title: The ''run-simple'' sub-command
role: manual
tags: #command #configuration #manual #zettelstore
syntax: zmk
back: 00001004050000 00001012080500 00001018000000
backward: 00001004050000 00001012080500 00001018000000
box-number: 1
copyright: (c) 2020-present by Detlef Stern <ds@zettelstore.de>
created: 20210126175322
forward: 00001003000000 00001004010000 00001004051000
lang: en
license: EUPL-1.2-or-later
modified: 20250627161010
published: 20250627161010
visibility: public

=== ``zettelstore run-simple``
This sub-command is implicitly called when a user starts Zettelstore by double-clicking its GUI icon.
It is a simplified variant of the [[''run'' sub-command|00001004051000]].

First, this sub-command checks if it can read a [[Zettelstore startup configuration|00001004010000]] file by trying the [[default values|00001004051000#c]].
If this is the case, ''run-simple'' just continues as the [[''run'' sub-command|00001004051000]], but ignores any command line options (including ''-d DIR'').[^This allows a [[curious user|00001003000000]] to become an intermediate user.]

If no startup configuration is found, the sub-command only allows specifying a zettel directory.
The directory will be created automatically if it does not exist.
This differs from the ''run'' sub-command, where the directory must already exist.
Unlike the ''run'' sub-command, no other command-line parameters are allowed.
```
zettelstore run-simple [-d DIR]
```
; [!d|''-d DIR'']
: Specifies ''DIR'' as the directory that contains all zettel.

  Default is ''./zettel'' (''.\\zettel'' on Windows), where ''.'' denotes the ""current directory"".