| name | second-brain |
| description | Personal intelligence system for capturing thoughts, managing knowledge, and surfacing insights. Use when user wants to capture an idea, task, or note during conversation; query their knowledge base; check their inbox; review digests; or update task status. Triggers include "remember this," "add a task," "what did I say about," "show my inbox," or "mark complete." |
| license | MIT |
Second Brain Skill
Conversational interface to the Second Brain personal knowledge management system. Capture thoughts naturally during Claude Code sessions, query your knowledge graph, and manage your inbox.
Core Philosophy
Capture at the point of thinking, not after.
This skill enables seamless capture during work sessions without breaking flow:
- Capture thoughts as they emerge
- Query past decisions and notes
- Surface today's priorities
- Track what needs review
The system remembers so you don't have to.
Core Capabilities
1. Capture
Capture thoughts, tasks, ideas, and references directly from conversation.
Usage patterns:
- "Remember that the API rate limit is 1000 req/min"
- "Add a task to review the PR from Sarah"
- "Note: decided to use Supabase for sync"
- "Capture this idea: what if we..."
Classification:
The system uses AI to classify captures into types:
- task: Actionable item with completion state
- idea: Non-actionable insight worth remembering
- reference: Information for later retrieval
- meeting: Time-bound event with notes
- goal: Outcome you're working toward
- project: Collection of related work
- value: Core principle that guides decisions
- person: Relationship context
Confidence threshold:
- High confidence (≥0.6): Auto-classified
- Low confidence (<0.6): Sent to needs_review
2. Query
Search and explore your knowledge graph.
Usage patterns:
- "What did I say about authentication?"
- "What projects support the 'shipping velocity' goal?"
- "Show me tasks related to the SecondBrain project"
- "Who did I meet with about the budget?"
Query types:
- Semantic search: Find by meaning, not just keywords
- Graph traversal: Follow relationships (supports, blocks, contains)
- Filter by type: "Show me all ideas from this week"
- Filter by domain: "What work tasks are due?"
3. Inbox
Review and triage pending captures.
Usage patterns:
- "Show my inbox"
- "What's waiting for review?"
- "How many pending captures?"
Inbox states:
- pending: Awaiting AI classification
- needs_review: Low confidence, needs human decision
- processing: Currently being classified
4. Digest
Get actionable summaries of what matters.
Usage patterns:
- "What should I focus on today?"
- "Show me today's digest"
- "What's overdue?"
Digest includes:
- Due tasks (today and overdue)
- High priority items
- Today's meetings
- Items needing review
- Recent insights
Constraints:
- Daily digest: <150 words
- Weekly review: <250 words
5. Actions
Update status and manage nodes.
Usage patterns:
- "Mark the PR review task done"
- "Complete task abc123"
- "Archive the old project"
- "Set priority to high for..."
Supported actions:
- Complete/reopen tasks
- Update priority (0-4)
- Change status (active, completed, archived)
- Add domain tag (work, personal, both)
Workflow Integration
During Work Sessions
When user mentions something capture-worthy during natural conversation:
-
Recognize capture intent:
- Direct: "Remember this...", "Add a task..."
- Implicit: "I should...", "Don't forget...", "Note to self..."
-
Capture with context:
- Include relevant context from current conversation
- Tag with source: "cli" (Claude Code session)
- Add any mentioned relationships
-
Confirm capture:
- Brief confirmation with ID
- Mention if needs_review due to low confidence
Quick Actions
For common actions, provide shortcuts:
/sb capture "thought or idea" # Capture immediately
/sb inbox # Show pending items
/sb digest # Today's actionable summary
/sb query "search term" # Search knowledge base
/sb done <id> # Mark task complete
Meeting Transcript Processing
Use case: Paste meeting transcripts to automatically extract and capture structured content.
Workflow
-
User pastes transcript:
"Here's the transcript from today's standup:
[transcript content]"
-
System processes and extracts:
- Meeting summary → MEETING node
- Action items → TASK nodes
- Decisions made → REFERENCE nodes
- People mentioned → PERSON links
- Follow-up meetings → MEETING nodes
- Key insights → IDEA nodes
-
Confirmation and review:
Processed standup transcript:
📅 Created: "Daily Standup - Jan 15" (meeting)
✅ Extracted 4 tasks:
- "Review PR #1234" → assigned to you (high)
- "Update API docs" → assigned to Sarah
- "Schedule design review" → due Friday
- "Fix login bug" → blocked by infrastructure
📝 Captured 2 decisions:
- "Using Postgres instead of MongoDB"
- "Sprint ends Friday, demo at 2pm"
👥 Linked 3 people:
- Sarah (mentioned 5x)
- Mike (mentioned 2x)
- John (new person, created)
💡 1 insight flagged:
- "Team velocity improves when standups are <15 min"
Extraction Patterns
Action items (→ TASK):
- "TODO: ...", "Action: ...", "Need to..."
