Refine Daily Note

In interactive mode (default): Behavior is unchanged — all confirmation prompts remain.

Workflow

Phase 0: Setup

1. Determine the vault root.
   • Preferred: if the Obsidian CLI is available and responsive, run obsidian vault info=path and use the returned path.
   • Fallback: if the CLI is unavailable, the app is not running, or the command does not return the expected payload, treat the current repo root as the vault root and continue by reading files directly.
2. Determine the target date: use the argument if provided (e.g., refine-daily-note 2026-02-14), otherwise use today.
3. Read the target daily note.
   • Preferred: use obsidian daily:read for today or obsidian read path="Daily Notes/{date}.md" for another date.
   • Fallback: read Daily Notes/{date}.md directly from disk. Error if missing.

Phase 1: Discover Vault Entities

Build a catalog of all known entities so you can match them against the daily note text. Prefer Obsidian CLI discovery when available, but fall back to direct filesystem reads whenever needed.

1. Projects: list files in Projects/ and extract project names from filenames
2. People: list files in Persons/. If frontmatter aliases are available, read them from each person note
3. Topics: list files in Topics/ and extract topic names from filenames
4. Coding sessions: list files in Coding/ for cross-reference awareness
5. Meetings: list files in Meetings/ for cross-reference awareness
6. Tags: if the Obsidian CLI can return tag data, use it; otherwise skip tag discovery quietly

This gives you the full entity catalog to match against the daily note.

Phase 1b: Slack Activity Scan

Always run this phase. If Slack tools are unavailable, skip gracefully with no error.

1. Load Slack tools: Use whatever Slack capability is available in the current harness. If no Slack tools are available, skip this phase with no error — but always attempt it first.
2. Search for user's messages on the target date using slack_search_public_and_private:
   • Query: from:<@U07J89FDWPJ> on:{date}
3. Group messages by channel and 30-minute time windows.
4. Build a time coverage map from existing daily note time entries (start times, durations, projects).
5. Identify gaps: time windows with 3+ Slack messages but no matching time entry.
6. Detect huddles: For each DM or group DM channel found in step 2, read messages around the activity window using slack_read_channel with oldest/latest timestamps. Look for messages from Slackbot containing "A huddle started".
   • Slack's search API does not index huddle system messages — they can only be found by reading the channel directly.
   • When a huddle is found, record:
     • Start time: the Slackbot message timestamp
     • Participants: inferred from the DM/group DM members (the channel context)
     • Estimated duration: gap between the huddle start and the next human message in the channel (rough estimate — Slack does not expose huddle duration via API)
   • Huddles should always have a corresponding time entry. Flag any huddle that doesn't match an existing entry.
7. Infer channel→project mapping from channel names and existing time entries:
   • Check cached mappings in $VAULT/.cache/om/intervals-cache/slack-mappings.md
   • If a new channel→project mapping is discovered, append it to the cache file
8. Present findings:

   Slack activity not covered by time entries:

   • #technomic-dev (2:30-3:15pm, 8 messages): discussed vector search PR issues → [[Technomic]]?
   • #exsq-general (4:00-4:20pm, 4 messages): coordinated with team on AI Upskill → [[EXSQ]]? Add time entries for these?

   Huddles detected:

   • DM with [[Sol Parrot|Sol]] (12:16pm, ~1h54m): matches [[EXSQ]] - 1:1 sync with Sol - 2 ✓
   • DM with [[Adam Herrneckar|Adam]] (3:05pm, ~25m): no matching time entry — add one?

9. If approved, suggest time entry lines but do NOT auto-insert into time entries — present them for the user to manually add (time entries are sacred structured data).

Phase 1c: Slack Activity Summary

Using the data already gathered in Phase 1b, write a ### Slack Activity section into the daily note summarizing the day's interactions.

1. Group by channel/conversation: For each channel or DM where the user sent messages, build a brief summary:

   • Channel name (linked to project if a mapping exists)
   • Time window (e.g., 2:30–3:15pm)
   • Message count
   • Topics discussed: Summarize the key topics, decisions, or questions from the messages (keep to 1–2 sentences per channel). Use context from slack_read_channel / slack_read_thread if threads were read in Phase 1b, otherwise summarize from search result snippets.
   • Huddle indicator: If a huddle was detected in this channel (from Phase 1b step 6), note it with duration.

