Capture Triage

What This Does

Turns mobile captures into actionable tasks in your Ready queue. Everything captured has intent - this skill makes it explicit so task-clarity-scanner can decide what's important.

Who It's For

Ed - capturing quick thoughts in Drafts Pro throughout the day.

The Philosophy

Everything captured has intent. Route to Ready, let task-clarity-scanner decide what moves to Someday/Maybe.

No passive filing. Every capture becomes a decision point.

Paths

Inbox: /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/Inbox/ Processed: /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/Inbox/Processed/ Daily note: /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/YYYY-MM-DD.md Projects: /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/PROJECT - *.md Contacts: /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/CONTACT - *.md

Important: Naming Clarification

Term What It Means

Inbox folder /Zettelkasten/Inbox/

• where Drafts Pro sends mobile notes

Captures section

Captures

in daily note - links to docs created today

Ready destination

Ready

section in daily note - where triaged tasks go

Remember: This skill reads from the Inbox FOLDER and routes to the Ready SECTION. Tasks go to Ready section only - Captures section is for document links.

Instructions

Step 1: Check Inbox Folder (Root Only)

Important: Only check files directly in Inbox/, NOT subdirectories.

ls /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/Inbox/*.md 2>/dev/null

If no files found: Report "No captures waiting" and stop. If files found: Continue to Step 2.

Step 2: Load Context

Pull active project names from mission-context skill AND:

Glob: /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/PROJECT - *.md

Build a list of project names for matching.

Step 3: Read and Classify Each Capture (Background OK)

This step can run in background. Read and classify all captures before surfacing to user.

For each .md file in Inbox:

• Read full content

• Extract source URL from frontmatter (see Step 3b)

• Detect if already-processed (see Step 3a)

• Classify by intent (see Step 4)

Surface to user only after ALL files are read and classified.

Step 3b: Extract Source URLs

For x-bookmark files (filename starts with x- ):

• Read tweet_url from YAML frontmatter

• This URL MUST be included when routing to Ready

For other captures with URLs:

• Check for url: , source_url: , or link: in frontmatter

• Check for markdown links text in body

• Preserve any URLs found for routing step

Step 3a: Detect Already-Processed Content

If capture content looks like a summary (has structure, headers, quotes sources):

• Flag as [PROCESSED]

• Will suggest routing as REFERENCE

• Won't offer research-swarm (already researched)

Signals of processed content:

• Has markdown headers (##, ###)

• Contains bullet lists with structured info

• Quotes or attributes other sources

• Looks like notes from a video/article

Step 4: Classify Each Capture

Priority Rule: Inline hints override auto-detection. Check for these FIRST:

• IDEA: or Idea: → IDEA

• Research: → RESEARCH (triggers swarm option)

• for [Project Name] → PROJECT_UPDATE

• Task: or TODO: → TASK

Auto-Detection (if no inline hint):

Signal Classification

Starts with verb (call, email, buy, check, send, schedule) TASK

Contains Research: hint or explicit question needing investigation RESEARCH

"What if..." or speculative language IDEA

Mentions active project name PROJECT_UPDATE

Person's name + action context CONTACT

Links, articles, saved content, observations REFERENCE

Step 5: Show Classification Preview (Two-Step)

Two-Step Pattern: Show preview table first, then ask decision in a separate message. Let user absorb the information before asking what to do.

Step 5a: Present the Table

Show what you found. Let user absorb the information first:

Capture Triage Preview

Found [N] captures. Here's how I've classified them:

Pause here. Let the user see and absorb the table before asking for a decision.

Step 5b: Ask for Decision

After showing the table, ask ONE question using AskUserQuestion:

How would you like to proceed?

1. Approve all - Route everything as shown
2. Go one-by-one - Review each item individually
3. Modify - Change specific classifications before routing
4. Skip all - Don't process any captures right now

Key points:

• Show [PROCESSED] flag for already-summarized content

• RESEARCH items present in preview table with spawn option - user approves before spawning

• Let user approve, modify, or skip before any changes

Step 6: Route by Classification

After approval, route each capture:

Classification Destination Format

TASK Ready

• [action] (MM-DD)

IDEA Ready

• Consider: [idea] (MM-DD)

REFERENCE Ready

• Review: linked title - brief context (MM-DD)

RESEARCH If approved: spawn agent See Step 7

PROJECT_UPDATE Project file Timestamped append to ## Context Gathered

CONTACT Create note + Ready

• Follow up with [Name] (MM-DD)

IMPORTANT: Review tasks MUST include links.

