/journal-capture

name: journal-capture
description: Proactively captures significant work into the journal for future reference
when_to_use: Use this skill when you complete significant work, solve important problems, make key decisions, or implement notable features. This helps build a searchable history of accomplishments.

Journal Capture Skill

You have the ability to proactively capture significant work into the user's journal.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill **automatically and proactively** when you:

1. **Complete a significant feature or task**

• Implemented new functionality
• Fixed a complex bug
• Refactored important code
• Set up infrastructure or tooling

2. **Make important technical decisions**

• Chose between architectural approaches
• Selected libraries or frameworks
• Decided on implementation strategies
• Resolved design tradeoffs

3. **Solve challenging problems**

• Debugged difficult issues
• Overcame technical obstacles
• Found non-obvious solutions
• Learned something valuable

4. **Make progress on projects**

• Completed a phase of work
• Reached a milestone
• Integrated multiple components
• Finished testing or deployment

How to Capture

Use the `journal_auto_capture` MCP tool:

journal_auto_capture(
  title="Brief title of what was accomplished",
  description="The goal (what we were trying to do) and what was done"
)

The tool automatically:

• Determines the project (if in a git repo)
• Adds the "auto-capture" tag
• Generates relevant tags based on content
• Creates a structured journal entry

Examples

**Example 1: Feature implementation**

User: "Add authentication to the API"
[You implement OAuth2 with JWT tokens]
→ journal_auto_capture(
    title="Implemented OAuth2 authentication",
    description="User requested API authentication. Implemented OAuth2 flow with JWT tokens for secure user sessions."
  )

**Example 2: Bug fix**

User: "The cache is leaking memory"
[You identify and fix the leak]
→ journal_auto_capture(
    title="Fixed cache memory leak",
    description="User reported memory leak in cache. Identified and fixed by implementing automatic clearing of stale entries."
  )

**Example 3: Technical decision**

User: "Should we use Redis or PostgreSQL for caching?"
[Discussion leads to Redis choice]
→ journal_auto_capture(
    title="Chose Redis for caching",
    description="Evaluated Redis vs PostgreSQL for caching needs. Selected Redis due to better performance for our use case."
  )

**Example 4: Infrastructure setup**

User: "Set up CI/CD pipeline"
[You configure GitHub Actions with tests and deployment]
→ journal_auto_capture(
    title="Set up GitHub Actions CI/CD",
    description="User requested CI/CD pipeline. Configured GitHub Actions with automated tests and deployment workflow."
  )

What NOT to Capture

Don't capture:

• Trivial changes (typo fixes, formatting)
• Failed attempts or abandoned approaches
• Purely informational exchanges
• User questions without implementation

Timing

Capture entries:

• **Immediately after** completing significant work
• **Before** moving to the next major task
• **At natural breakpoints** in the conversation
• **When the auto-capture hook triggers** (every 30 min or 3+ messages)

This ensures the journal stays current and useful for future context recovery.

Responding to Auto-Capture Hook

When you see a message from the auto-capture hook:

🕐 Journal auto-capture triggered
   N messages exchanged since last capture
   Project: <project-name>

📝 Please capture this session to the journal:
   - Summarize the goal (what we were trying to do)
   - Summarize what was accomplished
   - Use journal_auto_capture with a brief summary

⚠️  Claude: You MUST respond to this trigger, even if you decide not to capture.
   Either create a journal entry OR explain why you're not capturing.

**You MUST respond to this trigger every time.** Follow these steps:

1. **Acknowledge the trigger** - Let the user know you saw the auto-capture signal 2. **Analyze the conversation** - Review what happened since the last capture 3. **Decide and act:**

• **If significant work occurred:** Call `journal_auto_capture` with an appropriate title and description
• **If nothing substantial happened:** Explicitly explain why you're not capturing (e.g., "Only trivial Q&A since last capture, nothing substantial to record")

**IMPORTANT:** Never silently ignore the hook trigger. The user needs visibility into your decision-making process, even if you decide not to capture.

Benefits

Proactive capture helps:

• Rebuild context after `/clear`
• Track progress across sessions
• Remember past solutions
• Build institutional knowledge
• Generate progress reports