Daily Brain — Obsidian Second Brain Logger

Creating the Hierarchy

When logging an entry, ensure the full path exists. Calculate which week of the month the current date falls in (Week 1 = days 1-7, Week 2 = days 8-14, Week 3 = days 15-21, Week 4 = days 22-28, Week 5 = days 29-31).

Use obsidian-cli to create files. If the daily file doesn't exist yet, create it. If it exists, append to it.

To get the current date and time:

date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"

To create or append:

# Create new note (only if it doesn't exist)
obsidian-cli create "Daily Tracking/MM-YYYY/Week N/Daily/YYYY-MM-DD" --content "..."

# Append to existing note
obsidian-cli open "YYYY-MM-DD" --append "..."

If obsidian-cli commands fail for creating nested paths, fall back to direct file creation:

mkdir -p "/Users/mehmetsemihbabacan/dev/brain/Daily Tracking/MM-YYYY/Week N/Daily"

Then write/append to the .md file directly.

Daily Note Format

Each daily note follows this template:

# YYYY-MM-DD

> **Today:** [count] learnings, [count] work notes, [count] ideas | Week N of MM-YYYY | [[Goals]]

## 🎯 Goals
- [ ] Goal 1
- [ ] Goal 2

## 📚 Learnings
- HH:MM — What was learned and why it matters

## 💬 Feedback
- HH:MM — Feedback received, from whom/what context, and takeaway

## 🔍 Discoveries
- HH:MM — What was discovered, where/how, and why it's significant

## ❌ Failures
- HH:MM — What failed, why it happened, and the lesson

## 💡 Ideas
- HH:MM — The idea, its potential, and possible next steps

## 📋 Work Notes
- HH:MM — Meeting notes, decisions, blockers, or progress updates

Only include sections that have entries. Don't create empty sections. When the user adds the first entry of a type to an existing daily note, add that section heading before the entry.

Summary line: Update the > **Today:** summary line each time you add an entry. It helps the user see at a glance what's in today's note. Count entries per category and list only categories that have entries (e.g., > **Today:** 2 learnings, 1 work note | Week 1 of 03-2026 | [[Goals]]).

Entry Formatting Rules

Each entry is a single bullet point starting with the timestamp:

- 14:32 — Learned that prompt caching reduces latency by 80% when system prompts exceed 1024 tokens. This changes how I should structure the Upily chatbot architecture.

The content after the timestamp should capture:

1. What happened (the fact)
2. Context (where, from whom, during what)
3. So what (why it matters, the takeaway, next action)

If the user's input is casual or brief, structure it properly but preserve their voice. Don't over-formalize — keep it natural but organized.

When to Use Rich Formatting

By default, keep entries as lean timestamped bullets. But when the content naturally benefits from it:

• Tables: When comparing options, listing features, or tracking multiple items
• Checklists: When the learning implies action steps the user should take
• Templates: When the entry describes a repeatable process

Example — lean (default):

• 14:32 — Learned that prompt caching reduces latency by 80% for long system prompts.

Example — with actionable template (when appropriate):

• 14:32 — Learned about prompt caching strategy for reducing LLM latency. Action checklist:
  • Audit current system prompts for cache eligibility
  • Add cache_control breakpoints to prompts > 1024 tokens
  • Measure before/after latency

Use rich formatting sparingly — lean is the default. The user prefers lean.

Weekly Goals

Each week folder has a Goals.md file. When the user sets weekly goals or when a new week starts, create or update this file:

# Week N Goals — MM-YYYY

## Fields Active This Week
- **[Field 1]** → [[MiniDecade/[Field 1]/0. Plan]]
- **[Field 2]** → [[MiniDecade/[Field 2]/0. Plan]]

## [Field 1]
- [ ] Goal related to field 1
- [ ] Another goal for field 1

## [Field 2]
- [ ] Goal related to field 2

## Personal Growth
- [ ] Language practice, reading, fitness, etc.

Every goal belongs to a MiniDecade field. Use "Personal Growth" as the catch-all field for habits and personal development that don't map to a specific mastery field. When the user provides goals, identify which field each belongs to and group accordingly.

