Ingest

Convert raw book notes, highlights, and files into structured, linked vault notes ready for absorption.

/ingest takes raw knowledge inputs — book notes, highlights, exported files — from your vault’s knowledge/raw/ folder and converts them into clean, structured notes using a consistent template. It handles books, articles, podcasts, and courses.

Usage

# Process all unprocessed files in knowledge/raw/
/ingest

# Process a single specific file
/ingest [filepath]

When run without an argument, /ingest scans {vault}/knowledge/raw/ for any file that doesn’t have processed: true in its frontmatter, processes each one, then marks it as processed and reports a summary.

What It Produces

Every book is converted into a structured note using the Book Note Template:

---
title: "[Book Title]"
author: "[Author]"
year: [Year]
finished: YYYY-MM-DD
rating: X/10
tags: [knowledge, book, topic1, topic2]
zone: knowledge
status: reading | completed | abandoned
---

# [Book Title]
**Author**: [Author]
**Rating**: X/10

## One-Sentence Summary
> [The book in one sentence]

## Core Thesis
[What is the author's main argument? 2-3 sentences max]

## Key Concepts

### 1. [Concept Name]
[Explanation in my own words. How I understand this.]

### 2. [Concept Name]
[Explanation]

### 3. [Concept Name]
[Explanation]

## Frameworks & Mental Models
- **[Framework name]**: [Brief description + when to use it]

## Actionable Insights
- [ ] [Something I can apply to my life/business]
- [ ] [Another actionable takeaway]

## Connections to My Vault
- Relates to [[context/strategy]] because...
- Connects to [[thinking/ideas/...]] on...
- Could inform [[business/...]]

## My Reactions & Thoughts
> [Personal reactions — what I agree/disagree with, what surprised me]

## Memorable Passages
> [Short quote or paraphrase, max 15 words] (p. XX)

## Questions This Raises
- [Question the book made me think about]

Output Location

The structured note is saved to:

{vault}/knowledge/books/[book-slug].md

After creating the note, /ingest also updates {vault}/knowledge/books/_index.md with the new book entry and creates wiki-links to related files already in your vault.

Supported Source Types

Books

Saved to {vault}/knowledge/books/[book-slug].md. Ingestion extracts metadata, key concepts, frameworks, actionable insights, and up to 3–5 memorable quotes (max 15 words each).

Articles

Saved to {vault}/knowledge/articles/. Same extraction process, adapted for article-length content.

Podcasts

Saved to {vault}/knowledge/podcasts/. Key ideas, guest frameworks, and timestamps are extracted where available.

Courses

Saved to {vault}/knowledge/courses/. Module-level concepts and exercises are captured in structured format.

Auto-Chain After Ingestion

After successfully processing a file, /ingest automatically triggers the next steps in the pipeline:

1. /audit runs on the ingested book to independently verify the knowledge
2. If audit passes, /absorb runs to connect insights to your vault
3. All 3 notification channels are updated (Obsidian task, daily note, audit flag)

Use /chain to run the full pipeline from epub to vault sync in one command — no need to trigger each step manually.