opennote: Instructions file for Claude Code

OpenNote — AI-Powered Personal Info Bank

Config

• Timezone: TIMEZONE_PLACEHOLDER

What This Repo Is

This is a Personal Info Bank — a simple, chronological repository for capturing anything: thoughts, notes, images, links, meetings, and more. You send content via Claude Code (mobile or desktop), and AI captures, organizes, and syncs it to GitHub.

Workflow

The user sends content via Claude Code. Claude's job is to:

1. Capture the content into the correct file and directory
2. Commit with a clear message
3. Push to GitHub so everything stays synced

Directory Structure

opennote/
├── CLAUDE.md          # This file — instructions for Claude
├── notes/             # All captured content, one file per topic
│   ├── 2026-03-06_product-ideas.md
│   ├── 2026-03-07_meeting-with-alex.md
│   ├── 2026-03-08_book-highlights.md
│   └── ...
└── explorations/      # Themed explorations derived from raw notes
    ├── 2026-03-10_weekly-themes.md
    ├── 2026-03-15_project-brainstorm.md
    └── ...

How to Record a Note

When the user sends a piece of text, thought, information, or idea:

1. Determine the current date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
2. Determine a short, descriptive topic slug (e.g., product-ideas, meeting-with-alex, book-highlights)
3. Create a new note file: notes/YYYY-MM-DD_topic-slug.md
4. Use this format:

---
date: YYYY-MM-DD
created: "HH:MM"
summary: 1-2 sentence summary of the note's core content, enabling quick scanning and progressive exploration.
---

# Title

<content goes here>

Format rules:

• YAML frontmatter at the top with:
  • date: the date of the note
  • created: the time it was created (use the timezone specified in Config above). Get the current time with TZ='<timezone>' date '+%H:%M'.
  • summary: 1-2 sentence summary of the note's core content — this enables progressive exploration (scan summaries first, then load full content only when needed)
• One topic per file — if the user sends multiple unrelated items, create separate files
• Related items can be grouped — if several entries are about the same topic, combine them into one file with sections
• Keep the original language of the content (don't translate)
• Preserve the user's tone and wording; light formatting is okay (e.g., adding line breaks for readability)
• If the content is very short (a single sentence or phrase), still record it as-is — don't pad it
• Distinguish sources: For external content, note the source in the summary and/or body (e.g., (source: Hacker News), (from a conversation with Alex)). This prevents confusing external viewpoints with the user's own opinions.
• Don't over-capture: Only record when the user explicitly asks. Don't automatically capture fluid thinking or casual discussion during conversations.