For REFERENCE items, always include the source link so Ed can find it:

• X bookmarks: Title

• Articles: Article Title

• Obsidian docs: [[Document Name]]

• YouTube: Video Title

If a capture has no URL but references external content, note this: (source needed)

Edit Instructions:

For each item routed to Ready:

• Open today's daily note at: /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/YYYY-MM-DD.md

• Find the ## Ready section

• Use Edit tool to append the task in the format shown above

• Do NOT add to ## Captures

• that section is for document links only

Example Edit operation:

old_string: "## Ready\n- [ ] existing task" new_string: "## Ready\n- [ ] existing task\n- [ ] [new task from capture] (01-06)"

If creating PROJECT or CONTACT files: Those files get created separately, and a LINK to them goes in Ready as a task (e.g., - [ ] [[PROJECT - Name]] - brief desc ).

Step 7: Handle Research (Only When Requested)

Only spawn research-swarm if:

• User explicitly approved during Step 5 preview

• Capture has Research: inline hint AND user confirmed

For each approved RESEARCH item:

Task( description="Research: [Topic]", prompt="Research question: [Full capture content]

Use research-swarm pattern to investigate. Save findings to Zettelkasten. When complete, add review task to Ready: '- [ ] Review: [[Research - Topic]] (MM-DD)'", subagent_type="research-swarm", run_in_background=true )

Add placeholder to daily note:

• [RESEARCH] [Topic] - swarm running in background

Step 8: Handle Contacts

When a capture mentions a person with action context:

• Check if CONTACT - [Name].md exists

• If exists: Append to ## Interactions section

• If new: Create contact note using template

• Always add follow-up task to Ready

Contact Note Template:

type: contact created: YYYY-MM-DD source: capture-triage

[Person Name]

Context

[Original capture content]

Interactions

• YYYY-MM-DD: Initial capture - [summary]

Follow-up

[Any implied next steps]

Step 9: Move to Processed

After routing each capture:

mv "[Inbox file]" "[Processed folder]"

Move files to Inbox/Processed/ as safety net (preserves originals).

Step 10: Generate Triage Summary

Capture Triage - YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM

Processed: N items | Research spawned: M (if any)

Routed to Ready

• [N] tasks
• [N] ideas (Consider:)
• [N] references (Review:)

Research Running

• [Topic] - spawned at HH:MM

Actions Taken

• Moved N files to Inbox/Processed/
• Created CONTACT - [Name].md (if any)
• Updated PROJECT - [Name].md (if any)

Examples

Example 1: Dry Run Preview

Inbox folder contains 4 files:

1. "Call dentist Monday about cleaning"
2. "What if we did a 5-day hook challenge?"
3. [PROCESSED] "Summary of Karpathy video - 6 paradigm shifts..."
4. "Research: how do successful coaches use AI?"

Skill shows:

Capture Triage Preview

Approve all, modify, or skip items?

Example 2: After Approval

User approves all, including research swarm for #4.

Result:

• Ready gets 3 new tasks + 1 research placeholder

• Research-swarm spawns in background

• All 4 files moved to Processed/

• Summary generated

Guidelines

• Two-step preview - Show table first, ask decision second (separate messages)

• Ready, not Captures - All triaged items become tasks in ## Ready section

• Dry run is standard - Always show preview before routing

• Respect inline hints - They override auto-detection

• Research-swarm is opt-in - Ask before spawning

• [PROCESSED] content - Flag summaries, suggest REFERENCE routing

• Everything to Ready - Let task-clarity-scanner handle prioritization

• Preserve originals - Move to Processed/ folder as safety net

• Review tasks need links - Always include source URL or wikilink so Ed can find the content

Version History

Version Date Changes

1.0 2025-01-05 Initial build as inbox-triage

2.0 2025-01-05 Renamed to capture-triage, added dry run, AskUserQuestion flow, all routes to Ready

2.1 2026-01-06 Renamed folder Captures→Inbox, split Step 5 into two-step preview, explicit Ready section routing, background OK for classification

2.2 2026-01-12 Added requirement: Review tasks MUST include source links (URL or wikilink). Added Step 3b to extract URLs from frontmatter (especially x-bookmark tweet_url)

Notes & Learnings

• Day 1 test processed 32 captures with backlog - dry run prevented overwhelm

• [PROCESSED] detection helps avoid re-researching already-summarized content

• Research-swarm opt-in prevents runaway agent spawning

• Review tasks without links are useless - Ed can't find the content to review (added v2.2)