claude-skills/docs/skills/productivity/capture.md

---
title: "Capture — Brain-Dump Organizer — Agent Skill for Personal Productivity"
description: "Captures and organizes chaotic brain dumps into a structured, actionable system with zero information loss. Use this skill whenever the user says. Agent skill for Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw."
---

# Capture — Brain-Dump Organizer

<div class="page-meta" markdown>
<span class="meta-badge">:material-lightning-bolt-outline: Productivity</span>
<span class="meta-badge">:material-identifier: `capture`</span>
<span class="meta-badge">:material-github: <a href="https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/main/productivity/capture/skills/capture/SKILL.md">Source</a></span>
</div>

<div class="install-banner" markdown>
<span class="install-label">Install:</span> <code>claude /plugin install productivity-skills</code>
</div>


A fast-to-action skill for transforming unstructured streams of mixed thoughts, tasks, and ideas into a clean four-section actionable system with zero information loss.

## Invocation Triggers

**Explicit phrases** (any of):
- "brain dump"
- "capture this"
- "let me dump some ideas"
- "I've got a bunch of thoughts"
- "here's everything on my mind"
- "idea dump"
- "let me just get this out of my head"
- "I need to organize my thoughts"
- "here's what I'm thinking"

**Implicit signals** (no phrase, but the intent is unmistakable):
- User pastes or dictates a long unstructured block of mixed ideas, tasks, plans
- Multiple unrelated thoughts in one message without organizing framing
- A wall of bullet-y text covering 3+ unrelated topics

When you detect an implicit trigger, run the skill. Do NOT ask "do you want me to organize this?" first — the dump itself IS the request.

## Operating Principles (All Five Apply Always)

1. **Capture everything.** Zero loss. Trivial items go in; the user prunes later. Never silently drop something because it "seemed unimportant".
2. **Preserve voice.** If the user said "build something crazy with AI", do NOT restate as "Explore innovative AI-driven solutions." Keep the energy and the casual register. See `references/voice_preservation.md` for concrete anti-patterns.
3. **Match output complexity to input.** A 5-task dump does NOT get forced into 4 elaborate sections. See `references/complexity_matching.md` and the Compressed Output Pattern below.
4. **Be honest about ambiguity.** If you're unsure what something means, flag it. Don't guess silently.
5. **No action without approval.** The ONLY immediate action is the organization itself. Every offer in Section 4 waits for the user's explicit pick.

## Grill-Me Mid-Organization Clarifier

Capture is fast-to-action by design. **No upfront intake.** The dump is enough — start organizing immediately.

The grill-me discipline applies as a **single mid-organization clarifying question**, asked **only when** one item in the dump is genuinely ambiguous between *task* and *project*, AND the misclassification would meaningfully change the output:

> **Quick clarification — one item in your dump could go either way. Is [X] a one-shot task or a multi-step project?**
>
> *Why I'm asking:* If I guess wrong on a borderline item I either bury a project as a task or inflate a task into a project that doesn't need the structure. One question per dump prevents that.

**Stop condition:** Max 1 clarifying question per dump. After the answer (or if no clarification was needed), deliver the four (or compressed) sections.

If the dump is unambiguous, skip the clarifier entirely.

**Anti-pattern (do not do this):** asking 3 clarifying questions up front. That breaks the dump-and-organize flow that makes capture useful.

## Section 1: Projects & Ideas

Cluster related items into themed projects when natural clustering exists. This section also holds:
- Standalone creative sparks
- Half-formed concepts
- "What if" thoughts
- Embedded decisions (`Decide: X or Y`) and open questions (`Q: ...`) — kept WITHIN the relevant project, NOT extracted into a separate top-level category

**Format per project:**

```
### {Project name in user's voice}

- {component / sub-idea}
- {component}
- Q: {open question this project needs answered}
- Decide: {decision this project requires}
```

Use the user's words for the project name. If the user wrote "ai dating app for ferrets", do NOT rename it to "AI-Powered Pet Companion Platform".

## Section 2: Tasks

Flat, scannable, action-oriented. Includes:
- Explicit todos
- Decisions framed as `Decide: ...`
- Open questions framed as `Resolve: ...`

If a task belongs to a project from Section 1, append `[Project: X]` to link it — but don't repeat the project's context.

**Format:**

```
- {task in imperative voice}  [Project: X if related]
- Decide: {decision}  [Project: X if related]
- Resolve: {open question}
- ...
```

## Section 3: Connections

This is where the skill earns its keep — and where **fabrication is forbidden**.

**Workflow:**

1. **Inventory the workspace** — Glob for filename patterns matching dump keywords, Grep for content matches, read the top-level directory structure. Use `scripts/workspace_inventory.py` to do this deterministically.
2. **Match dump items to existing content** — files / folders relating to dumped items, prior thinking in documents, in-progress projects with overlap.
3. **Surface dependencies within the dump** — items that affect each other, themes, ordering implications.
4. **Be honest about inaccessibility** — if you can't inspect the workspace (no filesystem available, MCP not connected), say so explicitly. Do NOT make up plausible-sounding connections.

