bwrb recent

List recently modified notes, ordered by file modification time (most-recent first). This is thin sugar over bwrb list for the common “what did I touch lately?” query.

Synopsis

bwrb recent [options] [positional] [mode]

The first positional argument is auto-detected as type, path (contains /), or where expression (contains operators) — the same smart detection used by list.

The optional second positional [mode] is the app mode used with --open (system, editor, visual, obsidian, print) — parity with bwrb list --open. Because [mode] is the second positional, a lone positional is always treated as the smart filter, never the mode: use bwrb recent task print --open, not bwrb recent print --open (which would treat print as a type filter). To set the mode without a filter positional, use the --app flag. An explicit --app flag always takes precedence over the positional [mode], and an invalid mode value is rejected with a clear error. Excess positional arguments beyond [positional] [mode] are rejected.

Recency source

recent orders notes by their file modification time (mtime) from the filesystem. This is deterministic, requires no frontmatter convention, and is the “useful half” of a recency command (recently modified notes). It does not track an action log of edits made via the CLI — use git history for that.

There is no frontmatter fallback: every file on disk has an mtime, so the source is always available.

Options

Targeting

Option	Description
-t, --type <type>	Filter by type path (e.g., idea, objective/task)
-p, --path <glob>	Filter by file path glob (e.g., Projects/**, Ideas/)
-w, --where <expr>	Filter with expression (repeatable, ANDed together)
-b, --body <query>	Filter by Markdown body content; YAML frontmatter is excluded

Output

Option	Description
--limit <n>	Show only the first n notes (default 20)
--output <format>	Output format: text, paths, link, json

Actions

Option	Description
-o, --open	Open the most recent note (picker if several, in a TTY)
--app <mode>	How to open: system, editor, visual, obsidian, print
--save-as <name>	Save this recency query as a dashboard
--force	Overwrite an existing dashboard when using --save-as

These mirror the equivalent bwrb list flags. With --open, a single result opens directly; in a TTY with several results you get an interactive picker; non-interactively the most recent note (the top result) is opened. --save-as persists the query as a dashboard stored in the canonical list --sort file.mtime --desc form (with the effective --limit), so running the saved dashboard reproduces the recency view.

Output Formats

Format	Description
text	NAME / MODIFIED table (default)
paths	Vault-relative file paths
link	Wikilinks ([[Note Name]])
json	Full JSON data including the modification timestamp

Examples

# 20 most recently modified notes
bwrb recent

# Only the 5 most recent
bwrb recent --limit 5

# Most recently modified tasks
bwrb recent --type task

# Recently modified notes under a folder
bwrb recent --path "Projects/**"

# Machine-readable output
bwrb recent --output paths
bwrb recent --output json

# Open the most recent note (or the most recent task, in your editor)
bwrb recent --open
bwrb recent --type task --open --app editor

# Positional app mode (the filter positional comes first, then the mode)
bwrb recent task print --open

# Save a recency view as a reusable dashboard
bwrb recent --type task --save-as "recent-tasks"
bwrb dashboard recent-tasks

JSON output

Each entry includes _path, _name, an ISO-8601 _modified timestamp (the mtime used for ordering), and the note’s frontmatter spread in — consistent with bwrb list --output json plus the _modified field.

bwrb recent --type idea --limit 2 --output json

[
  {
    "_path": "Ideas/Another Idea.md",
    "_name": "Another Idea",
    "_modified": "2026-06-20T14:31:07.000Z",
    "type": "idea",
    "status": "backlog",
    "priority": "high"
  },
  {
    "_path": "Ideas/Sample Idea.md",
    "_name": "Sample Idea",
    "_modified": "2026-06-19T09:12:44.000Z",
    "type": "idea",
    "status": "raw",
    "priority": "medium"
  }
]

Notes with identical modification times are ordered alphabetically by name so output is deterministic.

Equivalent list query

recent is a convenience wrapper. The hand-written equivalent is:

bwrb list --sort file.mtime --desc --limit 20

recent adds the _modified field to JSON output, a NAME / MODIFIED default table, and a sensible default limit on top. The file.mtime / file.ctime / file.size sort keys it relies on are also available directly on list.