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

wiki-capture