cothoughtproject

name	cothought:project
description	Capture, document, and research a new project idea. Use when the user has a project idea to explore — creates a research note, does web research, and links it in projects.md. Does NOT create a repo (use /cothought:begin-project for that).
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, WebSearch, WebFetch, Task

Project

Capture a project idea, research it, and create a proper project note linked into the network. This skill is for the thinking and documenting phase — exploring what a project could be, gathering research, and writing it up. It does NOT create repos, folders, or code. When the user is ready to start building, they use /cothought:begin-project.

Setup

Today's date: !date +%m-%d-%Y

Load config: Read ~/.claude/cothought.json. If it doesn't exist, tell the user to run /cothought:setup first and stop. Extract notes_dir.

Notes directory: <notes_dir from config>

1. Read the zettelkasten skill (in this plugin's skills/zettelkasten/skill.md) for note format conventions, linking rules, and history table requirements.
2. Read projects.md in the notes directory to see existing projects.
3. If context is unclear, ask the user what the project idea is in one sentence.

Flow

1. Understand the idea. Ask the user what they're thinking, or infer from context. Get enough to know what to research.

2. Research. Spawn a research subagent (Task tool, subagent_type: general-purpose, run_in_background: true) to search the web for:

   • Prior art — what already exists in this space
   • Key techniques, tools, or approaches
   • Relevant articles, papers, blog posts, discussions
   • Any specific references the user mentioned Run this in the background (run_in_background: true) so the conversation keeps flowing. Check the output later and weave findings into the note.

3. Search the note network. Glob and Grep the notes directory for existing notes related to this project idea — concept notes, journal entries, other project notes. Read anything relevant for context.

4. Create the project note. Follow zettelkasten note conventions from the zettelkasten skill:

   • Filename: lowercase with spaces (e.g., ai writing quality.md)
   • Content above ---, history table below
   • At least one link to a related note (no orphans)
   • Include: project summary, research findings (with verified URLs), open questions, connections to existing notes/threads

5. Link it in projects.md. Add the project to the appropriate section (Active, Research/Background, Dormant) using standard markdown link format: [project name](project%20name.md) with a short description.

6. Back-link. If the project note references other existing notes, add back-links to those notes.

7. Report back. Tell the user the note is created, what research was found, and what it connects to. If they want to spin up a repo, point them to /cothought:begin-project.

Notes

• Every project gets its own note file. projects.md is the index only — no project ideas inline.
• Use standard markdown links ([title](file%20name.md)), not wikilinks. Validate with Glob before writing.
• All external URLs must be verified with WebFetch before including them.
• If the user mentions the project in a journal session, also capture it in the journal entry.