2. Format the section as a bullet list under ### Slack Activity:

   ### Slack Activity
   - **#technomic-dev** (2:30–3:15pm, 8 msgs) — Discussed vector search indexing issues; agreed to switch to HNSW. [[Technomic]]
   - **#exsq-general** (4:00–4:20pm, 4 msgs) — Coordinated AI Upskill session logistics with [[Sol Parrot|Sol]]. [[EXSQ]]
   - **DM with [[Adam Herrneckar|Adam]]** (3:05–3:30pm, 3 msgs + huddle ~25m) — Reviewed deployment pipeline changes.
   

3. Wikilink any people and projects mentioned, using the entity catalog from Phase 1.

4. Placement: Insert the section after the time entries block and before the first ### [[Project]] section (or at the end if no project sections exist). If a ### Slack Activity section already exists, replace it (idempotent).

5. Include in Phase 5 preview: Show the proposed Slack Activity section as part of the change summary for user approval.

If no Slack messages were found in Phase 1b, or Slack MCP tools were unavailable, skip this phase silently.

Phase 1d: GitHub Activity Scan

Always attempt this phase. If gh is unavailable, not authenticated, or returns no useful data, skip gracefully with no error.

1. Run:

   bash scripts/fetch-github-activity.sh {date}
   

   This returns JSON for:
   • PRs authored on the date
   • PRs active/updated on the date
   • PRs reviewed on the date
   • event-level activity (pushes, comments, reviews, issue/PR actions)
2. Build a repo→project correlation map using:
   • .cache/om/intervals-cache/github-mappings.md
   • project names already present in the day's time entries
   • explicit repo links already mentioned in the daily note
3. Identify the day's meaningful GitHub work:
   • authored PRs
   • reviewed PRs
   • notable pushes or comment/review bursts
   • repos with concentrated activity even if the daily note only mentions them vaguely
4. Improve weak note context when GitHub data clarifies it. Examples:
   • worked on OIDC stuff → mention the PR title or repo involved
   • reviewed PRs → list the most important PRs/repositories reviewed
   • pipeline work → mention the repo and PR title when available
5. Infer or extend repo→project mappings when the association is clear, then append new mappings to .cache/om/intervals-cache/github-mappings.md.
6. Do not rewrite time-entry lines automatically. Use GitHub activity to enrich the prose sections of the daily note, not to mutate the structured time-entry block.

Phase 1e: GitHub Activity Summary

Using the data gathered in Phase 1d, write a ### GitHub Activity section into the daily note summarizing the day's engineering activity.

1. Group activity by repo or project context.
2. Summarize only the most meaningful items:
   • authored PRs with clear titles
   • important reviews
   • notable implementation or debugging work implied by commits/events
3. Keep it concise and useful for later time-entry reconciliation. Good examples:

   ### GitHub Activity
   - **Technomic** — Worked in `exsq/ignite-app` on OIDC/manual-trigger pipeline changes; updated [[repo/PR context if you keep such notes]] and reviewed follow-up deployment issues. [[Technomic]]
   - **KHov** — Reviewed and iterated on mortgage-site preview/deployment PRs in `exsq/khov-web`. [[KHov]]
   

4. Wikilink projects, people, and topics where appropriate using the entity catalog from Phase 1.
5. Placement:
   • If a ### Slack Activity section exists, insert ### GitHub Activity immediately after it.
   • Otherwise insert it after the time-entry block and before the first ### [[Project]] section, or append it near the end if needed.
6. If a ### GitHub Activity section already exists, replace it (idempotent).
7. Include the proposed GitHub Activity section in the Phase 5 preview for approval.

If gh is unavailable or no meaningful GitHub activity is found, skip these phases silently.

Phase 2: Analyze & Improve Writing

Review each section of the daily note:

• Skip time entries — the bullet list at the top (lines like - [[Project]] - task - duration) is structured data for the intervals skill. Never modify these.
• Improve prose — fix grammar, improve clarity, tighten wording. Keep it concise.
• Fix formatting — consistent heading levels, list styles, spacing.
• Preserve todos — don't reorder, rewrite, or change checkbox state. Only improve prose around them.
• Author's voice — improve clarity without rewriting the user's natural style. Don't make it sound like AI wrote it.

Phase 3: Add Missing Wikilinks

Use vault-native link analysis to find and fix missing wikilinks:

1. Run obsidian unresolved to get all unresolved links in the vault — these are references to notes that don't exist yet. Filter for any that appear in today's daily note.
2. Run obsidian links file="{date}" to see what the daily note already links to — avoid double-linking.
3. Scan all text (outside time entries) for mentions of known entities from Phase 1 that are not yet linked:

• Projects: Add [[Project Name]] links where project names appear unlinked
• People: Add [[Full Name]] or [[Full Name|Alias]] when a short name or alias is used
• Topics: Add [[Topic]] links where topic names appear unlinked
• Heading style: Use ### [[Project]] for project section headings consistently

Rules:

• Don't double-link — skip text already inside [[...]] or already in the obsidian links output
• Don't link inside time entry lines
• Link known entities freely without asking the user

Phase 4: Extract Long Sections

Identify sections that are >~20 lines or contain substantial standalone content worth its own note.

