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Agent skill

Zettelkasten

by HybridAIOne in HybridAIOne/hybridclaw

Maintain a Luhmann-style Zettelkasten. An agent skill from HybridAIOne/hybridclaw.

MITAuto-check passedKnowledge Management

Install Zettelkasten

skills CLI
$ npx skills add HybridAIOne/hybridclaw --skill zettelkasten -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install HybridAIOne/hybridclaw zettelkasten --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/HybridAIOne/hybridclaw.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/zettelkasten .claude/skills/zettelkasten && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
zettelkasten
GitHub stars
159
Token cost
~1.3k tokens
SKILL.md length
566 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
72
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Maintain a Luhmann-style Zettelkasten. An agent skill from HybridAIOne/hybridclaw.

  • Works in 5 steps: Active Maintenance (during heartbeats) → Surprise Delivery → Challenge & Provoke → …
  • The user shares an idea
  • SKILL.md covers Storage, Note Format, Operational Layer and Workflows
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Zettelkasten is an agent skill from HybridAIOne/hybridclaw. Maintain a Luhmann-style Zettelkasten. Capture, connect, and synthesize ideas through fleeting notes, permanent notes, cross-references, and structures, with an AI agent that surfaces connections, challenges assumptions, and enriches notes with research. Use when the user shares an idea, observation, or inspiration; when reviewing or connecting existing notes; when synthesizing patterns; or during heartbeats to maintain the system.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Knowledge Management, covering Note-taking. The repository describes itself as: Enterprise-ready self-hosted AI assistant runtime with sandboxed execution, secure credentials, approvals, and memory. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user shares an idea
  • Connecting existing notes
  • Synthesizing patterns
  • During heartbeats to maintain the system

Example prompts

  • “/zettelkasten”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Active Maintenance (during heartbeats)
  2. Surprise Delivery
  3. Challenge & Provoke
  4. Strand Awareness
  5. Periodic Review

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 8162701. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are markdown).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Zettelkasten loads about 1.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 112 tokens; SKILL.md has 566 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~112
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from HybridAIOne/hybridclaw at commit 8162701, republished under its MIT licence (© HybridAIOne). 566 words, ~1,341 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/zettelkasten/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
zettelkasten
description
Maintain a Luhmann-style Zettelkasten. Capture, connect, and synthesize ideas through fleeting notes, permanent notes, cross-references, and structures, with an AI agent that surfaces connections, challenges assumptions, and enriches notes with research. Use when the user shares an idea, observation, or inspiration; when reviewing or connecting existing notes; when synthesizing patterns; or during heartbeats to maintain the system.

Zettelkasten

This skill implements a Luhmann-style Zettelkasten rather than a loose note archive. The agent helps maintain note quality, find references, surface cross-strand links, and challenge vague or weak ideas.

Storage

All notes in memory/zettelkasten/:

  • inbox/ - Raw unprocessed drops (fleeting notes)
  • seeds/ - Processed atomic ideas (permanent notes)
  • connections/ - When 2+ seeds click (Luhmann's Fernverweise made explicit)
  • structures/ - Developed frameworks, plans
  • archive/ - Dormant ideas (never deleted - Luhmann's rule)
  • INDEX.md - Curated entry points (not a tag dump - each keyword -> best starting seed)
  • JOKER.md - Meta-note: how this specific Zettelkasten works, its quirks, and its active strands

Note Format

markdown
# [Title]
**ID:** YYYYMMDD-NNN
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Status:** permanent | active | mature | actionable | dormant
**Tags:** #tag1 #tag2
**Source:** [where it came from]
**Strand:** [parent ID if branching from another note]

## Idea
[The core thought - always in own words, never just a quote]

## Context
[Why this matters, what triggered it]

## References
- **Near** (same strand): [[ID]] - [relationship]
- **Far** (cross-strand): [[ID]] - [why these distant ideas connect]

## Agent Notes
[Agent observations, challenges, enrichments added over time]
Naming
  • Inbox: YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS-raw.md (timestamped, unprocessed)
  • Seeds: YYYYMMDD-NNN-slug.md (e.g., 20260215-001-next-openclaw.md)
  • Branches: YYYYMMDD-NNNa-slug.md (extending a parent: 001a, 001b, 001a1)
  • Connections: YYYYMMDD-CNNN-slug.md
  • Structures: YYYYMMDD-SNNN-slug.md
Reference Types (from Luhmann)
  • Near (Nahverweis): Within the same strand/argument thread. Red thread connections.
  • Far (Fernverweis): Cross-strand surprises. The magic ones. When an idea about memory markets suddenly links to a paper on spatial cognition.

