Wiki Capture — Conversation to Wiki Note

You are preserving knowledge from the current conversation as a permanent wiki note. The goal is to extract the substance — the knowledge itself — not a summary of what was said.

Before You Start

• Read ~/.obsidian-wiki/config (preferred) or .env (fallback) to get OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH

• Read $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/index.md to understand existing wiki content (avoid duplicates)

• Read $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/hot.md if it exists — it gives context on recent activity

Step 1: Identify What's Worth Preserving

Scan the conversation. Ask: what knowledge emerged here that would be valuable in 3 months with no memory of this chat?

Worth preserving:

• Decisions made and why they were made

• Analysis, frameworks, mental models developed

• Technical findings, patterns, or procedures

• Synthesized understanding of a topic

• Clear explanations of a concept that took effort to arrive at

• Key facts from an external source discussed in the conversation

Skip:

• Logistics, scheduling, pleasantries

• Exploratory back-and-forth where no conclusion was reached

• Content that's already in the wiki

If nothing material emerged, tell the user and stop.

Step 2: Classify the Content Type

Assign one of five types — this determines the target folder and tone:

Type Description Target folder

synthesis

Multi-step analysis or an answer to a specific question that required reasoning synthesis/

concept

A definition, framework, or mental model (what a thing is) concepts/

source

Summary of an external document, article, or resource discussed references/

decision

A strategic, architectural, or design choice and its rationale synthesis/

session

A complete discussion summary when the conversation spans multiple topics journal/

If the content clearly belongs to a specific project (detected from context or user mention), place it under projects/<project-name>/<category>/ instead.

Step 3: Rewrite as Declarative Knowledge

Do not write a summary of the conversation. Write the knowledge itself, in declarative present tense:

• Not: "The user asked about X and Claude explained that..."

• Yes: "X works by..."

• Not: "We decided to use Y because..."

• Yes: "Y is preferred over Z because [reason]. [^[inferred] if the rationale was implied, not stated explicitly]"

Apply provenance markers per llm-wiki :

• Extracted — explicitly stated in the conversation (no marker)

• Inferred — generalized or synthesized from the conversation → ^[inferred]

• Ambiguous — disputed, uncertain, or contradictory → ^[ambiguous]

Step 4: Generate a Slug and Title

Derive a clear, descriptive title from the content. Slugify it:

• Lowercase, words separated by hyphens

• Max 50 characters

• Avoid dates in the slug (the frontmatter has created )

Step 5: Write the Wiki Note

Create the file at the target path with required frontmatter:

title: >- <Title> category: <synthesis|concepts|references|journal|skills> tags: [<2-5 domain tags from taxonomy>] sources:

• conversation:<ISO-date> created: <ISO-8601 timestamp> updated: <ISO-8601 timestamp> summary: >- <1-2 sentences, ≤200 chars, answering "what knowledge does this page hold?"> provenance: extracted: 0.X inferred: 0.X ambiguous: 0.X

Body structure by type:

synthesis / decision:

Title

Context

<What prompted this — the problem or question being addressed>

Finding / Decision

<The core knowledge or conclusion>

Reasoning

<Why this is the case or why this choice was made>

Implications

<What follows from this — what to watch for, next steps, trade-offs>

Related

<[[wikilinks]] to connected pages>

concept:

Title

<Definition in one clear sentence.>

What It Is

<Explanation of the concept>

How It Works

<Mechanism or structure>

When to Use

<Applicability, conditions, trade-offs>

Related

<[[wikilinks]]>

source:

Title

Source: <title or URL>

What It Covers

<What the source is about>

Key Points

<Bulleted claims with provenance markers>

Open Questions

<What it raises but doesn't answer — omit if none>

Related

<[[wikilinks]]>

session:

Title

Session captured: <date>

Topics Covered

<Brief list>

Key Takeaways

<The 3-5 most important things that emerged>

Decisions Made

<Any explicit decisions, with rationale>

Open Questions

<What remains unresolved>

Related

<[[wikilinks]]>

Every note must link to at least 2 existing wiki pages. Search index.md before writing. If fewer than 2 related pages exist, create minimal stubs for the most important concepts referenced.

Step 6: Update Tracking Files

index.md — Add the new page under its category section.

log.md — Append:

• [TIMESTAMP] CAPTURE type=<type> page="<path>" title="<title>"

hot.md — Update Recent Activity with what was just captured. Update Key Takeaways if the note introduced something worth flagging. Update updated timestamp.

Step 7: Confirm to User

Report the saved path and title:

Saved to: projects/<name>/synthesis/<slug>.md Title: <Title> Type: synthesis

Quality Checklist

• Content rewritten as declarative knowledge (not a chat transcript)

• Type classified correctly; target path is in the right folder

• Frontmatter complete with title, category, tags, sources, summary, provenance

• At least 2 wikilinks to existing pages

• index.md , log.md , and hot.md updated

• Confirmed save path to user