core

name

core

description

Digital Cortex orchestrator — personal operating system built on Claude Code and Obsidian. Activate when the user interacts with their Obsidian vault, invokes Digital Cortex commands (/brief, /review, /weekly, /process, /capture, /task, /reminder, /today, /tasks, /projects, /status, /sync, /help), uses natural language that maps to these commands ("start my day", "let's do the morning brief", "what's on today", "evening review time", "show me my tasks"), or works with vault notes, daily notes, inbox processing, or personal task management. This skill loads the system configuration from 9_Meta/config.yaml, understands the vault structure, and dispatches to the appropriate dc:* feature skill.

Digital Cortex — Core

Vision

A personal operating system that reduces friction in capturing ideas, tasks, and information while proactively synthesizing inputs from work tools into actionable daily guidance. Implements PARA for organization and GTD for processing, with Claude as an intelligent layer that prepares briefs, facilitates reviews, and maintains the system.

Core Principles

1. Frictionless capture — any thought enters the system with minimal effort
2. Async processing — captures accumulate; Claude processes them on schedule
3. Proactive synthesis — Claude pulls from external sources and prepares actionable briefs
4. Explicit memory — all configuration, prompts, and preferences are visible and editable
5. Graceful degradation — system works offline and tolerates partial failures
6. Portability — no hardcoded personal data; everything configurable via 9_Meta/config.yaml

Architecture

CAPTURE LAYER (Share Extension, Quick Capture, Voice Memo)
        │
        ▼
OBSIDIAN VAULT (0_Inbox → 6_Archive, organized by PARA)
        │
        ▼
CLAUDE CODE LAYER (Rituals, Processing, Queries)
        │
        ▼
EXTERNAL SOURCES (Gmail, Calendar, Slack, P2, Linear, Reminders)

Vault Structure

Folder	Purpose
0_Inbox/	Daily notes + unprocessed captures
1_Fleeting/	Processed notes without a home yet
2_Drafts/	Work-in-progress posts (folders)
3_Projects/	Active projects (folders with index)
4_Areas/	Ongoing responsibilities (files)
5_Resources/	Reference material
6_Archive/	Completed/processed items; Daily Notes/YYYY/MM/
7_Assets/	Linked files (images, PDFs, etc.)
8_People/	One markdown file per person (PRM)
9_Meta/	Config, Prompts, memory, state

Configuration

On activation, read 9_Meta/config.yaml to understand:

• User profile: name, email, timezone
• Enabled sources: which external services are connected
• Vault settings: daily note format, archive path, stale thresholds
• Behavior modes: suggestion vs autonomous, retry settings

Resolve {{variables}} in templates using config values and computed dates. See References/config-schema.md for the full schema, variable syntax, state tracking, and template format.

Feature Skills

Each feature is a separate dc:* skill. Dispatch to the appropriate one based on context.

Skill	Feature	Handles
dc:vault-structure	F01	Vault scaffolding, folder creation, structure validation
dc:capture	F02	Share extension, quick capture, voice memo
dc:daily-note	F03	Daily note creation, structure, archival
dc:frontmatter	F04	Frontmatter schemas for all entity types
dc:morning-brief	F05	Morning brief orchestration and source synthesis
dc:evening-review	F06	Interactive daily reflection and processing
dc:weekly-review	F07	Projects review, fleeting notes, week-ahead planning
dc:inbox	F08	On-demand inbox triage with suggestions
dc:tasks	F09	Linear + Apple Reminders integration
dc:sources	F10	External source connections and sync
dc:commands	F11	Command parsing, help, error messages
dc:errors	F12	Graceful degradation, offline mode, retry queue
dc:templates	F13	Prompt templates and configuration management
dc:bootstrap	F14	First-run setup and reconfiguration
dc:people	F15	Personal relationship management

Command Routing

When the user invokes a command (slash, CLI, or natural language), route to the right skill:

Rituals

Command	Aliases	Natural Language	Skill
/brief	/morning, /am	"start my day", "morning brief"	dc:morning-brief
/review	/evening, /pm	"evening review time"	dc:evening-review
/weekly	/week	"weekly review"	dc:weekly-review
/process	/inbox	"let's process the inbox"	dc:inbox

Capture

Command	Natural Language	Skill
/capture <text>	(direct capture)	dc:capture
/task <text>	"create a task to..."	dc:tasks
/reminder <text>	"remind me to..."	dc:tasks
/shopping <text>	"I need to buy..."	dc:tasks

Query

Command	Natural Language	Skill
/today	"what's on today?"	dc:morning-brief
/tasks	"show me my tasks"	dc:tasks
/projects	"what projects are active?"	dc:frontmatter
/blocked	"what's blocked?"	dc:frontmatter
/people <name>	"tell me about Jane"	dc:people

System

Command	Skill
/status	dc:errors
/sync	dc:sources
/help	dc:commands

Error Handling

Apply these principles across all operations:

1. Partial success over total failure — if a source fails, continue with what works
2. Transparency — always show what's missing or stale
3. No data loss — queue failed writes in 9_Meta/pending.json, retry automatically
4. Local-first — core vault operations work without network
5. Graceful recovery — self-heal when connectivity returns

Source freshness thresholds:

• < 30 min: fresh
• 30 min – 4 hours: usable, show "synced X ago"
• > 4 hours: stale, warn prominently

Interaction Modes

Two modes defined in config under behavior:

• Suggestion (default for briefs): Claude prepares, user approves each item
• Interactive (default for reviews): Claude guides a step-by-step conversation

Never auto-file, auto-create tasks, or auto-send without explicit user confirmation unless the user has set autonomous mode for that specific operation.

Implementation Phases

Features are built incrementally. When a feature skill doesn't exist yet, acknowledge it and offer to help with what's available:

1. Foundation: F01 (vault), F14 (bootstrap), F13 (templates)
2. Capture & Processing: F02 (capture), F03 (daily note), F04 (frontmatter), F08 (inbox)
3. Rituals: F05 (morning brief), F06 (evening review), F07 (weekly review)
4. Integration: F10 (sources), F09 (tasks), F15 (people)
5. Polish: F11 (commands), F12 (errors), F14 (bootstrap complete)