Operational Layer

What makes this different from every other Zettelkasten guide:

1. Active Maintenance (during heartbeats)

Don't just check, maintain:

  • Re-read seeds >7 days old without connections. Try harder. Research if needed.
  • Notice contradictions between notes. Flag them.
  • Enrich seeds: if a raw idea mentioned a concept, look it up, add context to Agent Notes.
  • Update INDEX.md when new clusters emerge.
  • Update JOKER.md with observations about the system's shape.
2. Surprise Delivery

When a non-obvious far connection is found, don't just log it - tell the user. The best Zettelkasten moments are "holy shit, I never saw that link." Deliver these proactively.

3. Challenge & Provoke

If a new seed contradicts an existing one, say so. If an idea is vague, push back. Friction matters more than passive accumulation. Add devil's advocate notes in Agent Notes.

4. Strand Awareness

Track argument threads across seeds. When a user keeps circling the same theme (even without realizing it), name the strand. "You've been thinking about portable identity for 3 weeks across 5 seeds - here's the thread."

Show full SKILL.md (243 more words)Show less
5. Periodic Review

Periodically (weekly during heartbeats), write a brief review report:

  • Active strands
  • What's dormant (seeds with no connections after 2+ weeks)
  • What surprised you (unexpected connections found)
  • Which clusters are mature enough to become structures

Workflows

Capture (user drops an idea)
  1. If quick/raw -> file in inbox/ with timestamp
  2. If clear enough -> create seed in seeds/, rephrase in own words (Luhmann's rule)
  3. Scan existing seeds for near and far references
  4. If it branches from an existing seed, use branching ID (001a)
  5. Update INDEX.md if it introduces a new concept
  6. Confirm capture with one line + any immediate connections spotted
Process Inbox (during heartbeats or on request)
  1. Review inbox/ items
  2. For each: rephrase in own words, decide if it should become a permanent note or be discarded
  3. Promote to seeds/ with proper format, or leave with a note on why it's not ready
Connect (active maintenance)
  1. Read seeds, look for clusters - especially cross-strand far connections
  2. Create connection note in connections/ explaining the emergent pattern
  3. Update both seeds with back-references
  4. If the connection is surprising -> surface it to the user proactively
Synthesize (when enough seeds cluster)
  1. Draft structure in structures/ referencing all contributing seeds/connections
  2. Include framework, open questions, and next steps
  3. Present the synthesis to the user
Prune (on request only)

Move to archive/ with a note on why. Never delete. Luhmann's rule: "useless" notes become essential years later.

© HybridAIOne, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/zettelkasten of HybridAIOne/hybridclaw.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 8162701

Compare with similar skills

Zettelkasten next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Zettelkasten compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Zettelkasten this skillHybridAIOne/hybridclaw159—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Qmdalsk1992/CloddsBot3k3 repos~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Obsidian Canvas BoardsAgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian15k—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
LLM Wikilewislulu/llm-wiki-skill655—~3.7kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Para Memory Filespaperclipai/paperclip100k1 repos~909Automated safety check: PassMIT
Add Frontmatterheyitsnoah/claudesidian2.6k—~951Automated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Zettelkasten

What does Zettelkasten do?

Maintain a Luhmann-style Zettelkasten. An agent skill from HybridAIOne/hybridclaw. Zettelkasten is an agent skill from HybridAIOne/hybridclaw. Maintain a Luhmann-style Zettelkasten.

When should I use Zettelkasten?

Zettelkasten fits situations like: the user shares an idea; connecting existing notes; synthesizing patterns; during heartbeats to maintain the system.

How do I install Zettelkasten in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add HybridAIOne/hybridclaw --skill zettelkasten -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/zettelkasten in HybridAIOne/hybridclaw) into .claude/skills/zettelkasten in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Zettelkasten in Codex?

Run `npx skills add HybridAIOne/hybridclaw --skill zettelkasten -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/zettelkasten in HybridAIOne/hybridclaw) into .agents/skills/zettelkasten in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Zettelkasten in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add HybridAIOne/hybridclaw --skill zettelkasten -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/zettelkasten, .gemini/skills/zettelkasten, .github/skills/zettelkasten and .opencode/skills/zettelkasten in your project.

What does Zettelkasten need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Zettelkasten is instructions for the agent only.

Does Zettelkasten access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Zettelkasten safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Zettelkasten use?

Zettelkasten is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Zettelkasten use?

About 1.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5.4k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Zettelkasten?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Zettelkasten: Qmd (alsk1992/CloddsBot, 3k stars), Obsidian Canvas Boards (AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian, 15k stars), LLM Wiki (lewislulu/llm-wiki-skill, 655 stars) and Para Memory Files (paperclipai/paperclip, 100k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Zettelkasten?

HybridAIOne (a GitHub organization) maintains it in HybridAIOne/hybridclaw, which has 159 GitHub stars. The repository holds 72 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: HybridAIOne/hybridclaw on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.