BrainRepo

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name: brainrepo description: > Your personal knowledge repository — capture, organize, and retrieve everything using PARA + Zettelkasten. Triggers on: "save this", "remember", "note", "capture", "brain dump", daily/weekly reviews, searching stored knowledge, managing projects/areas/people. Works with any AI agent that reads markdown. Stores everything as .md files in a Git repo for Obsidian, VS Code, or any editor.

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BrainRepo

Your personal knowledge repository. Capture fast, organize automatically, retrieve instantly.

Brain Location

Fixed path: ~/Documents/brainrepo/

This is not configurable. All brain data lives here.

First Run Check

Before any action, check if brainrepo is initialized:

1. Check if ~/Documents/brainrepo/ exists with expected structure (Inbox/, Projects/, Areas/) 2. If NOT found → Run onboarding automatically 3. If found → Proceed with user request

Onboarding

Triggers automatically on first interaction, or when user says "set up brainrepo":

1. Create brain at ~/Documents/brainrepo/ 2. Create the folder structure:

mkdir -p /{Inbox,Projects,Areas/personal-growth,Areas/family,Notes,Resources,Journal,People,Tasks,Archive}

3. Create initial files from templates in assets/templates/: - Tasks/index.md — task hub - Areas/personal-growth/index.md — personal growth area - Areas/family/index.md — family area

4. Initialize git (optional):

cd  && git init && git add -A && git commit -m "init: brainrepo"

5. Confirm setup and show quick start commands

Core Concept

DUMP → PROCESS → RETRIEVE

1. Dump — Capture everything to Inbox/ (don't organize yet) 2. Process — Evening review: Inbox → permanent home 3. Retrieve — Ask AI to find anything

Repository Structure

brainrepo/
├── Inbox/          # Quick capture (clear daily)
├── Projects/       # Active work with deadlines
├── Areas/          # Ongoing responsibilities (no deadline)
├── Notes/          # Permanent atomic knowledge
├── Resources/      # External links, articles, references
├── Journal/        # Daily notes (YYYY-MM-DD.md)
├── People/         # One note per person
├── Tasks/          # Centralized task tracking
└── Archive/        # Completed projects

See references/structure.md for detailed breakdown.

Capture Rules

What to Capture (Immediately)

| Type | Destination | Example | |------|-------------|---------| | Quick thought | Inbox/ | "Maybe we should..." | | Decision made | Inbox/ or Notes/ | "Decided to use Next.js" | | Person info | People/ | New contact or update | | Project update | Projects// | Meeting notes, progress | | Task/Todo | Tasks/index.md | "Need to finish X" | | Link/Article | Resources/ or Inbox/ | URL with context | | Personal growth | Areas/personal-growth/ | Health, habits, learning | | Family info | Areas/family/ | Important dates, notes |

What NOT to Capture

Casual chat without information value

Temporary queries ("what time is it")

Information easily searchable online

Note Format

Every note uses minimal frontmatter:

---
created: YYYY-MM-DD
tags: [tag1, tag2]
related: ["[[Other Note]]"]
Title
Content here. Link to [[Related Notes]] freely.

Use templates from assets/templates/ when creating new notes.

Daily Workflow

During Day

Dump everything to Inbox/

Don't organize — just capture

Evening (5-10 min)

Process Inbox/: 1. Each item → permanent home or delete 2. Update Journal/YYYY-MM-DD.md with summary 3. git commit -am "daily processing"

Weekly Review (Sunday, 15 min)

1. Review all Projects/ — still active? 2. Check Areas/ — anything neglected? 3. Move completed projects to Archive/ 4. Update Tasks/index.md

See references/workflows.md for detailed workflows.

Commands

| User says | Action | |-----------|--------| | "Set up brainrepo" | Run onboarding, create structure | | "Save this: [text]" | Capture to Inbox/ | | "New project: [name]" | Create Projects/name/ with template | | "Add person: [name]" | Create People/name.md with template | | "What do I know about X?" | Search & retrieve | | "Daily review" | Process Inbox/, update Journal/ | | "Weekly review" | Full system review |

Linking

Use [[wiki-links]] to connect notes:

Met with [[People/john]] about [[Projects/acme/index|ACME Project]].
Relevant insight: [[Notes/negotiation-tactics]]

Projects vs Areas

| Projects | Areas | |----------|-------| | Have deadlines | No end date | | Can be "done" | Maintained forever | | Specific outcome | Standard to uphold |

File Naming

Folders: kebab-case/

Files: kebab-case.md

Dates: YYYY-MM-DD.md

People: firstname-lastname.md

References

Structure Guide — Detailed folder breakdown

Workflows — Daily/weekly/monthly workflows

Templates — Note templates