For each extractable section:

1. Determine destination: Projects/ subtree or Topics/ based on content
2. Create the new note using obsidian create path="{destination}" content="{formatted content}":

   # {Title}
   
   {Extracted content}
   
   ## Related
   - [[Daily Notes/{date}]]
   

3. Replace the section in the daily note with a brief summary + [[wikilink]] to the new note

Present all proposed extractions to the user for approval before executing. Show what would be extracted, where it would go, and what the replacement summary would look like.

Phase 4b: Suggest New Entities

Identify mentions of people, projects, or topics that don't match any existing vault note.

For each candidate name, run qmd query "{name}" to check if the entity already exists under a different spelling or alias before suggesting creation. If qmd returns a high-confidence match (>70%), skip the suggestion and use the existing entity instead.

Present remaining candidates:

It looks like **Jane Smith** and **ProjectX** are mentioned but don't have vault pages yet.
Want me to create them?

For each confirmed new entity, create the note following vault conventions:

• Person: $VAULT/Persons/{Name}.md

  ---
  aliases:
    - {short name}
  ---
  # {Full Name}
  
  **Role**: {if known}
  **Projects**: {if known}
  
  ## Notes
  

• Project: $VAULT/Projects/{Name}.md (or appropriate subdirectory)

  # {Project Name}
  
  {Brief description if known}
  
  ## Related
  

• Topic: $VAULT/Topics/{Name}.md

  # {Topic Name}
  
  {Brief definition if known}
  
  ## Related
  
  ## Notes
  

After creating new entities:

• Add them to the respective MOC file (e.g., Persons MOC, Topics MOC) if one exists
• Link them in the daily note (they now exist as vault pages)

Phase 4c: Suggest Todo Completions

Scan unchecked todos on project pages against today's content to suggest completions with high confidence.

1. Collect unchecked todos: Run obsidian tasks todo to get all open todos from project files. Filter to projects referenced in today's time entries.
2. Search for completion evidence: For each unchecked todo, run qmd query "{todo text}" to search for evidence across today's daily note, meeting notes, and coding sessions. Look for high-confidence semantic matches.
3. Match todos to evidence — for each unchecked todo, check for HIGH confidence matches only:
   • Strong semantic similarity between todo text and evidence (qmd score >70%)
   • Explicit completion signals ("merged PR #X", "completed", "done", "shipped", "deployed")
4. Present suggestions with evidence:

   These todos appear done based on today's work:

   • review PRs (Technomic.md) — Evidence: wrote detailed reviews for PRs #650, #636, #571, #469
   • fix vector search (Technomic.md) — Evidence: coding session [[2026-02-20--TechnomicIgnite--fix-vector-search]] shows fixes deployed Mark as complete? (✅ 2026-02-20)

5. If approved, check off the todos on the project page: change - [ ] to - [x] and append ✅ {date}. The Tasks plugin completion format ensures they appear in the daily note's "Done today" dataview.

Rules:

• Never suggest more than 5 completions at once
• Skip anything below ~80% confidence — better to miss one than suggest a false positive
• Never auto-complete without user approval
• If no high-confidence matches found, skip this phase silently

Phase 4d: Freeze "Done today" on Previous Days

When refining a previous day's note (not today), convert the "Done today" dataview query into plain markdown so it becomes a permanent historical record.

1. Check if the target date is before today. If refining today's note, skip this phase entirely.
2. Find the ### Done today section and its dataview code block.
3. Read completed todos: Run obsidian tasks done and filter the output for items containing ✅ {target-date}.
4. Build plain markdown from the results:

   ### Done today
   - [x] [[Technomic]] - Investigate feature-22 login issue ✅ 2026-03-03
   - [x] [[AI Upskill]] - Attend Panama Canal meeting ✅ 2026-03-03
   

   Prefix each item with [[Project]] for context since the items originally live on project pages.
5. Replace the dataview block with the plain markdown list.
6. Clean up project pages: Remove the now-frozen - [x] ... ✅ {target-date} items from the project files' ## Todos sections to keep them tidy.

If no completed tasks found for the target date, replace the dataview with an empty section (just the heading).

Phase 4e: Move Inline Todos to Project Pages

Scan the daily note for - [ ] lines written outside of dataview blocks and move them to the appropriate project page.

