Ideas: Capture & Integrate

An inbox for improvement ideas — the gap between [LEARN] tags (immediate corrections) and skill-extract (full skill creation). Captures raw improvement ideas and periodically integrates the best ones into the system.

Two Modes

Mode	Trigger	What it does
Capture	ideas capture [text]	Append a structured idea entry to log/ideas.md
Integrate	ideas integrate	Review unprocessed ideas and turn them into actions

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Mode 1: Capture

With argument: ideas capture [text]

Parse the text and append a structured entry to log/ideas.md.

Without argument: ideas capture

Ask interactively:

1. "What's the idea?" (free text)
2. "Where did this come from?" (current session / external repo / user feedback / reading)

Entry Format

## [YYYY-MM-DD] [category] Idea title
- **Quality:** [high] | [medium]
- **Source:** [session | external:repo-name | user-feedback | reading:source]
- **Proposed action:** One-sentence description of what to do
- **Details:** [the idea text, expanded if needed]
- **Status:** unprocessed

Auto-Classification

Classify each idea into one of these categories based on content:

Category	Signal words / patterns
[skill-design]	"new skill", "workflow for", "automate", "slash command"
[rule]	"always", "never", "enforce", "prevent", "require"
[workflow]	"process", "steps for", "how to handle", "protocol"
[infrastructure]	"hook", "MCP", "settings", "permissions", "symlink"
[research]	"method", "analysis", "paper", "experiment", "data"

Quality Rating

Rating	Criteria
[high]	Specific, actionable, addresses a known friction point or recurring issue
[medium]	Interesting but needs more thought, or addresses a minor convenience issue

Skip [low] ideas — if it's not worth recording, don't record it.

After Capture

Confirm: "Idea captured in log/ideas.md. You have [N] unprocessed ideas — run ideas integrate when ready to act on them."

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Mode 2: Integrate

Trigger: ideas integrate [since:YYYY-MM-DD] [dryrun]

Step 1: Read State

Read log/.ideas-state.json to find the last integration date. If since: argument is provided, use that instead. If no state file exists, process all entries.

Step 2: Gather Unprocessed Ideas

Read log/ideas.md and collect all entries with **Status:** unprocessed (optionally filtered by date).

Step 3: Classify Each Idea

For each unprocessed idea, classify as:

Type	Description	Action
Direct proposal	Specific edit to a known file — can be implemented now	Present the edit for approval
Investigation	Needs research or design before implementation	Create a vault task
Duplicate	Already covered by an existing skill, rule, or convention	Mark as duplicate with reference
Declined	Not worth pursuing after reflection	Mark as declined with reason

Step 4: Present for Approval

Show a summary table:

| # | Idea | Category | Quality | Proposed action | Classification |
|---|------|----------|---------|-----------------|---------------|
| 1 | ... | [rule] | [high] | ... | Direct proposal |
| 2 | ... | [skill-design] | [medium] | ... | Investigation |

Ask: "Which ideas should I act on? (all / numbers / skip)"

Step 5: Execute Approved Ideas

• Direct proposals: Make the edit, following break-the-glass rules for protected files
• Investigations: Create a vault task in the Tasks Tracker with:
  • Task name: "Investigate: [idea title]"
  • Source: "Ideas inbox"
  • Priority: High for [high] quality, Medium for [medium]
  • Description: Full idea text + proposed approach

Step 6: Update State

Update each processed entry's status in log/ideas.md:

• **Status:** implemented (YYYY-MM-DD) — direct proposal was executed
• **Status:** task-created (YYYY-MM-DD) — vault task created for investigation
• **Status:** duplicate → [reference] — already exists
• **Status:** declined — [reason] — not worth pursuing

Write log/.ideas-state.json:

{
  "last_integration": "YYYY-MM-DD",
  "total_captured": N,
  "total_implemented": N,
  "total_pending": N
}

Dry Run Mode

When dryrun is specified, run steps 1-4 only — classify and present, but don't execute or update state. Useful for reviewing the backlog without committing to action.

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Important Notes

• Ideas are not tasks — they're raw material that may or may not become actionable
• The capture threshold is deliberately low — if something seems worth noting, capture it
• Integration should happen periodically (weekly or when the backlog reaches 10+ ideas)
• This skill complements [LEARN] tags (which record corrections) and skill-extract (which creates full skills)
• Break-the-glass rules still apply — direct proposals that modify protected files need confirmation