zettel

/zettel

Promote a fleeting note to a permanent Zettelkasten note. In Luhmann's system, a permanent note has: (1) a single clear idea stated in your own words, (2) links to related notes, (3) enough context to stand alone years later.

Flow

0. Sync

git -C ${GTD_VAULT:-$HOME/gtd} pull --rebase --autostash 2>&1 | tail -3

If conflicts or failure, ask the user to resolve before proceeding.

1. List fleeting notes

ls ${GTD_VAULT:-$HOME/gtd}/zettelkasten/fleeting/*.md 2>/dev/null | grep -v /.gitkeep$ | sort

If empty: fleeting/ is empty — nothing to promote. Exit.

2. Pick one

Display numbered list with the first ~80 chars of each file's body. Ask: どれを permanent に昇格させますか？ (1-N or 'cancel')

Read the chosen file.

3. Draft the claim

Show the user the fleeting content. Ask:

このノートが「言いたいこと」を1文で書いてください (20-60字目安)。
 ヒント: 「〇〇は〇〇である」「〇〇すると〇〇になる」のような断言型が強い。

Iterate if needed — offer the user a rewritten version of their sentence for sharpening, but NEVER replace without their approval.

4. Expand

Ask:

その主張を詳しく (なぜそう思うか、反例、根拠、例): 

Multi-line input. Accept until two blank lines or done.

5. Find related notes

Extract 3-5 keywords from the claim + expansion (Japanese+English OK). For each, grep existing permanent notes:

grep -rli --include='*.md' '{keyword}' ${GTD_VAULT:-$HOME/gtd}/zettelkasten/permanent/ 2>/dev/null | head -10

Also check zettelkasten/literature/ with the same pattern.

Display candidates as Obsidian wikilinks:

関連しそうなノート:
 - [[permanent/existing-note-a]] (matched: "〇〇")
 - [[literature/2026-03-xx-foo]] (matched: "△△")
 - ...

関連として残すものを番号で (例: "1,3" or "none" or "all"):

If permanent/ is empty (first zettel): skip this step gracefully, tell the user 関連ノート候補はまだありません（最初の永続ノート）.

6. Build the permanent note

Generate a timestamp + short slug from the claim: TS=$(TZ=Asia/Tokyo date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M), SLUG= 3-5 word English slug derived from the claim.

Target path: zettelkasten/permanent/{TS}-{SLUG}.md.

Content:

---
type: permanent
created: {TS_date_only}
tags: [{extracted_keywords_as_tags}]
source: {"#" + original fleeting filename, OR the issue ref from frontmatter if mobile-origin}
---

# {claim}

## 展開

{expansion text}

## 関連ノート

- [[related-note-1]]
- [[related-note-2]]

7. Move fleeting → delete or archive?

Ask: 元の fleeting ノートは？ (a) 削除 (b) 残す.

• a: rm zettelkasten/fleeting/{original}
• b: leave it.

8. Commit prompt

Show git status --short. Ask コミットしますか？ (y/n). If yes:

git -C ${GTD_VAULT:-$HOME/gtd} commit -m "zettel: {first 50 chars of claim}"

Don't push.

Rules

• Claim must be the user's own words. Never write the claim sentence for them. You may offer a rewritten version, but require explicit approval.
• One claim per permanent note. If the user's expansion contains 2+ independent ideas, suggest splitting into separate notes.
• Preserve wikilink format [[note-name]] — Obsidian uses this for backlinks.
• Don't invent related notes. Only link to notes that actually exist in the vault.
• tags: sparingly — 2-4 tags max, kebab-case, no topic-bloat.

Luhmann's principle (for Claude, not the user)

A permanent note should answer: "What's the smallest unit of thought I want to remember?" If the user tries to cram two ideas in, help them split. If they write a summary instead of a claim, ask for the thesis behind it.