1. Find inline todos: Scan the daily note for lines matching - [ ] [[Project]] ... that are NOT inside a dataview code block.
2. For each todo:
   • Extract the project name from the [[Project]] wikilink
   • Find the corresponding project file in $VAULT/Projects/
   • Check the ## Todos section for duplicates (fuzzy match)
3. Present proposed moves:

   Moving inline todos to project pages:

   • - [ ] [[Technomic]] fix login bug → Technomic.md ## Todos
   • - [ ] [[KHov]] test Docker build → Khov.md ## Todos

4. If approved:
   • Append each todo (without the [[Project]] prefix) to the project file's ## Todos section
   • Remove the original line from the daily note

If no inline todos found, skip this phase silently.

Phase 5: Apply & Confirm

1. Show a summary of all proposed changes before writing:
   • Prose improvements (brief description)
   • Wikilinks added (list them)
   • Slack/GitHub activity sections added or updated
   • Sections extracted (destination paths)
   • New entities created (paths)
2. Get user approval before applying
3. Apply changes: edit the daily note, create any extracted/new entity notes
4. Report: what was changed, what was linked, what was extracted, what was created

Phase 6: Update Project Recent Activity

After all daily note changes are applied, update each referenced project's note with a summary of today's activity.

1. Identify projects from today's time entries in the daily note.
2. For each project with a note in $VAULT/Projects/:
   • Read the existing ## Recent Activity section (or prepare to create it)
   • Build today's entry: - **{date}**: {hours}h — {brief summary} (meetings: [[links]], coding: [[links]])
   • Prune entries older than 7 days from the section
   • Insert the ## Recent Activity section before ## Key Features or at the end of the note if no logical insertion point
3. Check idempotency: If an entry for today's date already exists, update it rather than duplicating.
4. Present all proposed project note updates for approval before applying.
5. Apply changes if approved.

Phase 7: Enrich Person Notes

After project updates, enrich person notes for anyone who appeared in today's meetings.

1. Collect today's meeting notes: Find all meeting notes linked from the daily note's time entries (wikilinks like [[2026-04-02 Technomic Weekly Status Meeting]]). Read each meeting note's frontmatter to extract the participants: list.

2. For each participant (deduplicated across all meetings): a. Match to existing person file: Check if a file exists in $VAULT/Persons/ matching the wikilink target. Use the entity catalog from Phase 1 (which already loaded Persons/ files and aliases). b. If person file exists: Read it and update the ## Recent Interactions section:

   • Add an entry for each meeting they attended today: - **{date}**: [[{Meeting Title}]] — {1-line summary from meeting note}
   • Skip if an entry for this meeting already exists (idempotent)
   • Prune entries older than 30 days to keep the section manageable
   • If the person's **Projects:** field doesn't include the meeting's project, add it c. If no person file exists: Queue for creation (see step 3)

3. Create new person files: For each participant without a matching Persons/ file:

   • Infer what you can from the meeting context: role (if mentioned in transcript), projects (from meeting frontmatter), company/org (EXSQ vs client)
   • Create the file:

     ---
     aliases:
       - {first name}
     ---
     # {Full Name}
     
     **Role:** {if known, otherwise omit}
     **Projects:** [[{project from meeting}]]
     
     ## Recent Interactions
     - **{date}**: [[{Meeting Title}]] — {1-line summary}
     
     ## Notes
     

   • In auto mode, create without asking. In interactive mode, present the list for approval first.

4. Update aliases if needed: If a person was referred to by a name not in their aliases (e.g., transcript says "Bhrugen" but aliases only has "Bhru"), add the new alias.

Rules:

• Only process participants from meeting notes linked in today's daily note. Don't scan all meetings in the vault.
• Use full names from Persons/ filenames for wikilinks, not the short names from meeting frontmatter.
• The ## Recent Interactions section is the enrichment target. Don't modify other sections of person notes.
• Idempotent: running twice should not create duplicate entries or files.

Key Rules

• Never modify time entries automatically — the bullet list at the top is structured data and should remain stable for time-tracking workflows
• Todos live on project pages — open todos are under ## Todos in each project file. Daily notes show them via dataview queries (### Done today for completed, ### Open todos for unchecked).
• Link known entities freely — no need to ask for entities that already exist
• Offer to create unknown entities — ask before creating new vault pages
• Author's voice — improve clarity without rewriting style
• Idempotent — running twice shouldn't cause issues (don't re-extract already-extracted sections, don't double-link, don't re-freeze already-frozen Done today sections, don't duplicate Slack/GitHub activity sections)
• Show before applying — always preview changes for user approval (unless --auto mode)