Coline Docs

Block-based instant capture with backlinks, templates, daily notes, and real-time collaboration.

Notes

Notes in Coline are block-based documents designed for frictionless capture and knowledge building. Unlike traditional documents where content is a continuous stream of text, Coline notes are composed of discrete blocks — each paragraph, heading, list item, or embed is a manipulable unit that can be moved, linked, and transformed.

This block-based architecture enables powerful features like bidirectional linking, real-time collaboration with presence indicators, and seamless content reuse across your workspace.

Block-Based Editing

What Are Blocks?

In Coline, everything in a note is a block — a discrete unit of content with its own identity. Think of it like LEGO bricks: each piece can be moved, connected, or reconfigured independently.

Why blocks matter:

Granular editing — Select and manipulate individual elements, not just text ranges
Easy restructuring — Drag blocks to reorder, no copy-paste gymnastics
Structured content — Every block knows what type it is (paragraph, heading, code, etc.)
Database storage — Each block can be addressed individually for sync and search

Block Types

Coline supports 18 block types for different content needs:

Text Blocks

Paragraph — Standard text with inline formatting (bold, italic, links)
Heading 1/2/3 — Section headers for document structure
Quote — Blockquotes for citations and references

Structured Blocks

Bulleted List — Unordered lists with nesting support
Numbered List — Ordered lists that auto-renumber when reorganized
Todo — Checkbox items for task tracking
Divider — Horizontal rule for visual separation

Enhanced Blocks

Callout — Highlighted boxes with emoji icons for important notes
Code — Syntax-highlighted code blocks with language selection
Image — Embedded images with captions
File — File attachments with download links
Embed — External content via iframe (videos, maps, etc.)

Working with Blocks

Creating Blocks

Press Enter to create a new paragraph block
Type / for the slash menu to switch block types
Press Space on an empty line for the AI assistant menu

Converting Blocks

Use the slash menu (/) to convert any block to another type
Text → Heading when you need hierarchy
Paragraph → Todo when you need a task
Text → Code when you need syntax highlighting

Moving Blocks

Drag and drop to reorder
Use keyboard shortcuts: Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+↑ and Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+↓
Select multiple blocks with Shift+Click to move chunks

Nesting (Lists)

Press Tab to indent and nest list items
Press Shift+Tab to outdent
Create multi-level outlines and hierarchies

Bidirectional Linking

Wiki-Links

Coline uses [[ syntax for bidirectional linking — a powerful pattern from tools like Roam Research and Obsidian.

Creating Links:

Type [[ in any block
A search menu appears with your notes
Select a note or type a new title
The link is created: [[My Note Title]]

What makes it bidirectional:

Links work both ways automatically
When you view Note A that links to Note B, Note B shows Note A in its backlinks
No manual maintenance required

Navigation:

Click any [[link]] to jump to that note
Use Cmd/Ctrl+Click to open in a new tab
Navigate back with the browser back button

Backlinks Panel

At the bottom of every note, you'll find the backlinks panel — a list of all notes that reference the current one.

Why backlinks matter:

Discover connections you didn't know existed
See how ideas are being used across your workspace
Build a web of knowledge without explicit organization

Example: You create a note about "API Design Principles". Three weeks later, you see in the backlinks that three different project notes reference it. You now know which projects are following (or should follow) those principles.

Meeting Notes — Agenda, attendees, notes, action items
Weekly Review — Accomplishments, challenges, priorities for next week
Project Brief — Goals, scope, timeline, stakeholders
1:1 — Talking points, notes, action items for manager meetings
Decision Log — Context, options, decision, rationale
Bug Report — Reproduction steps, expected vs actual behavior
PRD Lite — Requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria
Standup — Yesterday, today, blockers format
Post-Mortem — Timeline, impact, root cause, action items
Interview Notes — Candidate info, questions, impressions

Planning (1 template)

Weekly Review — Planning and reflection framework

Personal (3 templates)

Brainstorm — Free-form ideation with categories
Daily Journal — Gratitude, intention, energy, brain dump
Article/Book Notes — Summary, key takeaways, quotes, connections

Using Templates

Click New Note or press N in the Notes view
The template picker opens automatically
Browse by category or search by name
Select a template to start with pre-filled content
Edit freely — templates are just starting points

Workspace Custom Templates

Create your own templates for team-specific workflows:

Write a note with the structure you want
Click the Save as Template button
Add name, description, category, and icon
Choose who can use it (workspace-scoped)

Custom templates appear alongside built-ins and can be edited or deleted by workspace admins.

Daily Notes

What Are Daily Notes?

Daily Notes create a new note for each calendar day — a single place for journaling, standup notes, quick thoughts, and anything else that happens today.

