journal-entry

The journal is the append-only log of what happened. MEMORY.md is for current state; the journal is for history. Every significant conversation should land here.

Create early, not at the end

The best journal entries are started within the first few exchanges of a significant conversation, not written up at the end. Append as you go, tidy at a natural stopping point.

Filename

journal/YYYY-MM-DD-descriptive-name.md. The date is when the conversation or event happened, not when you're writing. The name should be short and specific — 2026-04-22-house-move-negotiation.md beats 2026-04-22-house.md.

If an entry already exists for the same topic on the same day, append to it rather than creating a second file.

Frontmatter

Minimal:

---
type: conversation      # conversation | meeting | project | synthesis | personal
tags: [example, tags]
session: <session-id-if-available>
---

Tags are freeform. Useful defaults: personal, family, decision, meeting, the project name.

Content

Capture:

• Decisions with one line of rationale.
• Insights — things the user said that are worth remembering.
• Action items — what's next, who's doing it.
• Links — PRs, issues, docs, bookmarks.

Skip:

• Boilerplate headers and sub-sections if they'd be empty.
• Verbatim transcripts. Summarise.
• Anything already covered in another entry on the same day — link to it instead.

Short is fine. A two-line entry with the right facts beats a padded one.

Writing style

Match the tone in SOUL.md. Default to factual summary — what happened, what was decided, what's next. If the user has said they want narrative or scene-based journaling (common for personal or family entries), follow their preference instead.

Commit

Commit the entry when the conversation ends or at a natural pause. Message format: Journal: YYYY-MM-DD <topic>. Push.