ctx-kb-note

name	ctx-kb-note
description	Lightweight capture into .context/ingest/findings.md. Single argument is the note text. Never writes to a topic page or to evidence-index.md. The pipeline's ad-hoc escape hatch for "park this for the next ingest".

Park a Finding for the Next Ingest

Append a short note to .context/ingest/findings.md so a later /ctx-kb-ingest pass can pick it up. This is the pipeline's escape hatch for "I want to remember this, but I'm not running a full ingest right now." No closeout, no ledger update, no topic-page edit, no EV-### minting. Just typed memory landing in one well-known file.

Authoritative background reading: .context/ingest/KB-RULES.md §Authority boundary; specs/kb-editorial-pipeline.md §Interface.

When to Use

• The user says "drop a note", "capture this for the next ingest", "park this finding", or invokes the explicit slash form with note text.
• A conversation surfaces a fact, link, or observation that should land in the kb later but does not justify running /ctx-kb-ingest right now.
• Mid-session, a sibling skill (architecture, brainstorm, etc.) surfaces something kb-shaped and the user wants it parked cheaply.

When NOT to Use

• The user has sources in hand and wants them ingested (use /ctx-kb-ingest).
• The user is asking a content question (use /ctx-kb-ask).
• The note is actually a task / decision / learning / convention for the code-dev side (use /ctx-task-add / /ctx-decision-add / /ctx-learning-add / /ctx-convention-add; those write to canonical files, this one does not).
• The note is empty (refuse-on-empty; see below).

Authority Boundary (vs Other Skills)

• /ctx-kb-note appends to .context/ingest/findings.md only. Never writes anywhere else. No closeout. No ledger update.
• /ctx-kb-ingest reads findings.md opportunistically when scoping its source set; the user controls when notes get promoted into evidence.
• Canonical capture skills (/ctx-task-add, /ctx-decision-add, /ctx-learning-add, /ctx-convention-add) write to the five canonical .context/ files. Strict authority boundary: this skill never touches them.

Usage Examples

/ctx-kb-note "cursor.com/changelog mentions hook lifecycle bump in v1.2"
/ctx-kb-note "check whether your-domain RTO claim still cites the 2024 audit"
/ctx-kb-note "Volkan said in chat: the 50-source cap was lifted from the upstream design"

Input Contract

A single argument: the note text. Free-form prose. No flags.

Refuse-on-Empty

If the invocation supplied no note text (empty slash arg, empty inline body, whitespace-only), return exactly:

no note text provided; pass the note inline.

Stop. Do not prompt interactively. The CLI enforces this independently via cmd/note.

Pre-Write Gates

Two distinct refusals, each leaves zero residue:

• .context/ missing → suggest ctx init and stop.

• .context/ingest/ missing → refuse:

  kb not initialized; run ctx init first

  Stop.

Kb scope declaration is not required for this skill. Notes land in .context/ingest/findings.md, which is pre-kb-scope territory; the user may be parking notes precisely because they have not yet decided the kb's scope.

Process

1. Verify pre-write gates. Refuse cleanly if any gate fails. Zero residue on refusal.

2. Append the note to .context/ingest/findings.md as a single bulleted line. Prefix with the current UTC timestamp (RFC-3339, date-time precision) and a short SHA + branch from gitmeta.ResolveHead so the note carries minimal provenance:

   - 2026-05-16T14:32:11Z sha=88d52870 branch=main
     | <note text>
   

   If findings.md does not yet exist, create it with a brief header explaining its purpose (one paragraph; the embedded template ships at internal/assets/kb/templates/ingest/ handles this for fresh inits, so this fallback applies only when the file was deleted by hand).

3. No closeout. Notes are intentionally lightweight; the audit trail is the file itself. The next /ctx-kb-ingest pass reads findings.md opportunistically.

Edge Cases

Case	Expected behavior
Empty note text	Refuse with the standard no-note text. No residue.
.context/ missing	Refuse; suggest ctx init. No residue.
.context/ingest/ missing	Refuse with the not-initialized message. No residue.
findings.md missing but .context/ingest/ exists	Create the file with a brief header; append the note.
Multi-line note text	Append as a single bullet with embedded line breaks; preserve the user's formatting.
Note text contains a URL	Preserve verbatim; do not auto-fetch (this skill does not web-jump).
Note text is structurally a claim that should be evidence	Append as a note anyway; mention in the response that /ctx-kb-ingest is the next step if the user wants it minted as EV-###.
User invokes twice in a row with similar text	Append both; deduplication is the user's call, not this skill's.

Output Contract

For refusals, return only the specified refusal text and stop.

For successful appends, return:

• One line confirming the append, with the line number of the new entry in findings.md.
• A pointer to /ctx-kb-ingest as the path for promoting the note into evidence when the user is ready.

Example:

appended to .context/ingest/findings.md line 42.
run /ctx-kb-ingest with the source materials when ready to mint EV.

Quality Checklist

Before reporting completion, verify:

• Pre-write gates passed (or the matching refusal was returned with zero residue).
• The note landed in .context/ingest/findings.md and nowhere else.
• No EV-### row was minted, no topic page was touched, no ledger row was advanced, no closeout was written.
• The appended line carries the timestamp + sha + branch provenance prefix.