seed
The seed skill validates a source file, detects duplicate processing, creates a dated archive folder, moves the file from the inbox, generates an extract task, and registers the job in the processing queue. Use this when adding research articles, documentation, transcripts, or other materials for extraction and note synthesis.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/agenticnotetaking/arscontexta /tmp/seed && cp -r /tmp/seed/skill-sources/seed ~/.claude/skills/seedSKILL.md
## EXECUTE NOW
**Target: $ARGUMENTS**
The target MUST be a file path. If no target provided, list {DOMAIN:inbox}/ contents and ask which to seed.
### Step 0: Read Vocabulary
Read `ops/derivation-manifest.md` (or fall back to `ops/derivation.md`) for domain vocabulary mapping. All output must use domain-native terms. If neither file exists, use universal terms.
**START NOW.** Seed the source file into the processing queue.
---
## Step 1: Validate Source
Confirm the target file exists. If it does not, check common locations:
- `{DOMAIN:inbox}/{filename}`
- Subdirectories of {DOMAIN:inbox}/
If the file cannot be found, report error and stop:
```
ERROR: Source file not found: {path}
Checked: {locations checked}
```
Read the file to understand:
- **Content type**: what kind of material is this? (research article, documentation, transcript, etc.)
- **Size**: line count (affects chunking decisions in /reduce)
- **Format**: markdown, plain text, structured data
## Step 2: Duplicate Detection
Check if this source has already been processed. Two levels of detection:
### 2a. Filename Match
Search the queue file and archive folders for matching source names:
```bash
SOURCE_NAME=$(basename "$FILE" .md | tr ' ' '-' | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
# Check queue for existing entry
# Search in ops/queue.yaml, ops/queue/queue.yaml, or ops/queue/queue.json
grep -l "$SOURCE_NAME" ops/queue*.yaml ops/queue/*.yaml ops/queue/*.json 2>/dev/null
# Check archive folders
ls -d ops/queue/archive/*-${SOURCE_NAME}* 2>/dev/null
```
### 2b. Content Similarity (if semantic search available)
If semantic search is available (qmd MCP tools or CLI), check for content overlap:
```
mcp__qmd__search query="claims from {source filename}" limit=5
```
Or via keyword search in the {DOMAIN:notes}/ directory:
```bash
grep -rl "{key terms from source title}" {DOMAIN:notes}/ 2>/dev/null | head -5
```
### 2c. Report Duplicates
If either check finds a match:
- Show what was found (filename match or content overlap)
- Ask: "This source may have been processed before. Proceed anyway? (y/n)"
- If the user declines, stop cleanly
- If the user confirms (or no duplicate found), continue
## Step 3: Create Archive Structure
Create the archive folder. The date-prefixed folder name ensures uniqueness.
```bash
DATE=$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%d")
SOURCE_BASENAME=$(basename "$FILE" .md | tr ' ' '-' | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
ARCHIVE_DIR="ops/queue/archive/${DATE}-${SOURCE_BASENAME}"
mkdir -p "$ARCHIVE_DIR"
```
The archive folder serves two purposes:
1. Permanent home for the source file (moved from {DOMAIN:inbox})
2. Destination for task files after batch completion (/archive-batch moves them here)
## Step 4: Move Source to Archive
Move the source file from its current location to the archive folder. This is the **claiming step** — once moved, the source is owned by this processing batch.
**{DOMAIN:inbox} sources get moved:**
```bash
if [[ "$FILE" == *"{DOMAIN:inbox}"* ]] || [[ "$FILE" == *"inbox"* ]]; then
mv "$FILE" "$ARCHIVE_DIR/"
FINAL_SOURCE="$ARCHIVE_DIR/$(basename "$FILE")"
fi
```
**Sources outside {DOMAIN:inbox} stay in place:**
```bash
# Living docs (like configuration files) stay where they are
# Archive folder is still created for task files
FINAL_SOURCE="$FILE"
```
Use `$FINAL_SOURCE` in the task file — this is the path all downstream phases reference.
**Why move immediately:** All references (task files, {DOMAIN:note_plural}' Source footers) use the final archived path from the start. No path updates needed later. If it is in {DOMAIN:inbox}, it is unclaimed. Claimed sources live in archive.
## Step 5: Determine Claim Numbering
Find the highest existing claim number across the queue and archive to ensure globally unique claim IDs.
