howm-reparent)
  (define-key howm-mode-map (kbd "C-c o R") #'autoslip-howm-reparent-subtree))

make test
make compile
make check

The test suite does not require howm itself; it builds a temporary directory of fixture notes and exercises the autoslip-howm code paths against it.

This is the Phase 1 scaffold from the project plan. The pure helpers (parsing, validation, suggestion, comparison, ancestor walk), the cache, the link writers, the create command, the navigation commands, and a baseline reparent implementation are in place. The chain-of-thought buffer and the cross-linked chains buffer are scheduled for Phase 5.

GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. See LICENSE.

• NIH: R01 CA242845, R01 AI088011
• NIH: P30 CA225520 (PI: R. Mannel); P30 GM145423 (PI: A. West)