Capture session notes to Thinking log

v2 — Research & decision capture

Captures key takeaways from the current session and writes a note to a Thinking log. Auto-detects whether the session was research/exploration or a decision, and uses the appropriate template.

Setup

By default, notes are saved to separate work and personal directories inside ~/SecondBrain/:

• Work → ~/SecondBrain/2Work/Thinking/
• Personal → ~/SecondBrain/1Personal/Thinking/

The skill classifies each session as work or personal and saves to the appropriate directory.

Arguments

$ARGUMENTS can include (in any order):

• (none) — auto-detect type, full capture
• quick — abbreviated capture (skip Open Questions, Follow-ups, and Context/Source sections)
• research — force research template
• decision — force decision template

Examples: /done, /done quick, /done research, /done decision quick

Instructions

Step 1: Determine Session Type

If $ARGUMENTS contains research or decision, use that template.

Otherwise, analyze the conversation to auto-detect:

• Decision — the session contains an explicit choice between options, a comparison that led to a conclusion, or a commitment to a specific course of action. Look for: "go with X", "decided on", choosing between alternatives, weighing pros/cons with a winner.
• Research — the session contains exploration, synthesis, learning, or analysis without converging on a binary choice. Look for: investigating a topic, reading/summarizing content, understanding how something works, gathering information.
• Mixed — if the session contains both research and a decision, prefer the Decision template. The research naturally becomes the Context and Rationale sections.
• Genuinely ambiguous — ask the user: "This session had both research and decision elements. Should I capture this as a decision or research note?"

Step 2: Determine Output Directory

Classify the session topic to decide where the note is saved:

• Work → ~/SecondBrain/2Work/Thinking/ — directly related to your job, company, product, engineering, hiring, customers, etc.
• Personal → ~/SecondBrain/1Personal/Thinking/ — everything else (personal research, family, investments, health, side projects, general knowledge, etc.)

Step 3: Extract Content

Review the full conversation and extract the relevant content for the detected template.

For Decision sessions, extract:

• The decision itself (clear, bold statement)
• Context that led to the decision
• Rationale (why this choice wins)
• Alternatives considered (and why they lost)
• Action items / next steps
• Sources (emails, documents, links, conversations referenced)

For Research sessions, extract:

• A 1-2 sentence summary of what was researched and why
• Key findings — the substantive takeaways. Be flexible with format: use prose paragraphs for nuanced points, bullet lists for enumerations, sub-headings (###) for distinct sub-topics, and blockquotes for exact quotes or citations. Match the format to the content.
• Open questions — unresolved items raised but not answered
• Follow-ups — concrete next actions (as checkboxes)
• Sources — documents, links, emails, or conversations referenced

Important: Only include sections that have real content. Never write "None", "None created", "N/A", or leave a section empty. If there are no open questions, omit the Open Questions section entirely.

Step 4: Write the Note

Create a new file in the output directory named: YYYY-MM-DD - Topic Name.md

Use Title Case with spaces for the topic name (e.g., 2026-02-24 - EV Charging Selection.md, 2026-02-26 - Trust Signing Authority Research.md).

If a file with the same name already exists, append a number: 2026-02-26 - Topic Name 2.md

Decision Template

**Decision:** [Clear statement of what was decided]

**Context:**
- [Relevant background point]
- [Relevant background point]

**Rationale:**
- [Why this choice wins — specific, concrete reasons]
- [Why this choice wins]

**Alternatives Considered:**
- [Alternative 1]: [Why it wasn't chosen]
- [Alternative 2]: [Why it wasn't chosen]

**Action:** [Next step(s) — who does what]

**Source:** [Where the information came from — emails, docs, links, conversations]

Research Template

# [Topic Name]

**Summary:** [1-2 sentence summary of what was researched and the key takeaway]

## Key Findings

[Flexible format. Use whatever structure best fits the content:
- Prose paragraphs for nuanced analysis
- Bullet points for lists of facts
- Sub-headings (###) for distinct sub-topics
- Blockquotes (>) for exact quotes or citations
- Combinations of all of the above]

## Open Questions
- [Unresolved question 1]
- [Unresolved question 2]

## Follow-ups
- [ ] [Concrete next action 1]
- [ ] [Concrete next action 2]

## Sources
- [Source 1 — document path, URL, email thread, etc.]

Quick Mode

For quick captures, use abbreviated versions:

Quick Decision — include only: Decision, Rationale (2-3 bullets max), and Action. Skip Context, Alternatives, and Source.

Quick Research — include only: the # title, Summary, and Key Findings (condensed to the most important 3-5 points). Skip Open Questions, Follow-ups, and Sources.

Step 5: Confirm

Display a brief confirmation:

CAPTURED: [Topic Name]
Type: [Decision/Research]
Saved to: [directory]/[filename].md

If there are follow-ups, add:

Next: [Most important follow-up item]

Error Handling

• No substantive content: If the session was just a quick lookup or greeting, report: "Nothing to capture — session was too brief."
• File write fails: Display the full note content in the terminal so it can be manually saved.