diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 69da0c2..48b582e 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 - [ ] Obsidian properties
-     - [ ] encoding in YAML (using Serde)
-     - [ ] config for default properties
+     - [x] config for default properties
      - [ ] formatting for properties such as dates
-- [x] update rendering to use comrak (it's been update)
-
-
+     - [ ] figure out what frontmatter obsidian uses
+     - [ ] generate title
 
diff --git a/src/cli/mod.rs b/src/cli/mod.rs
index 87fcde5..29cb3fd 100644
--- a/src/cli/mod.rs
+++ b/src/cli/mod.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ pub struct Args {
     /// show current config file
     #[arg(short = 'C', long)]
     pub current_config: bool,
+    // generate config file (output to stdout)
+    #[arg(long, default_value_t = true)]
+    pub gen_config: bool,
 
     /// view a specific date's file (YYYY-MM-DD)
     #[arg(short, long)]
diff --git a/src/config/mod.rs b/src/config/mod.rs
index 2b8b5dc..72d6ce2 100644
--- a/src/config/mod.rs
+++ b/src/config/mod.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ extern crate serde_json;
 use figment::providers::{Env, Format, Json, Serialized};
 use figment::Figment;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::env::var;
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::io::Write;
@@ -13,7 +14,9 @@ use std::path::PathBuf;
 pub struct Config {
     pub editor: String,
     pub sections: Vec<String>,
+    pub scratch_section: String,
     pub notes_dir: String,
+    pub frontmatter: HashMap<String, String>,
 }
 
 impl Default for Config {
@@ -21,7 +24,9 @@ impl Default for Config {
         Config {
             editor: "nano".into(),
             sections: vec!["Daily".into(), "Weekly".into(), "Monthly".into()],
+            scratch_section: "".into(),
             notes_dir: "~/Notes".into(),
+            frontmatter: HashMap::new(),
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index e618b03..8027760 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -10,14 +10,14 @@ use clap::Parser;
 use cli::Args;
 use comrak::options::{Extension, Parse};
 use comrak::{format_commonmark, Arena, Options};
-use config::Config;
+use config::{Config, ConfigError};
 use log;
 use logging::get_logging_level;
 use resolve_path::PathResolveExt;
 use simple_logger::init_with_level;
 use std::fs;
 use std::path::Path;
-use std::process::Command;
+use std::process::{exit, Command};
 use todo::{File as TodoFile, TaskGroup};
 
 use crate::file::{extract_sections, process_doc_tree};
@@ -51,6 +51,15 @@ fn main() {
         }
     }
 
+    if args.gen_config {
+        let buf = match serde_json::to_string_pretty(&Config::default()) {
+            Ok(text) => text,
+            _ => panic!("Could not generate config text"),
+        };
+        println!("{}", buf);
+        return;
+    }
+
     // set witch config file to load
     let cfg_file = match args.config {
         Some(file) => file,