nhouseholder/research-vault

Two modes: capture (save raw input) and compile (build wiki from raw). Zero cost when not triggered.

When To Activate

Capture mode — trigger when:

• User shares screenshots/articles/tips that contain reusable knowledge (not project-specific code changes)
• User says "save this", "capture this", "add to research", "remember this technique"
• After evaluating external tips (e.g., social media screenshots): if any content was useful, capture it

Compile mode — trigger when:

• User says "compile research", "build wiki", "organize research", "what do we know about [topic]"
• Context-saver suggests it (when raw/ has 10+ unprocessed files)

Do NOT activate when:

• User shares screenshots that ARE directly actionable (code bugs, UI issues, deploy errors)
• User is working on a specific project task — don't interrupt to suggest capturing
• Raw/ has fewer than 3 files and user didn't explicitly ask to compile

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Capture Mode

Extract key content from the user's input (screenshots, text, links) and save to research/raw/:

VAULT="$HOME/ProjectsHQ/superpowers/research"
DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
# Filename: YYYY-MM-DD-topic-slug.md

File format (minimal):

# [Topic]
**Source:** [where it came from — account name, URL, or "user-provided"]
**Date captured:** [YYYY-MM-DD]
**Tags:** [2-3 keywords]

## Content
[Extracted key points — not a full transcript, just the actionable knowledge]

## Relevance
[1 sentence: how this could apply to our system]

After saving: One-line confirmation: "Saved to research/raw/[filename]. [N] items in vault."

Do NOT commit/push on every capture. Batch with the next project commit.

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Compile Mode

Read all files in research/raw/, generate wiki articles in research/wiki/.

Step 1: Scan raw/

ls -la "$HOME/ProjectsHQ/superpowers/research/raw/"

Step 2: Read all raw files

Group by tags/topic. Identify clusters.

Step 3: Generate wiki articles

One .md file per topic in research/wiki/:

# [Topic Name]
**Last compiled:** [date]
**Sources:** [list of raw/ files that contributed]

## Summary
[Synthesized knowledge from all sources on this topic]

## Key Takeaways
- [Actionable point 1]
- [Actionable point 2]

## See Also
- [[related-topic]]

Step 4: Generate INDEX.md

# Research Wiki Index
**Last compiled:** [date] | **Articles:** [N] | **Raw sources:** [N]

## Topics
- [topic-name](topic-name.md) — 1-line summary

Step 5: Commit

cd "$HOME/ProjectsHQ/superpowers"
git add research/
git commit -m "research: compile wiki — [N] articles from [N] sources"
git push origin main

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Rules

1. Capture is lightweight — extract, save, move on. Don't over-process raw input.
2. Compile is thorough — cross-reference sources, find contradictions, note gaps.
3. Never duplicate content that belongs in anti-patterns.md, CLAUDE.md, or project skills.
4. If captured content is directly actionable (e.g., a hook improvement), implement it AND capture it.
5. Tags must be consistent across captures for clean compilation.