Personal intelligence system for capturing thoughts, managing knowledge, and surfacing insights. Use when user wants to capture an idea, task, or note during conversation; query their knowledge base; check their inbox; review digests; or update task status. Triggers include "remember this," "add a task," "what did I say about," "show my inbox," or "mark complete."
Scanned 5/31/2026
Install via CLI
openskills install diegosouzapw/awesome-omni-skill---
name: second-brain
description: Personal intelligence system for capturing thoughts, managing knowledge, and surfacing insights. Use when user wants to capture an idea, task, or note during conversation; query their knowledge base; check their inbox; review digests; or update task status. Triggers include "remember this," "add a task," "what did I say about," "show my inbox," or "mark complete."
license: MIT
---
# Second Brain Skill
Conversational interface to the Second Brain personal knowledge management system. Capture thoughts naturally during Claude Code sessions, query your knowledge graph, and manage your inbox.
## Core Philosophy
**Capture at the point of thinking, not after.**
This skill enables seamless capture during work sessions without breaking flow:
- Capture thoughts as they emerge
- Query past decisions and notes
- Surface today's priorities
- Track what needs review
**The system remembers so you don't have to.**
---
## Core Capabilities
### 1. Capture
Capture thoughts, tasks, ideas, and references directly from conversation.
**Usage patterns:**
- "Remember that the API rate limit is 1000 req/min"
- "Add a task to review the PR from Sarah"
- "Note: decided to use Supabase for sync"
- "Capture this idea: what if we..."
**Classification:**
The system uses AI to classify captures into types:
- **task**: Actionable item with completion state
- **idea**: Non-actionable insight worth remembering
- **reference**: Information for later retrieval
- **meeting**: Time-bound event with notes
- **goal**: Outcome you're working toward
- **project**: Collection of related work
- **value**: Core principle that guides decisions
- **person**: Relationship context
**Confidence threshold:**
- High confidence (≥0.6): Auto-classified
- Low confidence (<0.6): Sent to needs_review
---
### 2. Query
Search and explore your knowledge graph.
**Usage patterns:**
- "What did I say about authentication?"
- "What projects support the 'shipping velocity' goal?"
- "Show me tasks related to the SecondBrain project"
- "Who did I meet with about the budget?"
**Query types:**
- **Semantic search**: Find by meaning, not just keywords
- **Graph traversal**: Follow relationships (supports, blocks, contains)
- **Filter by type**: "Show me all ideas from this week"
- **Filter by domain**: "What work tasks are due?"
---
### 3. Inbox
Review and triage pending captures.
**Usage patterns:**
- "Show my inbox"
- "What's waiting for review?"
- "How many pending captures?"
**Inbox states:**
- **pending**: Awaiting AI classification
- **needs_review**: Low confidence, needs human decision
- **processing**: Currently being classified
---
### 4. Digest
Get actionable summaries of what matters.
**Usage patterns:**
- "What should I focus on today?"
- "Show me today's digest"
- "What's overdue?"
**Digest includes:**
- Due tasks (today and overdue)
- High priority items
- Today's meetings
- Items needing review
- Recent insights
**Constraints:**
- Daily digest: <150 words
- Weekly review: <250 words
---
### 5. Actions
Update status and manage nodes.
**Usage patterns:**
- "Mark the PR review task done"
- "Complete task abc123"
- "Archive the old project"
- "Set priority to high for..."
**Supported actions:**
- Complete/reopen tasks
- Update priority (0-4)
- Change status (active, completed, archived)
- Add domain tag (work, personal, both)
---
## Workflow Integration
### During Work Sessions
When user mentions something capture-worthy during natural conversation:
1. **Recognize capture intent:**
- Direct: "Remember this...", "Add a task..."
- Implicit: "I should...", "Don't forget...", "Note to self..."
2. **Capture with context:**
- Include relevant context from current conversation
- Tag with source: "cli" (Claude Code session)
- Add any mentioned relationships
3. **Confirm capture:**
- Brief confirmation with ID
- Mention if needs_review due to low confidence
### Quick Actions
For common actions, provide shortcuts:
```
/sb capture "thought or idea" # Capture immediately
/sb inbox # Show pending items
/sb digest # Today's actionable summary
/sb query "search term" # Search knowledge base
/sb done <id> # Mark task complete
```
---
## Meeting Transcript Processing
**Use case:** Paste meeting transcripts to automatically extract and capture structured content.
### Workflow
1. **User pastes transcript:**
```
"Here's the transcript from today's standup:
[transcript content]"
```
2. **System processes and extracts:**
- Meeting summary → MEETING node
- Action items → TASK nodes
- Decisions made → REFERENCE nodes
- People mentioned → PERSON links
- Follow-up meetings → MEETING nodes
- Key insights → IDEA nodes
3. **Confirmation and review:**
```
Processed standup transcript:
📅 Created: "Daily Standup - Jan 15" (meeting)
✅ Extracted 4 tasks:
- "Review PR #1234" → assigned to you (high)
- "Update API docs" → assigned to Sarah
- "Schedule design review" → due Friday
- "Fix login bug" → blocked by infrastructure
📝 Captured 2 decisions:
- "Using Postgres instead of MongoDB"
- "Sprint ends Friday, demo at 2pm"
👥 Linked 3 people:
- Sarah (mentioned 5x)
- Mike (mentioned 2x)
- John (new person, created)
💡 1 insight flagged:
- "Team velocity improves when standups are <15 min"
```
### Extraction Patterns
**Action items (→ TASK):**
- "TODO: ...", "Action: ...", "Need to..."