Field Detection

Common fields for this user (create new ones as needed):

• AI Engineering — agents, MPC, LLMs, GenAI, prompt engineering
• Context Engineering — context management, prompt design, context windows
• Backend Engineering — Go, databases, systems, infrastructure
• SaaS/Product — viral apps, pricing, onboarding, marketing
• Entrepreneurship — company building, original ideas, strategy
• Languages — Spanish, French learning
• Personal Growth — reading, fitness, spiritual practice, habits

Handling User Input

The user will speak naturally. Your job is to:

1. Identify the category — Is this a learning, feedback, discovery, failure, idea, goal, or work note?
2. Get the current time — Use date to get HH:MM
3. Structure the entry — Format it with timestamp and the what/context/so-what pattern
4. Log it — Append to today's daily note (create if needed, with full folder hierarchy)
5. Confirm briefly — Tell the user what you logged and where

If the input spans multiple categories, create multiple entries under the right sections.

Category Detection

If ambiguous, ask the user which category fits best — or make your best judgment and mention it.

MiniDecade Connection

The user has a MiniDecade system at Work/Mine/MiniDecade/ — a 3-year mastery framework. Each field has its own folder with a living plan, resources, progress tracking, and artifacts.

Field Tagging in Daily Entries

When logging entries, tag them with their MiniDecade field in square brackets:

- 14:32 — [AI Engineering] When building a feature, always ask: what action will the user take? If no clear action, the feature isn't providing real value.

The field tag connects the daily entry to the MiniDecade tracking system, making it searchable and traceable.

Creating New Fields

When the user mentions a goal or learning that doesn't map to any existing field, ask if they want to create a new MiniDecade field. If yes:

1. Create Work/Mine/MiniDecade/[Field Name]/ in the vault
2. Create 0. Plan.md with the initial plan template
3. Create subdirectories: Resources/, Progress/, Artifacts/, Tools/
4. Link it from the next weekly Goals.md

Existing Fields (vault paths)

• AI Engineering → Work/Mine/MiniDecade/AI Engineering/
• Context Engineering → Work/Mine/MiniDecade/Context Engineering/
• Backend Engineering → Work/Mine/MiniDecade/Backend Engineering/
• SaaS Product → Work/Mine/MiniDecade/SaaS Product/
• Entrepreneurship → Work/Mine/MiniDecade/Entrepreneurship/
• Languages → Work/Mine/MiniDecade/Languages/
• Personal Growth → Work/Mine/MiniDecade/Personal Growth/
• (more created via /mini-decade:new-field)

Commands

These sub-commands can be invoked explicitly:

Cross-references:

• /daily-brain:goals → reads MiniDecade Plan.md files for field-level goal mapping
• /daily-brain:morning → reads MiniDecade plan state + HabitAdd habits for daily briefing
• /daily-brain:review → connects to /mini-decade:review for formal weekly reviews
• /mini-decade:review → reads daily-brain entries tagged with [Field Name]

Reviewing and Querying

When the user asks to review their day, week, or find past entries:

• "What did I log today?" — Read and summarize today's daily note
• "Review my week" — Read all daily notes in the current week folder + Goals.md, summarize progress
• "What did I learn about X?" — Search across daily notes using obsidian-cli search-content

Quick Reference: obsidian-cli Commands

# Print a note
obsidian-cli print "note name"

# Search content
obsidian-cli search-content "search term"

# Create a note
obsidian-cli create "path/to/note" --content "content here"

# Open (brings to focus in Obsidian)
obsidian-cli open "note name"

Important Behaviors

• Always get the real current date/time — never guess or use stale values
• If multiple entries come in rapid succession, batch them into one append operation
• Preserve the user's language and tone — add structure, not corporate speak
• When in doubt about category, log it under the closest match and mention it to the user
• Keep confirmations short: "Logged under 📚 Learnings in today's note (03-04, Week 1)"

Help (/daily-brain:help)

When this sub-command is invoked, present the following to the user:

Daily Brain — Obsidian Second Brain Logger

A structured daily logging system that captures your thoughts, learnings, and experiences into your Obsidian vault at ~/dev/brain/.

How it works

When you share something — a learning, feedback, discovery, failure, idea, goal, or work note — it gets logged to the correct daily file with an HH:MM timestamp. Files are organized in Daily Tracking/MM-YYYY/Week N/Daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md.

Categories

Commands

MiniDecade Connection

Entries are tagged with MiniDecade field names (e.g., [AI Engineering]) for cross-referencing. Weekly goals live in Goals.md and map to MiniDecade fields.

Usage

Just speak naturally. Say "I learned that prompt caching reduces latency by 80%" or "log this: meeting with X decided to go with approach Y". The skill handles categorizing, timestamping, and filing.