gptme/gptme-contrib/journal

Journal

Journal entries belong to the work day, not automatically to the day they are written. Preserve each agent's local filename, metadata, and body format; this skill standardizes only dating and append-only history.

Choose the date

1. Use the date on which the recorded work began or primarily happened.
2. For delayed write-ups, verify the date from session-start, commit, or tool

timestamps. Do not infer it from relative words such as "yesterday".

1. If the date cannot be recovered reliably, use the write date and disclose

that uncertainty in the entry.

Include both the work start and write time when the entry is written later. Keep the repository's existing filename and metadata conventions; do not replace topic names, session identifiers, or local frontmatter with a shared template.

Create without overwriting

The bundled helper creates journal/YYYY-MM-DD/<name>.md, refuses an existing path, and writes stdin verbatim:

printf '%s\n' '# Session notes' | \
  JOURNAL_STARTED='2026-09-26T21:30:00+02:00' \
  bash "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/journal-new.sh" erbot-session

Use JOURNAL_DATE=YYYY-MM-DD when only the work day is known. Set JOURNAL_ROOT only when the journal is outside the current Git repository. If both JOURNAL_DATE and JOURNAL_STARTED are set, their dates must agree.

Preserve history

• A new file in a past-dated directory is valid.
• Existing historical entries are append-only.
• Do not replace committed lines, including mutable-looking frontmatter.
• Record a later correction in a new entry on the correction day and link the

original claim.