```bash
# Check queue for highest claim number in file references
QUEUE_MAX=$(grep -oE '[0-9]{3}\.md' ops/queue*.yaml ops/queue/*.yaml 2>/dev/null | \
grep -oE '[0-9]{3}' | sort -n | tail -1)
QUEUE_MAX=${QUEUE_MAX:-0}
# Check archive for highest claim number
ARCHIVE_MAX=$(find ops/queue/archive -name "*-[0-9][0-9][0-9].md" 2>/dev/null | \
grep -v summary | sed 's/.*-\([0-9][0-9][0-9]\)\.md/\1/' | sort -n | tail -1)
ARCHIVE_MAX=${ARCHIVE_MAX:-0}
# Next claim starts after the highest
NEXT_CLAIM_START=$((QUEUE_MAX > ARCHIVE_MAX ? QUEUE_MAX + 1 : ARCHIVE_MAX + 1))
```
Claim numbers are globally unique and never reused across batches. This ensures every claim file name (`{source}-{NNN}.md`) is unique vault-wide.
## Step 6: Create Extract Task File
Write the task file to `ops/queue/${SOURCE_BASENAME}.md`:
```markdown
---
id: {SOURCE_BASENAME}
type: extract
source: {FINAL_SOURCE}
original_path: {original file path before move}
archive_folder: {ARCHIVE_DIR}
created: {UTC timestamp}
next_claim_start: {NEXT_CLAIM_START}
---
# Extract {DOMAIN:note_plural} from {source filename}
## Source
Original: {original file path}
Archived: {FINAL_SOURCE}
Size: {line count} lines
Content type: {detected type}
## Scope
{scope guidance if provided via --scope, otherwise: "Full document"}
## Acceptance Criteria
- Extract claims, implementation ideas, tensions, and testable hypotheses
- Duplicate check against {DOMAIN:notes}/ during extraction
- Near-duplicates create enrichment tasks (do not skip)
- Each output type gets appropriate handling
## Execution Notes
(filled by /reduce)
## Outputs
(filled by /reduce)
```
## Step 7: Update Queue
Add the extract task entry to the queue file.
**For YAML queues (ops/queue.yaml):**
```yaml
- id: {SOURCE_BASENAME}
type: extract
status: pending
source: "{FINAL_SOURCE}"
file: "{SOURCE_BASENAME}.md"
created: "{UTC timestamp}"
next_claim_start: {NEXT_CLAIM_START}
```
**For JSON queues (ops/queue/queue.json):**
```json
{
"id": "{SOURCE_BASENAME}",
"type": "extract",
"status": "pending",
"source": "{FINAL_SOURCE}",
"file": "{SOURCE_BASENAME}.md",
"created": "{UTC timestamp}",
"next_claim_start": {NEXT_CLAIM_START}
}
```
**If nProactive methodology guidance agent. Monitors note creation and provides real-time quality advice. Suggests connections, flags quality issues, recommends MOC updates. Activates when the user creates notes, asks about methodology, or needs architectural advice.
Interactive knowledge graph analysis. Routes natural language questions to graph scripts, interprets results in domain vocabulary, and suggests concrete actions. Triggers on "/graph", "/graph health", "/graph triangles", "find synthesis opportunities", "graph analysis".
Research a topic and grow your knowledge graph. Uses Exa deep researcher, web search, or basic search to investigate topics, files results with full provenance, and chains to processing pipeline. Triggers on "/learn", "/learn [topic]", "research this", "find out about".
Surface the most valuable next action by combining task stack, queue state, inbox pressure, health, and goals. Recommends one specific action with rationale. Triggers on "/next", "what should I do", "what's next".
End-to-end source processing -- seed, reduce, process all claims through reflect/reweave/verify, archive. The full pipeline in one command. Triggers on "/pipeline", "/pipeline [file]", "process this end to end", "full pipeline".
Queue processing with fresh context per phase. Processes N tasks from the queue, spawning isolated subagents to prevent context contamination. Supports serial, parallel, batch filter, and dry run modes. Triggers on "/ralph", "/ralph N", "process queue", "run pipeline tasks".
Extract structured knowledge from source material. Comprehensive extraction is the default — every insight that serves the domain gets extracted. For domain-relevant sources, skip rate must be below 10%. Zero extraction from a domain-relevant source is a BUG. Triggers on "/reduce", "/reduce [file]", "extract insights", "mine this", "process this".
Plan vault restructuring from config changes. Compares config.yaml against derivation.md, identifies dimension shifts, shows restructuring plan, executes on approval. Triggers on "/refactor", "restructure vault".