knowledge-consolidation

COG Knowledge Consolidation Skill

Purpose

Transform scattered insights from braindumps, daily briefs, and check-ins into coherent frameworks and "single source of truth" knowledge documents through pattern recognition and systematic synthesis.

When to Invoke

• User wants to consolidate their insights
• User says "consolidate knowledge", "build frameworks", "synthesize insights"
• Time for periodic knowledge base maintenance (weekly, monthly, quarterly)
• User wants to extract patterns from accumulated braindumps
• Before major decisions that could benefit from framework consultation

Agent Mode Awareness

Check agent_mode in 00-inbox/MY-PROFILE.md frontmatter:

• If agent_mode: team — delegate scanning and pattern extraction to parallel sub-agents (e.g., one per domain: personal braindumps, professional braindumps, project-specific content, daily briefs). Each agent identifies themes and patterns, then a synthesis agent combines findings into frameworks.
• If agent_mode: solo (default) — handle all scanning, pattern recognition, and framework building directly. No delegation.

Pre-Flight Check

Get current timestamp (REQUIRED before generating any files):

1. Run date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M' using Bash to get the actual current date and time
2. Store this value and use it for the created: frontmatter field
3. NEVER guess or fabricate the time — always use the value returned by the date command

Process Flow

1. Data Gathering

Scan vault for unprocessed or partially processed content:

• All braindumps since last consolidation:

  • 02-personal/braindumps/
  • 03-professional/braindumps/
  • 04-projects/*/braindumps/
  • 00-inbox/braindump-*.md (mixed domain)

• Daily briefs and check-ins:

  • 01-daily/briefs/
  • 01-daily/checkins/

• Any meeting transcripts or project documents in:

  • 04-projects/*/planning/
  • 04-projects/*/resources/

Determine scope:

• Ask user: "What time period should I analyze? (last week, last month, last quarter, all time, or custom range?)"
• Identify unprocessed content (check for status: "captured" or missing consolidation metadata)

Gather statistics:

• Total documents to analyze
• Breakdown by domain and type
• Date range coverage

2. Pattern Recognition

Apply systematic pattern detection across all content:

Frequency Analysis

What comes up repeatedly?

• Identify themes mentioned across multiple documents
• Track topic frequency and clustering
• Recognize persistent questions or concerns
• Spot recurring action items or decisions

Temporal Clustering

What insights emerged together?

• Group related insights by time period
• Identify how thinking evolved over time
• Recognize inflection points where thinking shifted
• Map catalysts that triggered changes

Domain Correlation

What patterns cross domains?

• Personal insights affecting professional thinking
• Professional learnings applied to projects
• Project experiences informing personal growth
• Strategic themes spanning all domains

Contradiction Analysis

Where does thinking conflict?

• Identify contradictory thoughts or approaches
• Recognize evolution vs. inconsistency
• Understand resolution or ongoing tension
• Track perspective shifts over time

Cross-Cutting Patterns

Meta-patterns across all dimensions:

• Decision-making approaches
• Problem-solving strategies
• Learning patterns
• Emotional/energy patterns
• Relationship patterns
• Creative processes

3. Framework Development

Synthesize patterns into actionable frameworks:

Identify Core Principles

From scattered insights to fundamental truths:

• What patterns reveal deeper principles?
• What rules or heuristics emerge?
• What mental models are forming?
• What strategies are proving effective?

Test Against Evidence

Validate frameworks with source material:

• Do source insights support these principles?
• Are there counter-examples or exceptions?
• How confident can we be in this framework?
• What are the boundary conditions?

Define Boundaries

When does framework apply/not apply?

• What contexts does this framework serve?
• What are its limitations?
• When should it NOT be used?
• What assumptions does it rely on?

Create Applications

How to use this framework:

• Specific use cases
• Decision-making applications
• Problem-solving templates
• Practical implementation steps

4. Knowledge Integration

Update and create knowledge base documents:

Update Existing Frameworks

For each framework that needs updating, use the consolidated-knowledge template in references/templates.md.

Save to: 05-knowledge/consolidated/[framework-name]-framework.md

Create New Frameworks

For newly identified frameworks, use the new-framework template in references/templates.md.

Save to: 05-knowledge/consolidated/[framework-name]-framework.md

Update Pattern Documentation

Document the pattern using the pattern template in references/templates.md.

Save to: 05-knowledge/patterns/pattern-[name].md

Create Timeline Entries

Build the timeline entry using the thinking-evolution template in references/templates.md.

Save to: 05-knowledge/timeline/[topic]-evolution-YYYY-MM.md

5. Generate Consolidation Report

Create the master consolidation document using the report template in references/templates.md.

Save to: 05-knowledge/consolidated/consolidation-YYYY-MM-DD.md

6. Cleanup and Archival

Mark processed braindumps: Update frontmatter in processed braindumps:

status: "consolidated"
consolidated_in: "[[consolidation-YYYY-MM-DD]]"
consolidated_date: "YYYY-MM-DD"

Archive outdated content: Move superseded frameworks or insights to: 00-inbox/archive/[filename]-archived-YYYY-MM-DD.md

Add note explaining why archived and what supersedes it.