- "Sarah will...", "I'll...", "We should..."
- "@mentions with action verbs"
Decisions (→ REFERENCE):
- "Decided: ...", "Agreed: ..."
- "We're going with...", "The plan is..."
- "Final decision: ..."
Follow-ups (→ MEETING):
- "Let's meet again...", "Schedule a follow-up..."
- "Next week we'll discuss..."
- Explicit dates/times mentioned
People (→ PERSON links):
- Names mentioned in context
- @mentions
- "talked to...", "asked..."
Insights (→ IDEA):
- Observations about patterns
- Hypotheses mentioned
- "I noticed...", "Interesting that..."
Post-Processing
After extraction:
- Create meeting node with summary
- Create task nodes with assignments and due dates
- Link people (create if new)
- Store decisions as references
- Write to Obsidian with wikilinks
Configuration
transcript_processing:
auto_assign_unassigned: true
default_task_priority: 2
flag_low_confidence: true
link_to_meeting: true
Graph Model
Node Types
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|
| value | Core principle | "Family comes first" |
| goal | Outcome to achieve | "Run a marathon by December" |
| project | Related work collection | "Kitchen renovation" |
| task | Actionable item | "Call dentist to schedule" |
| person | Relationship context | "Sarah - VP Engineering" |
| meeting | Time-bound event | "1:1 with Sarah - Jan 15" |
| idea | Non-actionable insight | "What if AI for onboarding?" |
| reference | Info for retrieval | "API rate limit: 1000/min" |
Edge Types
| Relation | Meaning | Example |
|---|
| supports | Provides evidence for | project → goal |
| blocks | Prevents progress on | task → task |
| contains | Hierarchical parent | project → task |
| derived_from | Extracted from | goal → value |
| assigned_to | Assigned to person | task → person |
| mentioned_in | Referenced in context | person → meeting |
| related_to | General relationship | idea → reference |
| child_of | Subtask/child | task → task |
Implementation
CLI Integration
This skill wraps the sb CLI commands:
sb capture "content"
sb inbox
sb process
sb digest
sb list [type]
sb show <id>
sb status
Database
- Local SQLite at
~/.local/share/secondbrain/secondbrain.db
- Obsidian vault for markdown output
- Graph model: nodes + typed edges
Configuration
node_id: "home"
vault_path: "/path/to/vault"
classification:
model: "claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
confidence_threshold: 0.6
Context Awareness
Use Session Context
When capturing, leverage current conversation context:
- File being discussed: Link to related codebase notes
- Error being debugged: Capture as reference with solution
- Decision being made: Note with rationale
- Meeting notes mentioned: Parse for action items
Domain Detection
Infer domain from context:
- In work project directory → domain: work
- Personal topics mentioned → domain: personal
- Both contexts mixed → domain: both
Example Interactions
Capture During Work
User: "The deadline for the API migration is March 15th"
Assistant: [Captures as task with due date]
Captured: API migration deadline - Due March 15th (ID: abc123)
Query Knowledge
User: "What did we decide about authentication?"
Assistant: [Searches knowledge graph]
Found 3 related items:
- [reference] "Use JWT with refresh tokens" (Jan 5)
- [task] "Implement OAuth flow" (in_progress)
- [meeting] "Auth design review with Sarah" (Jan 3)
Morning Digest
User: "What should I focus on today?"
Assistant: [Generates digest]
📋 Today's Focus (Wed, Jan 15):
- [OVERDUE] Review PR from Sarah (due Jan 14)
- [HIGH] Prepare API migration plan
- [DUE TODAY] Call dentist to reschedule
📅 Meetings:
- 10:00 1:1 with Mike
⚠️ Needs Review: 2 items in inbox
Anti-Patterns
Don't:
- Capture every single thing mentioned (be selective)
- Force classification when context is unclear
- Interrupt flow for minor captures
- Create duplicate entries for same concept
- Over-classify simple notes
Do:
- Capture when user expresses intent or importance
- Ask for clarification if capture intent is ambiguous
- Batch confirmations when capturing multiple items
- Link to existing nodes when relationships are clear
- Respect user's domain boundaries
Integration Points
With beads issue tracker:
- Cross-reference tasks with beads issues
- Import epic/task relationships
With Obsidian vault:
- Generated markdown syncs via Obsidian Sync
- Wikilinks enable navigation
- Daily notes include digest
With SiliconDoppelgangerActual:
- Deep queries via agent conversation
- Complex graph traversals
- Multi-step reasoning about priorities
Success Metrics
Skill succeeds when:
- Captures happen naturally without flow interruption
- User finds past information quickly
- Daily digests surface actionable items
- Inbox stays manageable (<10 items needing review)
- Classification accuracy >85%
User feels:
- Confident nothing important is lost
- Informed about what matters today
- In control of their knowledge system
