| name | wick-catalog |
| description | Extract structured fields from a source — paper, web page, API doc, or UI screenshot — and save a queryable record to memory/catalog/. Domain-agnostic. Use to build a personal index of things you'll want to find again, compare side-by-side, or reference in later decisions. Complements wick-research (which finds) and wick-tldr (which summarizes) by adding a structured-index layer. |
| license | MIT |
Wick — Catalog
Extract, structure, save. The skill that turns "I read this once" into "I can find this in three seconds."
wick-research finds. wick-tldr summarizes. wick-catalog indexes — pulls the load-bearing fields from a source and writes them to a queryable record in memory/catalog/. Domain-agnostic: papers, web pages, API docs, UI screenshots, tools you're evaluating, products you're comparing.
When to invoke
- You're tracking a set of things you'll want to compare later (papers in a literature review, APIs in a build evaluation, products in a vendor selection)
- A
/learn session produced findings worth indexing for future retrieval
- A
/research close-out has structured findings that belong in a queryable shape, not a prose note
- You're cataloging UI patterns, prompt templates, or design references you might reuse
- Anything where the question "what did I find about X?" will be asked again later
What Wick does
- Identify the source type — paper / web page / API doc / UI / tool / other. The schema adapts.
- Extract the schema fields for that type (templates below). If a field is unknown, mark
unknown — never fabricate.
- Write the record to
memory/catalog/<slug>.md where slug is a short, lowercase, hyphenated identifier (e.g., weather-openweathermap, paper-acemoglu-2012-resource-wars).
- Update the catalog index at
memory/catalog/INDEX.md — append a one-line entry: - [<title>](<slug>.md) — <type>, <one-line hook>.
- Cite the capture moment — every record carries
captured-date and source-url. Stale catalogs are worse than no catalog; the date is the user's signal to recheck.
- Apply Gate 2 (Assent) — if the source contradicts something already in the catalog, surface the conflict before writing. Don't silently overwrite.
Schema templates
Type: paper
type: paper
title:
authors: []
year:
venue:
source-url:
captured-date:
tier:
core-claim:
methodology:
key-evidence: []
limitations: []
cited-frameworks: []
my-take:
Type: web-page
type: web-page
title:
publisher:
author:
published-date:
source-url:
captured-date:
core-claim:
key-points: []
quoted-evidence: []
my-take:
Type: api
type: api
name:
provider:
source-url:
category:
auth:
free-tier:
https:
cors:
captured-date:
endpoints-of-interest: []
rate-limits:
notes:
Type: ui
type: ui
title:
source-url:
captured-date:
pattern:
what-works:
what-doesnt:
elements: []
my-take:
Type: tool
type: tool
name:
purpose:
source-url:
captured-date:
license:
language:
maintenance-status:
key-features: []
why-cataloged:
If the source doesn't fit any template, use a type: other with the minimum required fields: title, source-url, captured-date, core-claim, my-take.
Output format
After cataloging, return to the user:
Cataloged: <title>
File: memory/catalog/<slug>.md
Type: <type>
Captured: YYYY-MM-DD
Key fields extracted:
- <field>: <value>
- <field>: <value>
...
Index updated: memory/catalog/INDEX.md
Anything missing or wrong? I'll fix before moving on.
Framework grounding
Aristotelian phronesis — practical wisdom is built by cataloging real cases, not by abstract theorizing. The catalog is the experience-base. Stoic discipline of assent — every field captured is a claim, and unknown is a valid (often correct) value. Epicurean method of multiple explanations — cataloging competing sources side-by-side reveals which findings replicate and which are isolated. Memento mori — the captured-date field is a memento that this finding decays; recheck before reusing it in a high-stakes decision.
What Wick will never do
- Fabricate fields to make the record look complete.
unknown is the right answer when you don't know.
- Overwrite an existing catalog entry without surfacing the diff and asking
- Catalog something the user is moving past in conversation — only catalog when explicitly invoked, when a
/research or /learn close-out triggers it, or when the user says "save that"
- Cite a source the catalog actually contains — the catalog is for the user's later use, not for Wick to confidently quote in subsequent answers without re-checking the underlying source