Maintain clean knowledge base:

• Remove redundancy while preserving important context
• Update cross-references
• Fix broken links
• Ensure consistent tagging

7. Confirm Completion

After consolidation:

• Show user: "Knowledge consolidation complete! Processed [X] documents"
• Highlight: "[X] frameworks updated, [X] new frameworks created"
• Show: "Consolidation report saved to [file path]"
• Suggest reviewing key frameworks created/updated
• Offer to explain any specific framework in detail

Loop Engineering

Consolidation is a loop-until-dry extraction with a completeness critic, not a single scan. See .claude/skills/loop-engineering/SKILL.md for the shared vocabulary.

The loop: scan a batch of in-scope documents → extract themes, patterns, and candidate framework principles → run the completeness critic ("any in-scope doc not yet read? any theme recurring across N+ docs that no framework captures yet?") → if the critic surfaces something new, run another extraction pass → stop when 2 passes in a row surface nothing new (dry). In agent_mode: team, the first scan fans out as one worker per domain (personal / professional / per-project / briefs); each returns its conclusions only, and a synthesis pass merges them.

The verifier (deterministic where it can be):

• Traceability: every framework principle links at least one source document. A principle with no [[source]] is dropped, not published. This is mechanical and is COG's verification-first rule for consolidation.
• Coverage: every in-scope document ends marked status: "consolidated" with a consolidated_in backlink.
• Dedup: before creating a framework, check 05-knowledge/consolidated/ so an existing framework is updated, not duplicated.
• The completeness critic ("did we miss a theme?") is the one judgment-based check; keep it explicit and evidence-linked.

Termination conditions (layered):

• Dry: K=2 consecutive passes find no new theme or document.
• Coverage complete: all in-scope documents marked consolidated.
• Hard cap: a max number of extraction passes, so a noisy corpus cannot loop forever.

Patterns: loop-until-dry (the spine) + plan-execute-verify (each pass) + orchestrator-workers (team-mode domain scans) + completeness critic.

In-loop context: write the consolidation report incrementally and dedup new themes against the running set, not against the conversation. Externalizing to the report file is what keeps a large corpus from overflowing the window.

Consolidation Guidelines

Quality Over Quantity

• Don't force insights that aren't mature enough
• Let patterns emerge naturally from evidence
• Be patient with incomplete thinking
• Quality frameworks require time and evidence
• Mark frameworks as "emerging" vs "working" vs "stable"

Preserve Nuance

• Don't over-simplify complex insights
• Maintain important context and conditions
• Note when frameworks have limitations
• Preserve contradictions that haven't resolved yet
• Acknowledge uncertainty explicitly

Maintain Traceability

• Always link back to source documents
• Show evidence trail for frameworks
• Document evolution of thinking
• Enable future validation or revision
• Make it easy to audit framework claims

Living Documents

• Frameworks should evolve with new insights
• Regular updates better than perfect first draft
• Clear status indicators (emerging/working/stable)
• Encourage iteration and refinement
• Version history through Git

Analysis Techniques Reference

Pattern Detection Methods

1. Frequency Analysis: Count mentions, cluster topics
2. Temporal Clustering: Group by time, track evolution
3. Domain Correlation: Cross-domain connections
4. Contradiction Analysis: Identify conflicts, track resolution
5. Energy Pattern Detection: Emotional and practical patterns

Framework Synthesis Process

1. Identify Core Principles: Extract fundamental truths
2. Test Against Evidence: Validate with sources
3. Define Boundaries: Establish applicability
4. Create Applications: Develop use cases
5. Document Evolution: Track development over time

Timeline Construction Method

1. Mark Inflection Points: When thinking shifted
2. Identify Catalysts: What triggered changes
3. Document Evolution: How understanding developed
4. Extract Learnings: What evolution teaches

Success Metrics

• Completeness: All relevant insights processed
• Coherence: Frameworks logically consistent
• Traceability: Clear links to source material
• Actionability: Frameworks applicable to decisions
• Evolution: Documented thinking progression
• User Value: Frameworks actually used in practice

Common Use Cases

• Weekly Consolidation: Process week's insights into patterns
• Monthly Framework Development: Build strategic frameworks
• Quarterly Strategic Synthesis: Big-picture consolidation
• Annual Knowledge Base Cleanup: Maintain quality and relevance
• Pre-Decision Framework Consultation: Apply frameworks to major decisions
• Project Retrospective: Extract learnings for frameworks

Philosophy

The knowledge consolidation skill embodies COG's self-evolving intelligence:

• Transforms scattered thoughts into strategic frameworks
• Honors the evolution of thinking over time
• Builds "single source of truth" living documents
• Maintains traceability and evidence-based reasoning
• Creates actionable knowledge for better decision-making
• Respects nuance while seeking patterns
• Values iteration and continuous refinement