pensieve-update-meta

pensieve-update-meta

Narrow, surgical updates to a single project meta note. Not for full reconciles (use pensieve-reconcile) and not for creating a new project (use /pensieve-init-project).

Inputs you need

• slug: the project slug (e.g. bicycle-handlebar)
• field: a dotted path into the frontmatter (e.g. docs.context, sync.last_synced_commit, tags, status)
• value: the new value (string, list, or nested object — match the frontmatter shape from spec §5)

If any input is missing or ambiguous, ask the user before touching the vault.

Procedure

1. Load the current state. Call read_note(identifier="projects/<slug>"). If it returns nothing, stop and tell the user the project meta doesn't exist — they should run /pensieve-init-project first.
2. Compute the patch. Identify the existing frontmatter value for field and the new value. If they're identical, skip the write and tell the user nothing needed to change. Never modify the narrative body.
3. Bump sync.last_synced_at to today's date as a side-effect of the same edit. Do not touch sync.last_synced_commit here — that field belongs to reconcile, which has the full repo state in view.
4. Apply via MCP. Call edit_note(identifier="projects/<slug>", ...) with the targeted frontmatter operation. Preserve all other frontmatter and body content.
5. Refresh the mirror. Immediately afterwards, build a JSON object with the post-update frontmatter subset the hook needs:

   {
     "slug": "<slug>",
     "repo_path": "<absolute path from frontmatter>",
     "default_branch": "<branch from frontmatter>",
     "docs": { ...post-update docs map... },
     "sync": { "last_synced_commit": "<unchanged sha from frontmatter>" }
   }
   

   Pipe it into ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/write-mirror.sh <slug> via Bash. The script validates and writes ~/.cache/the-pensieve/meta-mirror/<slug>.json. If you skip this step, the SessionStart hook silently runs on stale data — this is the most common way the plugin's contract breaks.
6. Report back. Tell the user which field changed, from what to what, and confirm the mirror was refreshed.

Constraints (from spec §6.5 + §8)

• Vault access is only via Basic Memory MCP — never Read/Grep/Write against the vault path.
• The cache mirror is local-only and must be rewritten on every edit_note you perform on a project meta. Treat the mirror write as part of edit_note's contract.
• This skill does not delete fields. To remove a field, use pensieve-reconcile so the deletion can be reviewed in context.

What this skill refuses

• Creating new project metas (delegate to /pensieve-init-project)
• Multi-field "while I'm here" edits (delegate to pensieve-reconcile)
• Edits to the narrative body of the note (out of scope; the narrative is human territory)