Watch My EmacsConf Talk: Zettelkasten for Regular Emacs Hackers

Last December, I gave a talk at EmacsConf 2025 called “Zettelkasten for Regular Emacs Hackers”. I announced it back then, but never pointed to the recording. Here it is. Zettelkasten for Regular Emacs Hackers, EmacsConf 2025 (23 minutes) The pitch: writing improves the quality and depth of thought, and a Zettelkasten is an environment for thinking through writing, not merely a place to store notes. Nobody can hand you a finished thinking environment the way they can hand you an email client. You have to build your own, and Emacs is the most moldable place to do it. In 23 minutes, I walk through: the three essential mechanics: write (with effort), connect (with links), and correct (improve notes as you learn more); the habits that make it scale over decades: design for use, create structure, start in the Zettelkasten, and start with a link; why “garbage in, garbage out” applies to notes, too; a live demo with a minimal init.el and Denote to create, link, rename, and backlink notes. Try…