Voice Note Ingest

---
name: voice-note-ingest
version: 0.1.0
description: Ingest a voice note with exact-phrasing preservation (never paraphrased). Routes content to originals/, concepts/, people/, companies/, ideas/, personal/, or voice-notes/ based on a decision tree. The user's exact words are the signal.
triggers:
  - "voice note"
  - "ingest this voice memo"
  - "transcribe and file"
  - "voice note ingest"
  - "save this audio note"
  - "audio message"
tools:
  - page_put
  - page_append
  - page_get
  - search
  - link
  - add_timeline_event
  - put_raw_data
mutating: true
writes_pages: true
writes_to:
  - voice-notes/
  - originals/
  - concepts/
  - people/
  - companies/
  - ideas/
  - personal/
---

# voice-note-ingest — Exact-Phrasing Voice Capture

> **Convention:** see `conventions/quality.md` (via `get_skill conventions/quality`)
> for citation rules, back-link enforcement, and exact-phrasing requirements.
>
> **Convention:** see `_brain-filing-rules.md` (via `get_skill _brain-filing-rules`)
> for the filing decision protocol.

## Iron Law

The user's **exact words** are the insight. Never paraphrase. Never clean
up. The vivid, unpolished, stream-of-consciousness phrasing captures
something that cleaned-up prose does not. Preserve it in block quotes.
The Analysis section can interpret; the transcript section is sacred.

- ✅ `"The ambition-to-lifespan ratio has never been more fucked"`
- ❌ `User noted the tension between ambition and mortality`

## When to invoke

The user sends an audio or voice message via any client channel (messaging
bridge, voice memo upload, mobile-client attachment). The host agent
typically provides the transcript text. If not, transcribe it with the
host agent's own transcription tooling — segment audio > 25MB via ffmpeg
first.

## The pipeline

```
1. STORE       → Preserve the original artifact in the brain's raw-data
                 store via put_raw_data (audio if the channel delivers
                 it; otherwise the verbatim transcript payload). Keep the
                 returned key for the page's source metadata.
2. TRANSCRIBE  → Use the agent-provided transcript verbatim, OR
                 transcribe the audio yourself (see "When to invoke")
                 if no transcript was supplied.
3. ROUTE       → Apply the decision tree (below) to find the right
                 destination directory.
4. WRITE       → Create / update the destination brain page (page_put /
                 page_append); preserve the verbatim transcript in a
                 block-quoted "User's Words" section.
5. CROSS-LINK  → For every entity mentioned (person, company), add a
                 timeline back-link from THEIR brain page to THIS one
                 via add_timeline_event + link (Iron Law per
                 conventions/quality.md).
```

## Decision tree (where the content goes)

Apply in order. First match wins. If multiple categories apply, file to
the primary directory and cross-link to the others.

1. **Original idea, observation, or thesis** — the user is expressing a
   novel thought, framework, or connection THEY generated.
   → `originals/<slug>`. Use the user's vivid language for the slug.

2. **About a world concept they encountered** — a framework or model
   someone else created that the user is referencing.
   → `concepts/<slug>`.

3. **About a specific person** — new information, opinion, or observation
   about someone.
   → Update `people/<person>` timeline.

4. **About a specific company** — new info about a company.
   → Update `companies/<company>` timeline.

5. **A product or business idea** — something that could be built.
   → `ideas/<slug>`.

6. **A personal reflection** — therapy-adjacent, emotional, identity.
   → Append to appropriate `personal/<slug>`.

7. **None of the above / random thought / doesn't fit cleanly** —
   → `voice-notes/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>` (catch-all).

**Multiple categories?** Create the primary page, then cross-link to all
others. If the voice note covers a person AND a novel idea, create the
originals/ page AND update the person's timeline.

## Brain page format

For ALL voice-note-derived pages, include this skeleton:

```markdown
---
title: "[Title derived from content]"
type: [original | concept | voice-note | ...]
created: YYYY-MM-DD
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
tags: [voice-note, relevant-tags]
sources:
  voice-note:
    type: voice_note
    raw_data_key: "[key returned by put_raw_data]"
    acquired: YYYY-MM-DD
    acquired_via: "voice note from <channel>"
---

# Title

> Executive summary of what was said and why it matters.

## User's Words

> "Exact transcript, verbatim, preserving every word, hesitation, and verbal
> tic. This is the primary source material. Do not edit."

🔊 Audio: raw-data key `[key returned by put_raw_data]` (retrieve via get_raw_data)

## Analysis

[What this means, why it matters, connections to other thinking. The
analysis is the agent's interpretation; the transcript above is sacred.]

## See Also

- [Related brain pages by slug]

---

## Timeline

- **YYYY-MM-DD** | voice note from <channel> — [Brief description]
```

## Citation format

```
[Source: voice note, <channel>, YYYY-MM-DD]
```

Include timestamps when available:

```
[Source: voice note, <channel>, YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM PT]
```

## Naming convention

- Audio artifacts: `YYYY-MM-DD-<brief-slug>.<ext>` (e.g.,
  `2026-04-13-creative-philosophy-riff.ogg`) — use this as the raw-data
  key stem.
- Brain pages: match the slug of the destination directory.

## Bulk vs. single

This skill handles ONE voice note at a time. Each is its own ingest cycle.
No batching.

## Anti-Patterns

- ❌ **Paraphrasing the transcript.** The exact words are the signal.
- ❌ **Cleaning up hesitations or filler words** ("um", "like", "you
  know"). The texture matters.
- ❌ **Creating a page with no entity cross-links** when people/companies
  were mentioned. Iron Law fail.
- ❌ **Skipping the raw-data storage step.** Always preserve the original;
  the brain page carries the `🔊 Audio` raw-data key back to it.

## Related skills

- `skills/signal-detector/SKILL.md` — same exact-phrasing pattern for
  text-channel idea capture
- `skills/idea-ingest/SKILL.md` — for typed-text idea ingestion
- `conventions/quality.md` — citation + back-link rules


## Contract

This skill guarantees:

- Routing matches the canonical triggers in the frontmatter.
- Output written under the directories listed in `writes_to:` (when applicable).
- Conventions referenced (`quality.md`, `brain-first.md`, `_brain-filing-rules.md`) are followed.
- Privacy contract preserved: no real names, no host-specific filesystem path literals.

The full behavior contract is documented in the body sections above; this section exists for the conformance test.

## Output Format

The skill's output shape is documented inline in the body sections above (see "Output", "Brain page format", or equivalent). The literal section header here exists for the conformance check.