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Captures and organizes chaotic brain dumps into a structured, actionable system with zero information loss. Use this skill whenever the user says 'capture this', 'brain dump', 'let me dump some ideas'
The skill file stays in the publisher's repository.
Paste the copied command in a terminal. It installs this SKILL.md into that agent.
npx skills add alirezarezvani/claude-skills --skill capture -a cursor -y
Captures and organizes chaotic brain dumps into a structured, actionable system with zero information loss. Use this skill whenever the user says 'capture this', 'brain dump', 'let me dump some ideas', 'I've got a bunch of thoughts', 'here's everything on my mind', 'idea dump', 'let me get this out of my head', 'I need to organize my thoughts', 'here's what I'm thinking', or any variation where someone is unloading a messy stream of ideas, tasks, thoughts, and plans wanting them turned into something coherent. Also trigger when the user pastes or dictates a long, unstructured block of mixed ideas — even without the exact phrase — the intent is the same. Fast-to-action by design: no upfront intake. Output is four sections (Projects/Ideas, Tasks, Connections, How I Can Help) ending with a directive question. Asks at most one mid-organization clarifying question when a single item is genuinely ambiguous between task and project.
Captures and organizes chaotic brain dumps into a structured, actionable system with zero information loss. Use this skill whenever the user says 'capture this', 'brain dump', 'let me dump some ideas', 'I've got a bunch of thoughts', 'here's everything on my mind', 'idea dump', 'let me get this out of my head', 'I need to organize my thoughts', 'here's what I'm thinking', or any variation where someone is unloading a messy stream of ideas, tasks, thoughts, and plans wanting them turned into something coherent. Also trigger when the user pastes or dictates a long, unstructured block of mixed ideas — even without the exact phrase — the intent is the same. Fast-to-action by design: no upfront intake. Output is four sections (Projects/Ideas, Tasks, Connections, How I Can Help) ending with a directive question. Asks at most one mid-organization clarifying question when a single item is genuinely ambiguous between task and project.
A fast-to-action skill for transforming unstructured streams of mixed thoughts, tasks, and ideas into a clean four-section actionable system with zero information loss.
Explicit phrases (any of):
Implicit signals (no phrase, but the intent is unmistakable):
When you detect an implicit trigger, run the skill. Do NOT ask "do you want me to organize this?" first — the dump itself IS the request.
references/voice_preservation.md for concrete anti-patterns.references/complexity_matching.md and the Compressed Output Pattern below.Capture is fast-to-action by design. No upfront intake. The dump is enough — start organizing immediately.
The grill-me discipline applies as a single mid-organization clarifying question, asked only when one item in the dump is genuinely ambiguous between task and project, AND the misclassification would meaningfully change the output:
Quick clarification — one item in your dump could go either way. Is [X] a one-shot task or a multi-step project?
Why I'm asking: If I guess wrong on a borderline item I either bury a project as a task or inflate a task into a project that doesn't need the structure. One question per dump prevents that.
Stop condition: Max 1 clarifying question per dump. After the answer (or if no clarification was needed), deliver the four (or compressed) sections.
If the dump is unambiguous, skip the clarifier entirely.
Anti-pattern (do not do this): asking 3 clarifying questions up front. That breaks the dump-and-organize flow that makes capture useful.
Cluster related items into themed projects when natural clustering exists. This section also holds:
Decide: X or Y) and open questions (Q: ...) — kept WITHIN the relevant project, NOT extracted into a separate top-level categoryFormat per project:
### {Project name in user's voice}
- {component / sub-idea}
- {component}
- Q: {open question this project needs answered}
- Decide: {decision this project requires}
Use the user's words for the project name. If the user wrote "ai dating app for ferrets", do NOT rename it to "AI-Powered Pet Companion Platform".
Flat, scannable, action-oriented. Includes:
Decide: ...Resolve: ...If a task belongs to a project from Section 1, append [Project: X] to link it — but don't repeat the project's context.
