| 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>
