journal

name	journal
description	Journal layer philosophy and sub-skill index — append-only principles, front matter rules, reading list management, waiting-for list management, and routing to daily, weekly, and meeting sub-skills. Load when creating or updating any journal file, adding items to the reading list or waiting-for list, or routing to a sub-skill for format details.
updated	"2026-05-07T00:00:00.000Z"
related	["logging","inbox"]

Journal layer steward — append-only temporal record of work, decisions, and learning.

> The journal is the episodic layer of the second brain: daily notes (atomic unit, three zones), weekly notes (rhythmic summaries), meeting notes (records + routed actions). Once written, it is immutable. Distill durable facts into `resources/`; never edit the past. For daily note work log format, load `logging` skill. For capture routing to inbox, load `inbox` skill.

1. **Append-only.** NEVER edit or delete past notes. Mark tasks complete; add new content; DO NOT remove existing lines. 2. **Distill → resources.** Every journal update includes a resources scan. Durable facts (role changes, decisions, architecture) belong in `resources/`, not the journal. 3. **Format serves recall.** Rigid section structures keep notes machine-readable. 4. **Write for your future self.** Assume reader is you in 6 months with no other context. 5. **Routing is mandatory.** Meeting actions, waiting items, and captures MUST be routed before workflow closes.

<front_matter>

• updated — mandatory; set on creation, update on every edit.
• tags — mandatory; may be []. Lowercase kebab-case, no # prefix.
• Inline #tags in body MUST match front matter tags.
• Navigation links: VERIFY targets exist before writing. OMIT links to non-existent files.
• USE relative Markdown links ([text](../path/file.md)); NEVER Wikilinks. </front_matter>

<sub_skills>

Content type	Sub-skill
Daily notes (journal/daily/)	daily.md
Weekly notes (journal/weekly/)	weekly.md
Meeting notes (journal/meetings/)	meeting.md
</sub_skills>

| Template | Use for | |---|---| | [daily-template.md](daily-template.md) | New daily notes | | [weekly-template.md](weekly-template.md) | New weekly notes | | [meeting-template.md](meeting-template.md) | New meeting notes |

<reading_list> File: journal/reading-list.md. If missing, copy from {{AGENT_DIR}}/meta-templates/reading-list-template.md.

Format (table row):

| Title | Type | Status | Notes |
| ----- | ---- | ------ | ----- |
| [Title](url-or-path) | book / article / paper / video | to-read / reading / done | Why it matters; key insight |

• Type: book, article, paper, video, thread
• Status: to-read, reading, done
• Notes: required — capture why added at minimum

Add: When user mentions material to read, append row with to-read status; populate Notes with reason. Update: to-read → reading on start; reading → done on finish (add key insight). </reading_list>

<waiting_for_list> File: journal/waiting-for.md. If missing, copy from {{AGENT_DIR}}/meta-templates/waiting-for-template.md.

Two sections: ## Active (open) and ## Resolved (closed).

Active line format:

- **YYYY-MM-DD** | **<context>** | <what waiting for> | follow-up: <YYYY-MM-DD> | @<person-or-system>

Example: - **2026-04-08** | **PROJ-123** | PR review from Alice | follow-up: 2026-04-10 | @alice

On resolve: move line to ## Resolved, append → resolved YYYY-MM-DD.

Source	Action
Meeting action (waiting on someone)	Append to ## Active
Daily ## Day > ### Waiting item	Append to ## Active (evening close-out)
Weekly overdue review	Surface flagged items; close or extend follow-up
Item resolved	Move to ## Resolved

• NEVER edit/delete lines in ## Resolved.
• CHECK for duplicates before appending.
• ALWAYS include follow-up: date. </waiting_for_list>

<output_rules> Output language: English. Match user's language for ad-hoc replies; structural elements (frontmatter, section headers, tags) remain English. </output_rules>