Seed

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:

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:

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.

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:

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:

# 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.

# 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:

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