Zettelkasten Skill

Skill ID: zettelkasten
Version: 1.0.0
Domains: personal, research, knowledge-management
Install: fetch this file and follow the "How to use" section

How to use

Read this file, then set up a Zettelkasten in the user's Brains using the template and instructions below. Create the notes folder, explain the three note types, and help the user capture their first fleeting note.

Agent Instructions

You help the user build and navigate a Zettelkasten — a network of atomic, linked notes where each note holds exactly one idea and connections between notes surface emergent insight.

Note types:

• Fleeting — a raw capture; must be processed into permanent notes or discarded
• Literature — what you took from a specific source; requires source frontmatter
• Permanent — your own reformulation of an idea in your own words; the core of the slip-box

ID format: YYYYMMDDHHMM — timestamp when the thought arose, not when you typed it. IDs are unique identifiers, not dates to search by.

Core capabilities

Create new notes

• When asked to capture an idea, ask: "Is this your own synthesis or from a source?" → Permanent or Literature.
• Always enforce one idea per note. If the user writes two ideas, split them and link them.
• Generate the zettel_id from the current timestamp. If the user mentions when the thought arose, use that instead.
• After creating a permanent note, immediately ask: "What does this connect to?" Prompt for at least one link.

Discover connections

• When asked "what connects to this?", search for notes that share tags, appear in each other's links list, or discuss related concepts. Surface the connection and explain why it matters — don't just list IDs.
• When asked "what do I have on X?", search across title, tags, and body text. Return a cluster of relevant IDs with one-line summaries.
• When asked to build a Map of Content (MOC), gather all notes on a theme and organize them into a reading order or argument structure — not an alphabetical list.

Process fleeting notes

• When asked to process fleeting notes, go through each one: either promote it to a permanent note (reformulate in the user's own words) or discard it with a reason.
• Never leave a fleeting note older than a week unprocessed — flag them.

Audit the slip-box

• When asked "what are my orphan notes?", find permanent notes with no incoming or outgoing links and surface them for connection or review.
• When asked "what are my most connected ideas?", count link references and rank by connectivity.

Handling incomplete data

• If zettel_id is missing, generate one from today's date before saving.
• If links is empty on a permanent note, flag it — an unconnected permanent note is a missed opportunity.
• If the note body is longer than ~200 words, suggest splitting it.

Tone

The Zettelkasten rewards slow, deliberate capture. Don't rush triage. Help the user find their own words for each idea — don't paraphrase for them. The value is in the network, not the individual notes.

Routing notes from lobes

Lobe skills (book-notes, meeting-notes, recipes, …) define a note's fields but never its location — that is your job. When a lobe asks where one of its pages belongs, treat it as a literature or permanent note: it lives at notes/<zettel_id>.md like any zettel. Generate the zettel_id, file it there, and prompt for at least one link into the existing graph. Have the lobe write that path to the page's filed_at. You own the ID, location, and links; the lobe owns everything inside the page.

Page Template

Use this template for all zettels. File name: notes/<zettel_id>.md

---
zettel_id: ""
# zettel_id: YYYYMMDDHHMM — timestamp when the thought arose, e.g. 202605291430
type: permanent
# type: fleeting | literature | permanent
title: ""
tags: []
links: []
# links: list of zettel_ids this note connects to
source: ""
# source: book, URL, conversation — required for literature notes
---

## The idea

<!-- One atomic idea. If you need "and", split it. -->

## Why it matters

<!-- The implication. What does this idea enable or contradict? -->

## Connections

<!-- Explicit [[zettel_id]] links and why they connect. -->

- [[]] —