Why daily notes work:

Reduce decision fatigue — No need to decide "where does this go?"
Chronological capture — Everything time-stamped by default
Easy review — Look back at any day to see what you were thinking
Serendipitous connections — See adjacent days while browsing

Enabling Daily Notes

Open Notes settings (gear icon in Notes sidebar)
Toggle "Enable Daily Notes"
A calendar icon appears in your sidebar

Using Daily Notes

Creating Today's Note:

Click the calendar icon in the sidebar
Or press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N (creates daily note if enabled, otherwise quick note)

Note Format:

Title: Automatically set to current date (e.g., "January 15, 2024")
Template: Uses the "Daily Journal" template with sections for gratitude, intention, energy level, and brain dump
Tag: Auto-tagged with #daily for easy filtering

Throughout the Day:

Add standup notes in the morning
Capture meeting notes
Jot random thoughts
Track what you're working on

Reviewing:

Browse by date in the sidebar
Filter by #daily tag
Search across all daily notes

Real-Time Collaboration

Collaborative Editing

Multiple people can edit the same note simultaneously. Changes appear instantly without conflicts.

Presence Indicators:

See who else is viewing/editing the note
Colored cursors show where others are typing
Selection highlights show what text they're working on
Avatars appear in the top-right of the editor

How It Works:

Every change is synced via WebSocket
Operational Transform ensures edits don't conflict
Your changes appear immediately; others' changes appear in real-time
No "save" button — everything persists automatically

When to Collaborate

Meeting notes — Multiple attendees capture different perspectives
Project planning — PM and engineer draft together
Documentation — Domain expert and writer collaborate
Brainstorming — Team dumps ideas simultaneously

Organization Features

Color Coding

Assign colors to notes for visual organization:

Red — Urgent/important
Orange — In progress
Yellow — Reference
Green — Completed
Blue — Ideas
Purple — Personal
Pink — Shared with others
Gray — Archived

Colors appear in the sidebar note list, making it easy to scan and prioritize.

Folders

Organize notes hierarchically with folders:

Creating Folders:

Right-click in the sidebar → "New Folder"
Or click the folder icon in the sidebar header

Folder Features:

Nested folders (unlimited depth)
Drag notes between folders
Expand/collapse in sidebar
Breadcrumb navigation

When to Use Folders vs Tags:

Folders — Hierarchical organization (Projects → Active → Acme Corp)
Tags — Cross-cutting attributes (#urgent, #meeting, #john)

Stars and Pins

Starred Notes:

Click the star icon to mark important notes
Filter "Starred" in sidebar for quick access
Personal to each user

Pinned Notes:

Pin notes to the sidebar for instant access
Appears at the top of your note list
Great for reference docs you access constantly

Workspace Share:

Share with specific workspace members
Set permission level: View or Edit
Recipients get the note in their "Shared with me" filter

External Share (by Email):

Share with anyone via email address
They receive an invite link
No Coline account required to view (but needed to edit)

Public Publishing:

Publish note to the web with a public URL
Optional password protection
Clean, read-only view for external sharing
URL format: coline.app/@workspace/note-slug

Collaboration Permissions

View — Can read, cannot edit
Edit — Can modify content, cannot delete or change share settings
Owner — Full control including delete and sharing

See who's accessing your shared notes:

View count
Recent activity
Who has accepted/declined invites

AI Integration

Inline AI Assistant

Get help without leaving your note:

Trigger:

Press Cmd/Ctrl+E anywhere in a note
Or press Space on an empty line

Use Cases:

"Continue writing from here"
"Summarize the above"
"Make this more concise"
"Convert bullet points to paragraph"
"Expand on this idea"

Kairo in Notes

Ask Kairo to work with your notes via chat:

"Find all my notes tagged #project-x"
"Summarize my daily notes from this week"
"Create a note from my meeting with Sarah yesterday"
"Suggest connections between my project notes"
"Extract action items from my standup notes"

AI Generation via API

Developers can use the AI generation endpoint for custom integrations:

POST /api/v1/notes/ai/generate
{
  "prompt": "Write a meeting recap",
  "noteContext": "Project planning session...",
  "selectedText": "Discussion points..."
}

Returns a stream of generated text for seamless integration.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N`	New quick note (or daily note if enabled)
`Cmd/Ctrl+E`	Open inline AI prompt
`Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+↑/↓`	Move block up/down
`Tab`	Indent list item (or nest)
`Shift+Tab`	Outdent list item
`Cmd/Ctrl+A` (twice)	Select multiple blocks
`/`	Open slash menu for block types
`[[`	Start wiki-link
`Cmd/Ctrl+K`	Insert link

API and SDK

Creating Notes via API

import { Coline } from '@colineapp/sdk'

const coline = new Coline({ apiKey: 'col_ws_...' })

// Create a note
const note = await coline.notes.create({
  workspaceId: 'ws_...',
  title: 'Meeting Notes',
  body: 'Discussion about...',
  blocks: [
    { type: 'heading2', content: 'Agenda' },
    { type: 'bulleted-list', content: 'Q4 planning' },
    { type: 'bulleted-list', content: 'Budget review' }
  ]
})

// Update a note
await coline.notes.update({
  workspaceId: 'ws_...',
  noteId: 'note_...',
  title: 'Updated Title',
  body: 'Updated content...'
})

Webhooks

Subscribe to note events:

// note.created
// note.updated  
// note.deleted

See Webhooks for setup details.

Best Practices

For Individual Use

Start with daily notes — Enable daily notes and capture everything there by default
Link liberally — Use [[ to connect ideas as you write
Tag consistently — Pick a tagging system and stick to it
Use templates — Save time on recurring note types
Review backlinks weekly — See what connections have formed