notion-triage

name	notion-triage
description	Organize and triage files from the Notion export folder. Use when user says "triage notion", "organize notion", "clean up notion", "notion cleanup", or "let's work on notion".

Notion Triage

Systematically organize ~7,890 files from the Notion export into the proper Obsidian vault structure through batch decision-making.

When to Use This Skill

• User wants to organize their Notion folder
• User says "triage notion", "clean up notion", "notion cleanup"
• User wants to continue organizing where they left off

Vault Paths

Obsidian Vault: ~/obsidian/
Notion Source:  ~/obsidian/Notion/
State File:     ~/obsidian/Notion/.triage-state.json

Decision Categories

When triaging each file, assign ONE of these categories:

Category	Action	Destination
trash	Delete (move to system trash)	trash command
archive	Keep but inactive	Stay in Notion/Archives/
project	Active project work	Projects/[ProjectName]/
zettel	Valuable idea for atomic note	Intake/ for later processing
personal	Personal content	Personal/
reference	Useful reference material	Assets/Documents/ or project REFERENCE.md
skip	Review later	No action, marked as skipped

Workflow

Phase 1: Session Start

1. Check State File

   • Read .triage-state.json if exists
   • Report progress: files processed, remaining, current directory

2. Select Working Directory

   • If continuing: resume from last directory
   • If new: ask user which Notion subdirectory to start with
   • List available directories with file counts

3. Confirm Session Goals

   • Ask: "How many files do you want to process this session?" (default: 20)

Phase 2: Batch Processing

For each batch of 5 files:

1. Present Files

   === Batch 1/4 (Files 1-5 of 20) ===
   
   1. [filename1.md] - First 100 chars of content...
   2. [filename2.md] - First 100 chars of content...
   3. [filename3.md] - First 100 chars of content...
   4. [filename4.md] - First 100 chars of content...
   5. [filename5.md] - First 100 chars of content...
   

2. Read Full Content on Request

   • If user asks to see a file, read and display it
   • Offer summary of what the file contains

3. Collect Decisions

   • Present files in a table, then ask user to type decisions in free-form text
   • DO NOT use AskUserQuestion - let user type naturally like:

     1. trash
     2. personal
     3. skip
     4. zettel
     5. project - create Personal/Fitness folder
     

   • Allow shorthand: t/a/p/z/per/r/s
   • User can add notes after their decision (e.g., "5. personal - make this a subfolder")

4. Execute Decisions

   • Move files to appropriate destinations
   • For project: ask which project folder (or create new)
   • For zettel: move to Intake/ (will be processed by zettelkasten skill later)
   • For trash: use trash command (recoverable)
   • Update state file after each batch

Phase 3: Session End

1. Save State

   • Update .triage-state.json with:
     • Last processed directory
     • Files processed this session
     • Total progress
     • Timestamp

2. Report Summary

   Session Complete:
   - Processed: 20 files
   - Trashed: 5
   - Archived: 3
   - Moved to Projects: 4
   - Sent to Zettel intake: 6
   - Personal: 1
   - Skipped: 1
   
   Overall Progress: 156/7890 files (2%)
   

State File Format

{
  "lastUpdated": "2024-12-05T10:30:00Z",
  "totalFiles": 7890,
  "processed": 156,
  "currentDirectory": "Notion/Business-Entrepreneurship",
  "completedDirectories": [
    "Notion/Health-Fitness"
  ],
  "skippedFiles": [
    "Notion/some-file-to-review-later.md"
  ],
  "sessionHistory": [
    {
      "date": "2024-12-05",
      "filesProcessed": 20,
      "decisions": {"trash": 5, "archive": 3, "project": 4, "zettel": 6, "personal": 1, "skip": 1}
    }
  ]
}

Quick Commands

During triage, user can say:

• "read 3" - Show full content of file 3
• "all trash" - Mark entire batch as trash
• "all skip" - Skip entire batch
• "stop" - End session and save state
• "status" - Show overall progress
• "switch to [directory]" - Change working directory

Special Handling

Empty Files

Files with 0 bytes or only whitespace → suggest trash

Subdirectories in Notion

When encountering a directory within a file's location:

• If it's a coherent project → suggest moving entire directory to Projects/
• If it's mixed content → process files individually

Large Files (>50KB)

• Show file size warning
• Offer to show excerpt only
• These are often exported documents - may need reference or Assets/

Duplicate Detection

If file content closely matches an existing note in Notes/:

• Alert user
• Suggest trash with link to existing note

File Movement Commands

# Trash (recoverable)
trash "Notion/path/to/file.md"

# Move to project
mv "Notion/path/to/file.md" "Projects/ProjectName/"

# Move to Intake for zettelkasten
mv "Notion/path/to/file.md" "Intake/"

# Move to Personal
mv "Notion/path/to/file.md" "Personal/"

# Move to Archives (within Notion)
mv "Notion/path/to/file.md" "Notion/Archives/"

# Move to Assets
mv "Notion/path/to/file.pdf" "Assets/PDFs/"

Integration with Other Skills

• Files sent to Intake/ can later be processed with the zettelkasten skill
• Project folders should follow the standard structure (TODO.md, etc.)

Example Session

User: triage notion

Claude: Checking triage state...
No previous state found. Starting fresh.

Notion folder contains 7,890 files across these directories:
1. Archives/ (2,341 files)
2. Business-Entrepreneurship/ (523 files)
3. Education/ (189 files)
4. Personal/ (445 files)
5. Technology/ (312 files)
6. [root level files] (156 files)
...

Which directory would you like to start with?

User: Let's start with the root level files

Claude: Got it. How many files do you want to process this session?

User: 10

Claude: Starting with root-level Notion files...

=== Batch 1/2 (Files 1-5 of 10) ===

| # | File | Preview |
|---|------|---------|
| 1 | Amish Zombie Movie.md | "A zombie apocalypse movie set in Amish country..." |
| 2 | Ask Me About- Stickers.md | "Idea for stickers that say 'Ask me about X'..." |
| 3 | Beat saber except all the music is bach.md | "Beat saber game variant..." |
| 4 | Bridgewater-Associates-Ray-Dalio-Principles.md | (375KB) Large document... |
| 5 | Chat Roulette VR.md | "Chat Roulette VR. Sort of WarioWare as well." |

**Options:** trash / archive / project / zettel / personal / reference / skip

User:
1. trash
2. trash
3. trash
4. reference
5. trash

Claude: Executing decisions...
✓ Trashed: Amish Zombie Movie.md
✓ Trashed: Ask Me About- Stickers.md
✓ Trashed: Beat saber except all the music is bach.md
✓ Moved to Assets/Documents/: Bridgewater-Associates-Ray-Dalio-Principles.md
✓ Trashed: Chat Roulette VR.md

=== Batch 2/2 (Files 6-10 of 10) ===
...

Notes

• Always use trash command instead of rm for safety
• Quote file paths that contain spaces
• State file persists between Claude Code sessions
• User can restart from scratch by deleting .triage-state.json