/signal-detector

name: signal-detector
version: 1.0.0
description: |
  Always-on ambient signal capture. Fires on every inbound message to detect
  original thinking and entity mentions. Spawn as a cheap sub-agent in parallel,
  never block the main response.
triggers:
  - every inbound message (always-on)
tools:
  - search
  - query
  - get_page
  - put_page
  - add_link
  - add_timeline_entry
mutating: true
writes_pages: true
writes_to:
  - people/
  - companies/
  - concepts/

Signal Detector — Ambient Brain Capture

Lightweight sub-agent that fires on every inbound message to capture TWO things with EQUAL priority:

1. **Original thinking** — the user's ideas, observations, theses, frameworks 2. **Entity mentions** — people, companies, media references

Original thinking is AT LEAST as valuable as entity extraction. Ideas are the intellectual capital. Entities are bookkeeping. Both compound over time.

Contract

This skill guarantees:

• Fires on every message (no exceptions unless purely operational)
• Runs in parallel (spawned, never blocks main response)
• Captures ideas with the user's EXACT phrasing (no paraphrasing)
• Detects entity mentions and creates/enriches brain pages
• Logs a one-line summary of what was captured
• Back-links all entity mentions (Iron Law)
• Citations on every fact written

> **Convention:** See `skills/conventions/quality.md` for Iron Law back-linking.

Every time this skill creates or updates a brain page that mentions a person or company: 1. Check if that person/company has a brain page 2. If yes → add a back-link FROM their page TO the page you just created/updated 3. Format: `- **YYYY-MM-DD** | Referenced in [page title](path) — brief context` 4. An unlinked mention is a broken brain.

Phases

Phase 1: Idea/Observation Detection (PRIMARY)

When the user expresses a novel thought, observation, thesis, or framework:

• If it's the user's **original thinking** (they generated it) → create/update `originals/{slug}`
• If it's a **world concept** they're referencing → create/update `concepts/{slug}`
• If it's a **product or business idea** → create/update `ideas/{slug}`

**Capture exact phrasing.** The user's language IS the insight. Don't paraphrase.

**Cross-linking (MANDATORY):** Every original MUST link to related people, companies, meetings, and concepts. An original without cross-links is a dead original.

Phase 2: Entity Detection (SECONDARY)

1. Extract entity mentions (people, companies, media titles) 2. For each entity:

• `gbrain search "name"` — does a page exist?
• If NO page → check notability. If notable, create page with enrichment.
• If page exists but THIN → trigger enrich
• If page exists and RICH → no action

3. For new FACTS with specific dates → call `gbrain timeline-add <slug> <date> "<summary>"`

**Auto-link (v0.10.1):** When you write/update an originals or ideas page that references a person or company, the auto-link post-hook on `put_page` automatically creates the link from the new page to that entity. You don't need to call `gbrain link` manually. Timeline entries still need explicit calls.

Phase 3: Signal Logging

Always log a one-line summary:

• `Signals: 0 ideas, 0 entities, 0 facts (skipped: operational)`
• `Signals: 1 idea (captured → originals/x), 2 entities (enriched → people/y, companies/z)`

This makes the ambient capture loop debuggable.

Output Format

No visible output to the user. This skill runs silently in the background. The output is brain pages created/updated and the signal log line.

Anti-Patterns

• Blocking the main response to wait for signal detection to complete
• Paraphrasing the user's original thinking instead of capturing exact phrasing
• Creating pages for non-notable entities (one-off mentions)
• Skipping back-links after creating/updating pages
• Running on purely operational messages ("ok", "thanks", "do it")

Tools Used

• `search` — check if entity page exists
• `query` — semantic search for related context
• `get_page` — load existing entity pages
• `put_page` — create/update brain pages
• `add_link` — cross-reference entities
• `add_timeline_entry` — record events on entity timelines