**Hard rule:** NEVER fabricate connections. Only surface ones actually found by Glob/Grep/Read. If no real connections exist:

> **Connections:** No connections found — workspace inventory clean.

If the workspace is inaccessible:

> **Connections:** No workspace accessible from here. If you're running this from Claude Code or have a project with files attached, I can fill this in. Want to share where this work lives?

See `references/workspace_detection.md` for the per-context detection-tactic catalog.

## Section 4: How I Can Help

**Concrete offers, not abstract possibilities.** Every offer specifies what would be produced AND where it would go.

| ✅ Right pattern | ❌ Anti-pattern |
|---|---|
| "I can research Consensus MCP integration patterns and give you 3 options. Output: `docs/consensus-options.md`." | "You might want to look into integration approaches." |
| "I can draft the Q3 launch plan as a 1-pager. Output: chat reply, then `docs/q3-launch.md` if you want it filed." | "Maybe think about Q3 planning." |
| "I can scaffold the new auth module with the existing pattern from `src/users/`. Output: 4 files in `src/auth/`." | "We could explore auth options." |

End with the directive question:

> **Which of these should I tackle?**

## Compressed Output Pattern

When the dump has **5 or fewer items** and items are **unrelated** (no natural clustering), drop the 4-section format and use compressed:

```
## What I heard

- {item}
- {item}
- {item}
- ...

## How I can help

- {concrete offer with what + where}
- {concrete offer with what + where}

Which should I tackle?
```

The trigger is the `complexity_estimator.py` recommendation OR your judgment when no clusters exist. See `references/complexity_matching.md` for worked examples of when each format applies.

## Workspace Detection Strategy

| Context | Detection method |
|---|---|
| Claude Code CLI | Glob for files matching dump keywords; Grep for content matches; read top-level structure. Use `scripts/workspace_inventory.py`. |
| Claude.ai with project | Check project knowledge files for thematic overlap. List file titles; surface matches by keyword. |
| Connected tools (Notion, Drive, etc.) | Search via MCP if available. |
| No accessible workspace | State the limitation explicitly; ask user about their setup; do NOT fabricate. |

## Approval Gate

After the four (or compressed) sections are delivered:

- **Wait for the user's explicit pick** before doing anything else.
- If the user says "go" without picking a specific offer: honor it, but explicitly note any items you weren't 100% sure about so they can correct.
- The organization itself is the only auto-action. Every Section 4 offer requires green light.

## Error Handling

| Situation | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Workspace inaccessible | State this; skip Section 3 or surface "no workspace accessible" + ask about setup |
| Dump is very short (3-5 items) | Use compressed output; don't force 4 sections |
| Items are highly ambiguous | Flag in output, ask up to 1 clarifier (or skip clarifier and surface ambiguity in delivery) |
| Dump contains sensitive info | Acknowledge but don't echo verbatim if user asks for organization without quoting |
| Conflicting items in the dump | Surface the conflict in Section 1 or 3 explicitly (`Conflict: X says A, Y says B`) |
| User says "go" before approval | Honor it, but explicitly note items you weren't sure about |

## Tooling

| Script | Role |
|---|---|
| `scripts/workspace_inventory.py` | Glob+Grep helper for Section 3. `python workspace_inventory.py --root . --keywords "k1,k2"` returns matches by keyword + folder structure. |
| `scripts/dump_classifier.py` | Regex-classifies each dump line into `task` / `decision` / `question` / `idea` / `project-component`. Heuristic — override with judgment. |
| `scripts/complexity_estimator.py` | Counts items, detects clustering signal, recommends `format=full` or `format=compressed`. |

## References

- `references/workspace_detection.md` — context-specific detection tactics (CLI / web / MCP / inaccessible)
- `references/voice_preservation.md` — corporate-speak anti-patterns with concrete examples
- `references/complexity_matching.md` — compressed vs full output, worked examples

## Anti-Patterns To Reject

- Fabricating workspace connections that weren't actually Glob/Grep-verified
- Dropping items deemed "trivial" — capture everything, let the user prune
- Corporate-ifying the user's casual language
- Forcing 4-section structure when input is small (5 simple tasks doesn't need it)
- Acting on Section-4 offers immediately without approval
- Splitting decisions/questions into a separate top-level category instead of embedding them in the relevant project
- Vague Section-4 offers ("you might want to consider…")
- Asking 3+ clarifying questions up front (breaks fast-to-action)

---

**Version:** 1.0.0
**Source spec:** `megaprompts/05-capture-megaprompt.md` (maintainer-local draft spec — gitignored, not present in the public repository)
**Build pattern:** Path B (direct conversion). Re-grill with `/cs:grill-with-docs` if drift between spec and implementation surfaces.