capture

Turn a conversation fragment into a raw capture in one shot. No editing, no synthesis, no triage. Processing happens later via /ingest.

Trigger phrases

Invoke this skill when the user says any of:

• "capture this"
• "save this"
• "add to inbox"
• "put this in my brain"
• "jot this down"
• "keep this for later"
• "hold onto this"

Or when the user describes something valuable mid-conversation and asks Claude to remember it without acting on it.

Steps

1. Figure out the content

The content is whatever the user just said or referenced. Three cases:

• Direct content — user pasted a quote, a link, a thought. Use verbatim.
• Referenced content — user said "capture that thing Ravi said about pricing." Scroll back in the conversation, lift the exact passage, include attribution.
• User instruction — user says "capture this: I want to try usage-based pricing." Use the instruction as the capture body.

If the content is ambiguous, ask one clarifying question: "Capture [A] or [B]?" Do not invent content.

2. Build the filename

inbox/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>.md

Slug rules:

• Lowercase, hyphen-separated, 3-6 words
• Derived from the content itself — not the surrounding conversation
• Examples: inbox/2026-04-23-ravi-on-hybrid-pricing.md, inbox/2026-04-23-karpathy-llm-wiki-gist.md

If a file with the same name exists, append -2, -3, etc.

3. Write the frontmatter + body

---
title: <one-line summary of what's being captured>
date: <YYYY-MM-DD>
status: raw
source: <where this came from — conversation, URL, person, meeting, etc.>
---

# <title>

<the captured content — verbatim where possible>

## Context

<1-2 sentences on why this was captured — what the user said or what triggered it>

4. Confirm succinctly

Return one line:

Captured → inbox/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>.md

Do not summarize the content back. Do not suggest next steps. The capture is the whole action.

What NOT to do

• Do not /ingest the file. Capture and ingest are separate phases. The user will run /quick-sync at session end (or /ingest explicitly) to process the inbox.
• Do not overwrite an existing inbox file. Append -2 if collision.
• Do not write a wiki page directly. Capture goes to inbox/ only. Wiki pages get enriched by /ingest later.
• Do not edit the user's phrasing. Capture verbatim when possible.

Failure modes

• No content clear → ask: "Capture what exactly? Paste the text or point me at the message."
• File collision with different content → append -2 or -3. Never overwrite.
• inbox/ missing → create inbox/.gitkeep first, then the capture.