Monthly Review

Generates a monthly review without asking questions. Aggregates data across the full month and writes a [!monthly-review]- block into the monthly note, then appends a minimal space for the user's own reflections.

Language Detection

Before generating any content, detect the user's writing language. Read the 5 most recent daily notes (periodic/daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md). In non-frontmatter, non-wikilink, non-tag text, count Cyrillic vs Latin characters. If Cyrillic > 30% → write the entire review in Russian. Otherwise → English.

Apply to ALL section headers, metric labels, inference lines (→), and participation prompts. Callout types and wikilinks remain unchanged regardless of detected language.

Monthly Note Format

Path: periodic/monthly/YYYY-MM.md

Compute parent quarter (cross-platform, using obsidian eval):

obsidian eval code="const d=new Date();const q=Math.ceil((d.getMonth()+1)/3);d.getFullYear()+'-Q'+q"
# output: 2026-Q1

Frontmatter (exact from template):

---
tags:
  - periodic/month
up:
  - "[[periodic/quarterly/YYYY-QN|YYYY-QN]]"
created: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ
updated: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ
reviewed: false
cssclasses:
  - hide-backlinks
---

> [!success]- 🔻 history 🔻
> `$=await dv.view("templates/views/periodic", {type: "week"})`

If the monthly note already exists — find [!monthly-review]- and replace it. Otherwise create with the template above, then append the review block after [!success]-.

Execution Flow

User: "monthly review" / "итоги месяца" / "месячный обзор"
    |
1. Determine current month (YYYY-MM) and its date range
    |
2. Find or create periodic/monthly/YYYY-MM.md
    |
3. Detect language from last 5 daily notes
    |
4. Gather IN PARALLEL:
   a. Velocity — count notes, tasks, sources from this month
   b. Planned vs actual — read user-written sections from this month's weekly notes
   c. Thematic analysis — wikilink frequency in weekly reviews + daily notes
   d. Stale notes — find notes not updated 30+ days in hot categories
   e. Project health — find projects stuck 14+ days without update
    |
5. For each section: collect data → derive one "→" inference from the specific pattern
    |
6. Write [!monthly-review]- callout into monthly note
    |
7. Append user participation section below the callout (outside it)
    |
8. Minimal chat confirmation

Velocity

Count activity created or completed during YYYY-MM.

Notes created

obsidian search query="[created: YYYY-MM]" path=base/notes total    # notes in base/notes
obsidian search query="[created: YYYY-MM]" path=base/additions total  # notes in additions

Notes created = new ideas that made it into the knowledge base this month — the output side of the system.

Tasks closed

obsidian search query="✅ YYYY-MM" total  # count lines with completion marker for this month

Tasks closed = completed actions tracked in the GTD system. Not emails, not informal to-dos — only tasks in the vault.

Sources processed

obsidian search query="[status: 🟩] [end: YYYY-MM]" path=sources total

Sources processed = books, articles, videos, courses, etc. marked as finished (status: 🟩 + end date set). These are inputs to the system.

Format:

> **Velocity:**
> - Notes created: 14 (base/notes: 11, additions: 3)
> - Tasks closed: 47
> - Sources processed: 6

→ Inference: After collecting velocity, derive one data-specific observation. Look for:

• Sources >> Notes: consuming more than synthesizing — knowledge accumulates but isn't being processed
• Notes >> Sources: actively building the knowledge base from internal thinking or previous material
• Low across all three: rest month, or was something blocking the system?
• Compare to previous month if its [!monthly-review]- block is available — show delta

Write the inference in detected language. Skip if no clear pattern.

Planned vs Actual

Read the user-written sections from this month's weekly notes. Specifically: text BELOW the [!weekly-review]- callout block in each of the month's weekly notes (typically 4–5 notes). This is what the user wrote as their own focus and reflections after each weekly review.

Look for:

• "Focus for next week:" / "Фокус на следующую неделю:" entries
• Any stated goals or intentions written below the callout

Cross-reference with what actually happened (velocity data, themes, project progress).

> **Planned vs Actual:**
> - Stated: focus on [[writing process]], finish [[Blog Draft]]
> - Actual: [[learning systems]] dominated (14 refs), [[Blog Draft]] still 🟦
> - Unplanned: [[productivity systems]] emerged mid-month

If no user-written sections found in any weekly notes — write:

> **Planned vs Actual:** No weekly focus recorded this month. Write your focus after each weekly review — it will feed this section next month.

→ Inference: Was the drift from the stated focus intentional (genuine reprioritization) or reactive (distraction, events)? A large gap between planned and actual with no explanation in the user's notes is a signal worth examining.

Write the inference in detected language. Skip this "→" if no stated focus existed.

Thematic Analysis

Identify which knowledge areas received attention and which were ignored.

What grew

Aggregate all wikilinks from this month's weekly notes (periodic/weekly/YYYY-W*.md where the week falls within the month) and the month's daily notes. Count frequency of links to:

• base/_meta-notes/
• base/notes/

Top 3–5 by mention count = growing categories.

What stagnated

Cross-reference: take meta-notes that were active in the previous month's weekly reviews but absent this month. If no previous month data exists — skip stagnation, only show growth.

