Auto Log Entry

Automatically add a timestamped log entry to today's daily note when user wants to log their work.

Where Does Output Go?

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ INPUT:  "add log entry: Fixed the bug"              │
│                                                     │
│ OUTPUT: daily-notes/2026-01-03.md                   │
│         └─► ## Log section (appended)               │
│             └─► - 14:32 Fixed the bug               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

How location is determined:
1. MCP detect_periodic_notes("daily") → finds daily notes folder
2. Today's date → 2026-01-03.md
3. sections.log (default: "Log") → finds ## Log heading
4. Appends after last log entry

Trigger Detection

This skill activates when the user's prompt contains logging intent:

• "log" / "log this" / "add to log"
• "captains log"
• "dictate" / "record" / "record this"
• "note this" / "make a note" / "take note"
• "write this down" / "remember this"
• "document this" / "track this"

The text after the trigger word (or the context) becomes the log entry description.

Examples

User prompts that trigger this skill:

• "log Fixed authentication bug"
• "captains log Meeting with product team"
• "dictate Deployed new feature to staging"
• "record Completed code review for PR #123"

Process

1. Extract log description

   • Remove the trigger word from the start of the prompt
   • Use remaining text as the log description
   • Preserve any [[wikilinks]] in the description

2. Get current time

   • Parse from injected UserPromptSubmit hook context: "Time: HH:MM"
   • Extract: "HH:MM"
   • Format: HH:MM (24-hour format)
   • IMPORTANT: Do NOT use Bash or PowerShell commands. Time is provided by hook context.

3. Construct daily note path

   • Use today's date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
   • Path: {paths.daily_notes}/YYYY-MM-DD.md (from config)

4. Read the daily note

   • Find the Log section (from config sections.log, default: ## Log)

5. Add the log entry

   • Format: - HH:MM [log description]
   • Add after the last log entry in the section
   • Use Edit tool to insert the new entry
   • Check Edit result - if blocked or failed:
     • Inform user: "Edit was blocked or failed. Please confirm the mutation or add manually."
     • Do NOT proceed to confirmation

6. Verify the write succeeded

   • Re-read the daily note file
   • Search for the newly added log entry (the exact description + timestamp)
   • If NOT found: Alert user "Log write failed - please add manually: - HH:MM [description]"
   • If found: Proceed to confirmation

7. Confirm (only if Step 6 succeeded)

   • Display the added entry with timestamp and location

Log Section Format

## Log

- 13:54 Fixed authentication issue
- 15:34 Deployed to staging
- 16:03 Made significant progress with [[Project]]

Critical Rules

• Timestamp required: Always include HH:MM format
• Preserve structure: Don't modify other sections
• Bullet format: Use - HH:MM description format
• Today only: Only add to current day's note
• Wikilinks: Preserve any [[wikilinks]] in the user's description
• No empty logs: If no description after trigger word, ask user what to log
• Exact match: Only trigger on prompts that START with trigger words (case-insensitive)

Edge Cases

• If prompt is just "log" with no description, ask: "What would you like to log?"
• If daily note doesn't exist, create it using the template
• Preserve existing log formatting and order

Six Gates Compliance

Gate	Implementation
1. Read Before Write	Reads daily note before adding entry (step 4)
2. File Exists	Validates daily note exists; creates if missing
3. Chain Validation	N/A (single operation)
4. Mutation Confirmation	Entry shown to user before write
5. Health Check	Uses vault config infrastructure
6. Post Validation	Re-reads file and verifies entry was written (step 6)

Configuration

This skill uses these config values:

• paths.daily_notes: Folder containing daily notes (default: "daily-notes")
• sections.log: Log section header text (default: "Log")

Note: Section matching is case-insensitive and level-agnostic. "Log" matches # Log, ## Log, ### LOG, etc.