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Skill
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Audit score 90

second-brain-ingest

nicholasspisak/second-brain

Ingest raw documents into structured, interlinked wiki pages.

What is second-brain-ingest?

Converts raw source files into organized wiki entries with entities, concepts, and cross-references. Use this when you add files to raw/ and want them processed into your knowledge base with automatic linking and indexing.

  • Detects unprocessed files in raw/ directory and identifies which sources need ingestion
  • Extracts key takeaways and confirms emphasis areas before processing
  • Creates source summary pages with structured metadata and content organization
  • Generates or updates entity and concept pages with bidirectional wikilinks
  • Detects contradictions between new and existing content with source citations
  • Updates wiki index and ingestion log automatically

How to install second-brain-ingest

npx skills add https://github.com/nicholasspisak/second-brain --skill second-brain-ingest
Prerequisites
  • Directory structure with raw/, wiki/, wiki/sources/, wiki/entities/, wiki/concepts/ folders
  • wiki/log.md file to track ingestion history
  • wiki/index.md file for page catalog
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How to use second-brain-ingest

  1. 1.Place source files in the raw/ directory
  2. 2.Run the skill and specify files or let it auto-detect unprocessed sources
  3. 3.Review and confirm the 3-5 key takeaways presented
  4. 4.Wait for the skill to create source summary, entity, and concept pages
  5. 5.Check wiki/log.md and wiki/index.md for the ingestion report
  6. 6.Use /second-brain-query to explore ingested content or run /second-brain-lint periodically

Use cases

Good for
  • Clip an article and run ingest to add it to your knowledge base with automatic linking
  • Process research papers or transcripts into interconnected concept pages
  • Bulk ingest multiple sources from raw/ to expand your wiki
  • Update existing entity pages when new sources mention them with contradictory information
  • Build a searchable knowledge graph from disparate documents
Who it's for
  • Knowledge workers building personal wikis
  • Researchers organizing source material
  • Students synthesizing course materials
  • Anyone maintaining a second brain or digital garden

second-brain-ingest FAQ

How does it know which files are new?

It reads wiki/log.md to extract all previously ingested filenames, then compares against files in raw/. Any file not in the log is treated as unprocessed.

What if a source contradicts existing wiki content?

The skill updates the existing page, notes the contradiction with both sources cited, and reports it in the results.

Do I need to manually create entity and concept pages?

No. The skill automatically creates new pages in wiki/entities/ or wiki/concepts/ for any entity or concept mentioned in the source that doesn't already have a page.

How many wiki pages does one source typically create?

A single source typically touches 10-15 wiki pages (source summary plus entities and concepts). This is normal and expected.

What file types can be ingested?

Any file type in raw/ can be processed—articles, papers, transcripts, notes, etc. If images contain important information, the skill reads them separately.

Full instructions (SKILL.md)

Source of truth, from nicholasspisak/second-brain.


name: second-brain-ingest description: > Process raw source documents into wiki pages. Use when the user adds files to raw/ and wants them ingested, says "process this source", "ingest this article", "I added something to raw/", or wants to incorporate new material into their knowledge base. allowed-tools: Bash Read Write Edit Glob Grep

Second Brain — Ingest

Process raw source documents into structured, interlinked wiki pages.

Identify Sources to Process

Determine which files need ingestion:

  1. If the user specifies a file or files, use those
  2. If the user says "process new sources" or similar, detect unprocessed files:
    • List all files in raw/ (excluding raw/assets/)
    • Read wiki/log.md and extract all previously ingested source filenames from ingest entries
    • Any file in raw/ not listed in the log is unprocessed
  3. If no unprocessed files are found, tell the user

Process Each Source

For each source file, follow this workflow:

1. Read the source completely

Read the entire file. If the file contains image references, note them — read the images separately if they contain important information.

2. Discuss key takeaways with the user

Before writing anything, share the 3-5 most important takeaways from the source. Ask the user if they want to emphasize any particular aspects or skip any topics. Wait for confirmation before proceeding.

3. Create source summary page

Create a new file in wiki/sources/ named after the source (slugified). Include:

---
tags: [relevant, tags]
sources: [original-filename.md]
created: YYYY-MM-DD
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
---

# Source Title

**Source:** original-filename.md
**Date ingested:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Type:** article | paper | transcript | notes | etc.

## Summary

Structured summary of the source content.

## Key Claims

- Claim 1
- Claim 2
- ...

## Entities Mentioned

- [[Entity Name]] — brief context
- ...

## Concepts Covered

- [[Concept Name]] — brief context
- ...

4. Update entity and concept pages

For each entity (person, organization, product, tool) and concept (idea, framework, theory, pattern) mentioned in the source:

If a wiki page already exists:

  • Read the existing page
  • Add new information from this source
  • Add the source to the sources: frontmatter list
  • Update the updated: date
  • Note any contradictions with existing content, citing both sources

If no wiki page exists:

  • Create a new page in the appropriate subdirectory:
    • wiki/entities/ for people, organizations, products, tools
    • wiki/concepts/ for ideas, frameworks, theories, patterns
  • Include YAML frontmatter with tags, sources, created, and updated fields
  • Write a focused summary based on what this source says about the topic

5. Add wikilinks

Ensure all related pages link to each other using [[wikilink]] syntax. Every mention of an entity or concept that has its own page should be linked.

6. Update wiki/index.md

For each new page created, add an entry under the appropriate category header:

- [[Page Name]] — one-line summary (under 120 characters)

7. Update wiki/log.md

Append:

## [YYYY-MM-DD] ingest | Source Title
Processed source-filename.md. Created N new pages, updated M existing pages.
New entities: [[Entity1]], [[Entity2]]. New concepts: [[Concept1]].

8. Report results

Tell the user what was done:

  • Pages created (with links)
  • Pages updated (with what changed)
  • New entities and concepts identified
  • Any contradictions found with existing content

Conventions

  • Source summary pages are factual only. Save interpretation and synthesis for concept and synthesis pages.
  • A single source typically touches 10-15 wiki pages. This is normal and expected.
  • When new information contradicts existing wiki content, update the wiki page and note the contradiction with both sources cited.
  • Prefer updating existing pages over creating new ones. Only create a new page when the topic is distinct enough to warrant its own page.
  • Use [[wikilinks]] for all internal references. Never use raw file paths.

What's Next

After ingesting sources, the user can:

  • Ask questions with /second-brain-query to explore what was ingested
  • Ingest more sources — clip another article and run /second-brain-ingest again
  • Health-check with /second-brain-lint after every 10 ingests to catch gaps