- "Sarah will...", "I'll...", "We should..."
- "@mentions with action verbs"
**Decisions (→ REFERENCE):**
- "Decided: ...", "Agreed: ..."
- "We're going with...", "The plan is..."
- "Final decision: ..."
**Follow-ups (→ MEETING):**
- "Let's meet again...", "Schedule a follow-up..."
- "Next week we'll discuss..."
- Explicit dates/times mentioned
**People (→ PERSON links):**
- Names mentioned in context
- @mentions
- "talked to...", "asked..."
**Insights (→ IDEA):**
- Observations about patterns
- Hypotheses mentioned
- "I noticed...", "Interesting that..."
### Post-Processing
After extraction:
1. **Create meeting node** with summary
2. **Create task nodes** with assignments and due dates
3. **Link people** (create if new)
4. **Store decisions** as references
5. **Write to Obsidian** with wikilinks
### Configuration
```yaml
# ~/.config/secondbrain/daemons.yml
transcript_processing:
auto_assign_unassigned: true # Assign to self
default_task_priority: 2
flag_low_confidence: true # Mark uncertain extractions
link_to_meeting: true # Connect all items to meeting node
```
---
## Graph Model
### Node Types
| Type | Description | Example |
|------|-------------|---------|
| value | Core principle | "Family comes first" |
| goal | Outcome to achieve | "Run a marathon by December" |
| project | Related work collection | "Kitchen renovation" |
| task | Actionable item | "Call dentist to schedule" |
| person | Relationship context | "Sarah - VP Engineering" |
| meeting | Time-bound event | "1:1 with Sarah - Jan 15" |
| idea | Non-actionable insight | "What if AI for onboarding?" |
| reference | Info for retrieval | "API rate limit: 1000/min" |
### Edge Types
| Relation | Meaning | Example |
|----------|---------|---------|
| supports | Provides evidence for | project → goal |
| blocks | Prevents progress on | task → task |
| contains | Hierarchical parent | project → task |
| derived_from | Extracted from | goal → value |
| assigned_to | Assigned to person | task → person |
| mentioned_in | Referenced in context | person → meeting |
| related_to | General relationship | idea → reference |
| child_of | Subtask/child | task → task |
---
## Implementation
### CLI Integration
This skill wraps the `sb` CLI commands:
```bash
sb capture "content" # Capture a thought
sb inbox # List pending captures
sb process # Classify pending captures
sb digest # Generate daily digest
sb list [type] # List nodes
sb show <id> # Show node details
sb status # System health check
```
### Database
- Local SQLite at `~/.local/share/secondbrain/secondbrain.db`
- Obsidian vault for markdown output
- Graph model: nodes + typed edges
### Configuration
```yaml
# ~/.config/secondbrain/config.yml
node_id: "home"
vault_path: "/path/to/vault"
classification:
model: "claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
confidence_threshold: 0.6
```
---
## Context Awareness
### Use Session Context
When capturing, leverage current conversation context:
- **File being discussed**: Link to related codebase notes
- **Error being debugged**: Capture as reference with solution
- **Decision being made**: Note with rationale
- **Meeting notes mentioned**: Parse for action items
### Domain Detection
Infer domain from context:
- In work project directory → domain: work
- Personal topics mentioned → domain: personal
- Both contexts mixed → domain: both
---
## Example Interactions
### Capture During Work
```
User: "The deadline for the API migration is March 15th"
Assistant: [Captures as task with due date]
Captured: API migration deadline - Due March 15th (ID: abc123)
```
### Query Knowledge
```
User: "What did we decide about authentication?"
Assistant: [Searches knowledge graph]
Found 3 related items:
- [reference] "Use JWT with refresh tokens" (Jan 5)
- [task] "Implement OAuth flow" (in_progress)
- [meeting] "Auth design review with Sarah" (Jan 3)
```
### Morning Digest
```
User: "What should I focus on today?"
Assistant: [Generates digest]
📋 Today's Focus (Wed, Jan 15):
- [OVERDUE] Review PR from Sarah (due Jan 14)
- [HIGH] Prepare API migration plan
- [DUE TODAY] Call dentist to reschedule
📅 Meetings:
- 10:00 1:1 with Mike
⚠️ Needs Review: 2 items in inbox
```
---
## Anti-Patterns
**Don't:**
- Capture every single thing mentioned (be selective)
- Force classification when context is unclear
- Interrupt flow for minor captures
- Create duplicate entries for same concept
- Over-classify simple notes
**Do:**
- Capture when user expresses intent or importance
- Ask for clarification if capture intent is ambiguous
- Batch confirmations when capturing multiple items
- Link to existing nodes when relationships are clear
- Respect user's domain boundaries
---
## Integration Points
**With beads issue tracker:**
- Cross-reference tasks with beads issues
- Import epic/task relationships
**With Obsidian vault:**
- Generated markdown syncs via Obsidian Sync
- Wikilinks enable navigation
- Daily notes include digest
**With SiliconDoppelgangerActual:**
- Deep queries via agent conversation
- Complex graph traversals
- Multi-step reasoning about priorities
---
## Success Metrics
**Skill succeeds when:**
- Captures happen naturally without flow interruption
- User finds past information quickly
- Daily digests surface actionable items
- Inbox stays manageable (<10 items needing review)
- Classification accuracy >85%
**User feels:**
- Confident nothing important is lost
- Informed about what matters today
- In control of their knowledge systemNo comments yet. Be the first to comment!