> **Themes:**
> - Growing: [[writing process]] (18), [[learning systems]] (11), [[productivity]] (7)
> - Stagnating: [[computer science]], [[economics]] — active last month, 0 mentions now

If no previous month data — show only "Growing:" line.

→ Inference: After listing themes, derive one data-specific observation. Look for:

• Multiple themes growing simultaneously → broad sprint or scattered focus — is depth happening anywhere?
• A theme grew in mentions but no new note was created → reading/thinking without writing
• A theme the user said they wanted to focus on (from weekly focus sections) ended up stagnating → it's harder than expected
• Only 1 theme active → intense focus, or are other areas being neglected?

Write the inference in detected language. Skip if no clear pattern.

Stale Notes Alert

Surface notes in currently-active knowledge areas that haven't been touched in 30+ days.

Process

1. Take the top 3 growing themes from Thematic Analysis (the hot meta-notes/categories this month)
2. For each: find notes that link to it (via wikilinks or up: frontmatter)
3. Filter: keep only notes where updated: frontmatter is older than 30 days from today
4. Sort by updated: date ascending (oldest first)
5. Show up to 3 per theme, max 9 total

> **Stale notes:**
> - [[note about topic X]] — last updated 2025-11-14 (97 days)
> - [[another relevant note]] — last updated 2025-12-03 (78 days)
> - [[old concept note]] — last updated 2026-01-02 (48 days)

These notes live in your most active knowledge areas but haven't been touched in over a month. They may contain outdated thinking, or untapped connections to your recent work.

→ Inference: Stale notes in hot categories mean attention is flowing into the area but not reaching the existing knowledge base. Worth asking: are these notes complete and filed, outdated and needing revision, or simply forgotten?

If nothing stale in active areas — skip section silently.

Project Health

Find projects that may be stuck or neglected.

Stuck projects

obsidian search query="tag:#project [status: 🟦]"   # in progress
obsidian search query="tag:#project [status: 🟥]"   # todo
# Then filter by updated: frontmatter date — keep only those 14+ days before today

For each stuck project: show name, status, and how many days since last update.

Dormant projects

Projects with status: 🟥 (todo) that have created: older than 30 days and no recent mentions in daily or weekly notes. Use obsidian search query="tag:#project [status: 🟥]" then filter by created: date.

> **Project health:**
> - [[Long-form Essay Collection]] 🟦 — no update for 23 days
> - [[Home Lab Documentation]] 🟦 — no update for 41 days
> - [[Course Outline Draft]] 🟥 — planned 35 days ago, never started

→ Inference: After listing, derive one data-specific observation. Look for:

• Project stuck 30+ days: is it genuinely in progress or silently abandoned?
• Dormant backlog growing: planning without execution — the gap between intention and action
• All projects updated recently: healthy execution pace — worth noting

Write the inference in detected language. If all projects were updated recently — write: All active projects updated within 14 days. (in detected language)

Output Format

Full callout written into monthly note:

> [!monthly-review]- Monthly review — YYYY-MM
> **Velocity:**
> - Notes created: N (base/notes: N, additions: N)
> - Tasks closed: N
> - Sources processed: N
> → [inference about velocity balance — only if clear pattern]
>
> **Planned vs Actual:**
> - Stated: ...
> - Actual: ...
> → [inference about gap — only if stated focus existed]
>
> **Themes:**
> - Growing: [[theme-a]] (N), [[theme-b]] (N)
> - Stagnating: [[theme-c]], [[theme-d]]
> → [inference about attention pattern — only if clear pattern]
>
> **Stale notes:**
> - [[note title]] — last updated YYYY-MM-DD (N days)
> → [inference about knowledge base freshness]
>
> **Project health:**
> - [[Project Name]] 🟦 — no update for N days
> → [inference about execution pattern — only if clear pattern]

Rules:

• Write into note — never just output to chat
• Collapsed by default (- suffix on callout)
• Callout title includes month: [!monthly-review]- Monthly review — 2026-02
• All labels translated to detected language
• Skip sections with no content — don't write empty headers
• Skip "→" inference lines where no clear pattern exists — never write generic lines
• Every reference = [[wikilink]], never vague filenames or paths

User Participation Sections

After the [!monthly-review]- callout, appended outside it (in the note body), with a horizontal rule separator:

Default form (always):

---
**Мои выводы / My conclusions:**

**Фокус на следующий месяц / Focus for next month:**

Extended form (when review data shows a specific sharp pattern):

---
*[One direct question from the review's most significant finding — e.g., "[[learning systems]] вытеснил запланированный фокус — это новый приоритет или отклонение?" / "Did [[learning systems]] replace your planned focus, or is this a new priority?"]*

**Мои выводы / My conclusions:**

**Фокус на следующий месяц / Focus for next month:**

Write the italic question in detected language. Use extended form only when a pattern is unambiguous.

Note: The "Focus for next month" section is read by the quarterly-review skill when computing Planned vs Actual.

Chat Output

After writing, confirm minimally:

Review written → periodic/monthly/2026-02.md

Velocity: 14 notes, 47 tasks, 6 sources.
Themes: writing process (18), learning systems (11).
Stale: 3 notes.
Projects: 2 stuck, 1 dormant.

If the note was created — first line: Created periodic/monthly/2026-02.md + review. Adapt language of confirmation to match detected language.