Format:
- {task in imperative voice} [Project: X if related]
- Decide: {decision} [Project: X if related]
- Resolve: {open question}
- ...
This is where the skill earns its keep — and where fabrication is forbidden.
Workflow:
scripts/workspace_inventory.py to do this deterministically.Hard rule: NEVER fabricate connections. Only surface ones actually found by Glob/Grep/Read. If no real connections exist:
Connections: No connections found — workspace inventory clean.
If the workspace is inaccessible:
Connections: No workspace accessible from here. If you're running this from Claude Code or have a project with files attached, I can fill this in. Want to share where this work lives?
See references/workspace_detection.md for the per-context detection-tactic catalog.
Concrete offers, not abstract possibilities. Every offer specifies what would be produced AND where it would go.
| ✅ Right pattern | ❌ Anti-pattern |
|---|---|
"I can research Consensus MCP integration patterns and give you 3 options. Output: docs/consensus-options.md." | "You might want to look into integration approaches." |
"I can draft the Q3 launch plan as a 1-pager. Output: chat reply, then docs/q3-launch.md if you want it filed." | "Maybe think about Q3 planning." |
"I can scaffold the new auth module with the existing pattern from src/users/. Output: 4 files in src/auth/." | "We could explore auth options." |
End with the directive question:
Which of these should I tackle?
When the dump has 5 or fewer items and items are unrelated (no natural clustering), drop the 4-section format and use compressed:
## What I heard
- {item}
- {item}
- {item}
- ...
## How I can help
- {concrete offer with what + where}
- {concrete offer with what + where}
Which should I tackle?
The trigger is the complexity_estimator.py recommendation OR your judgment when no clusters exist. See references/complexity_matching.md for worked examples of when each format applies.
| Context | Detection method |
|---|---|
| Claude Code CLI | Glob for files matching dump keywords; Grep for content matches; read top-level structure. Use scripts/workspace_inventory.py. |
| Claude.ai with project | Check project knowledge files for thematic overlap. List file titles; surface matches by keyword. |
| Connected tools (Notion, Drive, etc.) | Search via MCP if available. |
| No accessible workspace | State the limitation explicitly; ask user about their setup; do NOT fabricate. |
After the four (or compressed) sections are delivered:
| Situation | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Workspace inaccessible | State this; skip Section 3 or surface "no workspace accessible" + ask about setup |
| Dump is very short (3-5 items) | Use compressed output; don't force 4 sections |
| Items are highly ambiguous | Flag in output, ask up to 1 clarifier (or skip clarifier and surface ambiguity in delivery) |
| Dump contains sensitive info | Acknowledge but don't echo verbatim if user asks for organization without quoting |
| Conflicting items in the dump | Surface the conflict in Section 1 or 3 explicitly (Conflict: X says A, Y says B) |
| User says "go" before approval | Honor it, but explicitly note items you weren't sure about |
| Script | Role |
|---|---|
scripts/workspace_inventory.py | Glob+Grep helper for Section 3. python workspace_inventory.py --root . --keywords "k1,k2" returns matches by keyword + folder structure. |
scripts/dump_classifier.py | Regex-classifies each dump line into task / decision / question / idea / project-component. Heuristic — override with judgment. |
scripts/complexity_estimator.py | Counts items, detects clustering signal, recommends format=full or format=compressed. |
references/workspace_detection.md — context-specific detection tactics (CLI / web / MCP / inaccessible)references/voice_preservation.md — corporate-speak anti-patterns with concrete examplesreferences/complexity_matching.md — compressed vs full output, worked examplesVersion: 1.0.0
Source spec: megaprompts/05-capture-megaprompt.md (maintainer-local draft spec — gitignored, not present in the public repository)
Build pattern: Path B (direct conversion). Re-grill with /cs:grill-with-docs if drift between spec and implementation surfaces.