Zettelclaw

Follow the canonical Zettelclaw vault model: capture externally, write durable notes manually, and use the agent for navigation/synthesis.

This is an instruction-only skill. It does not install software by itself. qmd is optional when it is already available in the environment, and rg is the supported fallback for search.

Vault structure

CODEBLOCK0

Note types

Use YAML frontmatter on every note:

• - Required on all notes:

• - Required on doc and content notes:

• - Optional content metadata:

Use these primary types:

• - note: durable atomic thinking note; no INLINECODE11
• INLINECODE12: non-atomic working/reference note; uses INLINECODE13
• INLINECODE14: daily log note; no INLINECODE15
• content types: article, book, movie, tv, youtube, tweet, podcast, paper (and extensible additional content types); uses INLINECODE24

Templates

Always read the matching template in 03 Templates/ before creating a note:

• - INLINECODE26
• INLINECODE27
• INLINECODE28

Use core templates/date syntax. Do not require Templater.

Inbox workflow

• - Web captures land in 00 Inbox/ via clipper-capture.json.
• Clipper sets type by URL (tweet, youtube, else article) and status: queued.
• Process inbox captures by keeping/moving, converting into a type: note, or deleting.
• Do not auto-write durable thinking notes from captured content unless explicitly asked.

Bases workflow

• - 00 Inbox/inbox.base is the canonical queue view.
• Grouping is by note.type for scan-by-content-type triage.
• Prefer creating/editing .base files over Dataview.

Titles as APIs

A note's title is its interface. Use complete, declarative phrases: "Spaced Repetition Works Because of Retrieval," not "Spaced Repetition." A well-titled note can be linked and understood without opening it. When creating or renaming notes, always prefer a full declarative statement.

Tag conventions

Tags live in the frontmatter tags array, not inline in the body.

• - Lowercase, hyphenated: spaced-repetition, not Spaced Repetition or spacedRepetition.
• Topic-oriented, not structural: learning (what it's about), not important (how you feel about it).
• Nest only when a hierarchy is genuinely useful: ai/transformers is fine, deep nesting is not.
• Suggest tags based on the vault's existing taxonomy rather than inventing new ones.

Editing rules

• - Preserve existing prose unless user asks to rewrite.
• Do not add or maintain an updated frontmatter field.
• Use dense wikilinking ([[Note Title]]) and allow unresolved links as stubs.
• Do not create top-level folders unless explicitly requested.
• Do not assign/change status, move notes, or delete notes without explicit instruction.
• Agent write surface is limited to:

Search patterns

Default QMD collections:

• - INLINECODE51
• INLINECODE52
• INLINECODE53
• INLINECODE54

CODEBLOCK1

OpenClaw integration

If configuring OpenClaw memory paths, use:

• - INLINECODE55

Do not write legacy top-level memorySearch.
Only change OpenClaw config when the operator explicitly wants this vault wired into an OpenClaw installation.