bfollington__terma/plugins/notes

Notes Plugin

Personal knowledge management via SQLite. Capture thoughts, track reading, generate AI thinking trails, and synthesize insights—all in a single portable database.

Overview

This plugin provides a complete note-taking system using SQLite as the storage layer. No server, no sync service, no proprietary format—just a .db file you own.

Core capabilities:

• Quick capture of fleeting thoughts to inbox
• Breadcrumb snapshots of your thinking state over time
• Resource tracking (articles, books, papers, videos)
• Clippings/highlights from resources
• AI-generated reflections and synthesis
• Full-text search with ranking
• Flexible linking between any entities

Quick Start

# Initialize the database
cd /path/to/your/notes/
./plugins/notes/skills/sqlite-notes/scripts/setup.sh

# Capture a thought
sqlite3 .sqlite/notes.db <<'SQL'
INSERT INTO notes (id, body, folder, origin, captured_at)
VALUES (
  'N-' || strftime('%Y%m%d', 'now') || '-' || lower(hex(randomblob(4))),
  'Your thought here...',
  'inbox',
  'me',
  strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ', 'now')
);
SQL

# See what's in your inbox
sqlite3 -header -column .sqlite/notes.db "SELECT * FROM v_inbox;"

Commands

/quick-capture

Ingest loose notes into the database. Analyzes input to chunk into distinct ideas (index cards, not post-its), proposes the breakdown for confirmation, then creates notes in the inbox.

/quick-capture Here's a stream of thoughts about distributed systems...

/crumb

Generate a breadcrumb—an AI snapshot of your current thinking state. Analyzes recent notes, identifies themes and connections, surfaces open questions, and tracks intellectual momentum (exploring, converging, scattered, dormant, breakthrough).

/crumb article refinement session

/recent

Get oriented with a headspace briefing. Reviews recent notes, breadcrumbs, reflections, and resources to show where you've been and suggest entry points for continuing work.

/recent
/recent week
/recent creative-practice

Skills

sqlite-notes

The core skill defining the notes domain: schema, views, workflows, and SQL patterns. Covers:

• Notes: Fleeting captures → working notes → permanent reference
• Breadcrumbs: Periodic AI thinking snapshots with theme/connection/question tracking
• Resources: Reading queue with status workflow (queued → reading → finished)
• Clippings: Highlights from resources with annotations
• Reflections: AI synthesis that can be promoted to permanent notes
• Links: Flexible many-to-many relationships between any entities

sqlite-db

Foundation skill for SQLite database patterns. Use this when building new sqlite-based skills or understanding the underlying patterns.

Database Location

The database lives at .sqlite/notes.db relative to your project root. The setup script creates this directory if needed.

Key Concepts

Folders (Note Workflow)

Folder	Purpose
inbox	Unsorted, recently captured
journal	Date-bound entries
working	Active development
permanent	Evergreen, reference-quality
archive	Preserved but inactive

Provenance (Origin)

Every piece of content tracks who created it:

• me — You authored it
• llm — AI generated it entirely
• external — Imported from elsewhere
• llm-assisted — Collaborative human+AI creation

Epistemic Status

How validated is this content?

• fleeting — Uncaptured intuition, might be nothing
• developing — Actively exploring, not concluded
• supported — Has backing evidence/reasoning
• settled — Firm belief, integrated into worldview

Momentum (Breadcrumbs)

Breadcrumbs track intellectual momentum:

• exploring — Divergent, opening new territory
• converging — Ideas crystallizing toward clarity
• scattered — Multiple threads, not yet unified
• dormant — Consolidation period, not much movement
• breakthrough — Major insight or synthesis achieved

Common Queries

# Inbox notes
sqlite3 -header -column .sqlite/notes.db "SELECT * FROM v_inbox;"

# Full-text search
sqlite3 -header -column .sqlite/notes.db <<'SQL'
SELECT n.id, n.title, snippet(notes_fts, 1, '**', '**', '...', 30) AS snippet
FROM notes_fts
JOIN notes n ON notes_fts.rowid = n.rowid
WHERE notes_fts MATCH 'your search term'
ORDER BY rank;
SQL

# Notes by tag
sqlite3 -header -column .sqlite/notes.db <<'SQL'
SELECT id, title, tags FROM notes
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM json_each(tags) WHERE value = 'your-tag');
SQL

# Tag cloud
sqlite3 -header -column .sqlite/notes.db "SELECT * FROM v_tag_cloud LIMIT 20;"

# Latest breadcrumb
sqlite3 -header -column .sqlite/notes.db "SELECT * FROM v_latest_breadcrumb;"

# Breadcrumb trail
sqlite3 -header -column .sqlite/notes.db <<'SQL'
SELECT id, momentum, substr(summary, 1, 60) AS summary_preview, generated_at
FROM breadcrumbs
ORDER BY generated_at DESC
LIMIT 10;
SQL

# Reading queue
sqlite3 -header -column .sqlite/notes.db "SELECT * FROM v_reading_queue;"

# Monthly activity
sqlite3 -header -column .sqlite/notes.db "SELECT * FROM v_monthly_activity;"

Pre-defined Views

The schema includes views for common access patterns:

View	Description
v_inbox	Notes in inbox folder
v_working	Notes being actively developed
v_evergreen	Permanent/reference notes
v_stale_working	Working notes not reviewed in 30+ days
v_reading_queue	Resources queued for reading
v_currently_reading	Resources being actively read
v_latest_breadcrumb	Most recent breadcrumb
v_draft_reflections	Reflections awaiting review
v_tag_cloud	Tag usage statistics
v_monthly_activity	Note counts by month and folder
v_resource_stats	Resource counts by type and status
v_note_graph	Bidirectional note relationships
v_note_richness	Notes ranked by connectivity

Philosophy

Capture-heavy, not pristine. Get ideas out of your head with minimal friction. Organize during weekly review, not during capture.

Story over structure. Capture how you ended up thinking the way you do. Notes evolve. Breadcrumbs snapshot moments. Reflections synthesize patterns.

Clear provenance. Always know what came from where. Trace any idea back to its source.

SQL is the interface. No wrapper, no abstraction. You get the full power of SQLite: JOINs, FTS5, window functions, CTEs, aggregations.

Files

plugins/notes/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json           # Plugin metadata
├── commands/
│   ├── quick-capture.md      # Note ingestion command
│   ├── crumb.md              # Breadcrumb generation command
│   └── recent.md             # Headspace briefing command
├── skills/
│   ├── sqlite-db/
│   │   └── SKILL.md          # Foundation SQLite patterns
│   └── sqlite-notes/
│       ├── SKILL.md          # Notes domain skill
│       ├── assets/
│       │   ├── schema.sql    # Tables, indexes, FTS, triggers
│       │   └── views.sql     # Pre-defined views
│       ├── scripts/
│       │   ├── setup.sh      # Database initialization
│       │   └── examples.sh   # Demo workflows
│       └── references/
│           └── queries.md    # Advanced query recipes
└── README.md                 # This file

License

CC-BY-SA-4.0