| name | para-method |
| description | File notes with Tiago Forte's PARA method — Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives — using the para CLI. |
PARA method
PARA is a filing system, not a writing system. Capture first, then put each note in exactly one of four buckets.
| Bucket | Question | Lives until |
|---|
| Project | Does this have a finish line and a concrete outcome? | The outcome is shipped, then archive it |
| Area | Is this a standing responsibility with a standard to keep? | The role ends |
| Resource | Is this a topic you want to keep around? | It stops being useful, then archive it |
| Archive | Is this inactive but worth keeping? | Forever, for search |
Never invent a fifth top-level bucket. If it is not a project, area, or resource, it is either still in the inbox or it belongs in the archive.
Capture, then file
- Dump raw notes into the inbox. Do not classify while capturing.
- On a review pass, give each inbox item one home:
- a deadline + outcome →
para project create
- an ongoing role →
para area create
- a topic to keep →
para resource create
- done or inactive →
para archive create
- Clear the inbox body after everything is filed.
- Append a review row so the sweep is visible later.
Use para; do not create vault folders or markdown files by hand.
Decision rules
- A project without a due date or outcome is an area in disguise. Fix the fields, do not keep it as a project.
- An area with a finish line is a project. Move it.
- Resources are references. They do not have owners or deadlines.
- When a project is
done, copy the useful body into an archive item with --origin project and delete or leave the project as done only until the next review.
- Prefer kebab-case ids:
ship-para-cli, health, golang-generics.
Review cadence
- Weekly: inbox to zero, project statuses, what moved to archive.
- Monthly: area standards still true? resources still used?
- Log every sweep with
para review append --kind weekly|monthly|ad-hoc.
Scope
- Project vault (default): files sit next to the working directory (
INBOX.md, Projects/, …). Review rows go in .para/reviews.ndjson.
- Personal vault:
para --scope global ... stores the same layout under ~/.para/.
