save-answer

Save Answer

Files a conversation output back into the brain vault. Turns ephemeral Q&A, research, analysis, and comparisons into persistent, cross-linked knowledge.

Inspired by Karpathy's LLM Wiki pattern: "good answers should be filed back into the wiki as new pages so explorations compound."

Trigger phrases

• /save-answer
• "save this answer"
• "file this"
• "keep this in the brain"
• "this is worth saving"
• "persist this"

Input

The content to save. This can be:

• Explicit: User says "save this" after a Q&A exchange or analysis
• Implicit: User invokes /save-answer and Claude identifies the most recent substantial output in the conversation

If no clear output is identifiable, ask: "Which part of our conversation should I save?"

Step-by-step workflow

1. Identify the output

Extract the valuable content from the conversation. Common types:

• Research finding -- answer to a question that required multi-source synthesis
• Comparison/analysis -- a table or structured evaluation of options
• Framework application -- a mental model applied to a specific problem
• Decision rationale -- reasoning behind a choice (if not already logged as a decision)
• Technical insight -- something learned about a tool, API, or system

2. Determine placement

Type	Location
Project-specific insight	Append to projects/{project}/{relevant-file}.md
Research finding	research/{topic}/{descriptive-slug}.md
Cross-project analysis	research/{topic}/{descriptive-slug}.md
Decision rationale	decisions/YYYY-MM-DD-{slug}.md (use decision template)

Check for existing notes on the same topic before creating new files. Update if a close match exists.

3. Write the content

For new notes:

---
title: "{Descriptive title}"
date: YYYY-MM-DD
type: note
tags: [{relevant, tags}]
source: "conversation"
---

# {Descriptive title}

> Derived from conversation on YYYY-MM-DD

## Context

{1-2 sentences: what question or analysis led to this}

## Key Findings

{The actual content -- distilled, not a transcript dump:
- Lead with conclusions
- Include specific data, comparisons, or frameworks
- Keep it scannable}

## Relevance

- [[project-or-note]] -- {how it connects}