Daily Note

Create or update today's private journal entry with guided prompts, habit tracking, and metrics.

Location

All private notes live in content/private/ with flat structure (no subfolders).

Personal Config

IMPORTANT: Read .claude/skills/daily-note/habits-config.md for Alexander's specific habits and metric targets. Use those instead of the generic defaults.

Date Format

•Daily notes: YYYY-MM-DD.md (ISO 8601)
•Example: 2024-01-13.md

Phase 1: Check for Existing Note

Get today's date and check if a note exists:

text

Glob: content/private/{today YYYY-MM-DD}.md

If exists: Read the file and proceed to Phase 4 (Update Mode). If missing: Proceed to Phase 2 (Mode Selection).

Phase 2: Mode Selection

Ask user what kind of entry they want:

yaml

question: "What would you like to do?"
header: "Mode"
options:
  - label: "Quick capture"
    description: "Just log something quickly (1 min)"
  - label: "Morning check-in"
    description: "Start your day with intentions + habits"
  - label: "Evening reflection"
    description: "Review your day + track metrics"
  - label: "Full journal"
    description: "Complete daily entry with all sections"

Branch based on selection:

•Quick capture → Phase 3A
•Morning check-in → Phase 3B
•Evening reflection → Phase 3C
•Full journal → Phase 3D

Phase 3A: Quick Capture

Simple and fast - just capture a thought:

yaml

question: "What do you want to capture?"
header: "Capture"
options:
  - label: "A thought"
    description: "Something on your mind"
  - label: "A win"
    description: "Something good that happened"
  - label: "A learning"
    description: "Something you discovered"
  - label: "A todo"
    description: "Something to remember"

After user provides content, append to the appropriate section in the daily note.

Phase 3B: Morning Check-in

Step 1: How are you feeling?

yaml

question: "How are you feeling this morning?"
header: "Mood"
options:
  - label: "Great 😊"
    description: "Energized and ready"
  - label: "Good 🙂"
    description: "Steady and calm"
  - label: "Okay 😐"
    description: "Neutral"
  - label: "Low 😔"
    description: "Tired or down"

Step 2: Track habits

yaml

question: "Which habits did you complete?"
header: "Habits"
multiSelect: true
options:
  - label: "Morning walk"
    description: "Morning movement"
  - label: "Read (30 min)"
    description: "Books or articles"
  - label: "Workout"
    description: "Strength or cardio"
  - label: "Deep work (45 min)"
    description: "Focused work block"

Step 3: Intentions

Ask: "What's your main focus for today?" (free text input)

Step 4: Generate morning entry

Create/update the daily note with morning sections filled in.

Phase 3C: Evening Reflection

Step 1: How was your day?

yaml

question: "How did today go overall?"
header: "Day Rating"
options:
  - label: "Excellent ⭐⭐⭐"
    description: "Great day, accomplished a lot"
  - label: "Good ⭐⭐"
    description: "Solid day, decent progress"
  - label: "Mixed ⭐"
    description: "Some good, some challenges"
  - label: "Tough"
    description: "Difficult day"

Step 2: Track daily metrics

yaml

question: "Which metrics to log?"
header: "Metrics"
multiSelect: true
options:
  - label: "Steps"
    description: "Target: 7000+"
  - label: "Calories"
    description: "Target: < 2800"
  - label: "Protein"
    description: "Target: 180g+"
  - label: "Eating window"
    description: "Nothing after 20:00"

If metrics selected, ask for values:

•Steps: "How many steps today?"
•Calories: "Total calories?"
•Protein: "Total protein (g)?"
•Eating window: "Did you respect the eating window (nothing after 20:00)?"

Step 3: Track habits (if not done in morning)

yaml

question: "Which habits did you complete today?"
header: "Habits"
multiSelect: true
options:
  - label: "Morning walk"
    description: "Morning movement"
  - label: "Read (30 min)"
    description: "Books or articles"
  - label: "Workout"
    description: "Strength or cardio"
  - label: "Deep work (45 min)"
    description: "Focused work block"

Step 4: Wins and learnings

Ask: "What's one win from today?" (free text) Ask: "Any learnings or insights?" (free text, optional)

Step 5: Gratitude

yaml

question: "Want to capture gratitude?"
header: "Gratitude"
options:
  - label: "Yes"
    description: "Note what you're grateful for"
  - label: "Skip"
    description: "Not today"

If yes, ask: "What are you grateful for today?"

Step 6: Generate evening entry

Update the daily note with evening sections filled in.

Phase 3D: Full Journal

Run both morning and evening flows sequentially, plus:

Additional: Tomorrow

yaml

question: "Want to plan tomorrow?"
header: "Tomorrow"
options:
  - label: "Yes"
    description: "Set intentions for tomorrow"
  - label: "Skip"
    description: "Plan later"

If yes, ask: "What's your main priority for tomorrow?"

Additional: Links

Search for public notes created/modified today and suggest wiki-links:

text

Grep pattern: "date: {today}" glob: "content/*.md"

Phase 4: Update Mode (Existing Note)

When a daily note already exists:

4.1 Display Current State

Read the file and show:

•Current mood and ratings
•Habits already tracked
•Metrics logged
•Sections with content

4.2 Choose What to Update

yaml

question: "What would you like to add?"
header: "Update"
options:
  - label: "Quick thought"
    description: "Add something to captures"
  - label: "Track habits"
    description: "Log completed habits"
  - label: "Log metrics"
    description: "Add weight, sleep, etc."
  - label: "Evening review"
    description: "Complete the day's reflection"

Proceed to appropriate phase based on selection.

Daily Note Template

Full template with all possible sections:

markdown

---
title: "YYYY-MM-DD"
type: daily
date: YYYY-MM-DD
mood: good | great | okay | low
dayRating: 1 | 2 | 3
private: true
---

## Habits

- [ ] Morning walk
- [ ] Read (30 min)
- [ ] Workout
- [ ] Deep work (45 min)

## Metrics

| Metric | Value | Target |
|--------|-------|--------|
| Steps | | 7000+ |
| Calories | | < 2800 |
| Protein | | 180g+ |
| Eating window | | ✓ |

## Morning Intentions

{what to focus on today}

## Captures

- {quick thoughts throughout the day}

## Wins

- {good things that happened}

## Learnings

- {insights and discoveries}

## Gratitude

- {what you're thankful for}

## Tomorrow

- {priorities for the next day}

## Links Captured

- [[public-note-from-today]]

Habits Reference

Alexander's daily habits:

Habit	Target
Morning walk	Daily
Read	30 min
Workout	Daily
Deep work	45 min

Metrics Reference

Alexander's daily metrics:

Metric	Target	Format
Steps	7000+	number
Calories	< 2800	number
Protein	180g+	grams
Eating window	Nothing after 20:00	✓ or ✗

Quality Checklist

Before saving:

• Filename matches YYYY-MM-DD.md format
• Frontmatter has type: daily and private: true
• Date in title and frontmatter match
• At least one section has content
• Habits use checkbox format - [x] or - [ ]
• Metrics table is properly formatted
• Wiki-links use correct [[slug]] format

Tips for Good Journaling

•Consistency > Length: A few bullet points daily beats long entries occasionally
•Capture immediately: Log wins and learnings when they happen
•Be honest: Track actual habits, not aspirational ones
•Review weekly: Use /weekly-review to find patterns

Error Recovery

Error	Recovery
User wants different date	Allow specifying date, adjust filename
Wants to customize habits	Accept custom habit names
Metric format unclear	Accept any format, don't enforce
Section too long	Accept without truncation
Wiki-link target doesn't exist	Warn but allow