1. Second Brain — SideKick

Obsidian Metadata

categories	Build
description	An App that reimagines the concept of the second brain in the age of AI.

Trigger / Inspiration

1. Project Overview

Objective: To build an automated “Second Brain” that allows for frictionless capture of thoughts, tasks, and information, using AI to classify, store, and proactively surface relevant data. Core Philosophy: Reduce the human’s job to one reliable behavior (Capture) and let AI handle the cognitive load of organizing.

2. Technical Stack

• Interface (Capture & Surfacing): Slack (one private channel named #sb-inbox).
• Logic & Automation: Zapier or Make.com.
• Intelligence: Claude 3.5/GPT-4o (via API).
• Memory (Storage): Notion (Relational Databases).

3. System Architecture & Building Blocks

A. The “Dropbox” (Capture Point)

• Requirement: A single Slack channel where every message is a new entry. An Audio first / link share kind of input.
• User Flow: User talsk/types/pastes a thought into a user friendly omnipresent action. No tagging or sorting required.

B. The “Sorter” (AI Classifier)

• Requirement: An AI prompt that acts as an API. It must accept raw text and return structured JSON.

• Categories:

  1. People: Networking, contact details, follow-ups.
  2. Projects: Active goals with specific next actions.
  3. Ideas: Insights, creative thoughts, “someday” items.
  4. Admin: Errands, logistics, dates.

• Logic: The AI must provide a Confidence Score (0.0 to 1.0).

C. The “Filing Cabinet” (Notion Databases)

Create 5 specific databases in Notion:

1. People: [Name, Context, Follow-ups, Last Touched, Tags]

2. Projects: [Project Name, Status (Active/Waiting/Blocked), Next Action, Notes]

3. Ideas: [Name, One-liner Summary, Elaborated Notes, Tags]

4. Admin: [Task Name, Due Date, Status]

5. Inbox Log (The “Receipt”): [Original Text, AI Destination, Confidence Score, Timestamp]

D. The “Bouncer” (Guardrails)

• Confidence Threshold: Set to 0.6.

• Action: If AI confidence is < 0.6, the system must not file the entry. Instead, it logs it in the Inbox Log as “Needs Review” and pings the user in Slack for clarification.

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4. Automation Workflows (The “Loops”)

Loop 1: Real-time Filing

1. Trigger: New message in Slack #sb-inbox.

2. Action: Send text to AI with a System Prompt: “Classify this into People, Projects, Ideas, or Admin. Return JSON only with fields: category, name, next_action, summary, confidence_score.”

3. Branching Logic:

   • If Confidence > 0.6: Create a page in the corresponding Notion database.

   • If Confidence < 0.6: Log in Inbox Log and send Slack reply: “I’m not sure where this goes. Please clarify if this is a Person, Project, or Idea.”

4. Confirmation: Post a Slack reply to the original message: “Filed as [Category] in [Database].”

Loop 2: The “Tap on the Shoulder” (Daily Digest)

1. Trigger: Scheduled (e.g., 8:00 AM daily).

2. Action: Query Notion for “Active Projects” and “People to Follow Up.”

3. AI Step: Summarize findings into a < 150-word Slack DM.

4. Format:

   • Top 3 actions for today.

   • One thing you might be avoiding (stagnant project).

   • One small win from yesterday.

Loop 3: Weekly Review

1. Trigger: Sunday at 4:00 PM.

2. Action: Query all entries from the past 7 days in the Inbox Log.

3. AI Step: Generate a < 250-word summary of open loops, recurring themes, and 3 suggested actions for next week.

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5. Correction Mechanism (The “Fix Button”)

• Requirement: If the user replies to an automated filing confirmation with fix: [correction], a separate automation should trigger.

• Logic: The AI parses the correction (e.g., “This should be a project, not an idea”) and moves the Notion entry to the correct database.

6. Prompt Engineering Guidelines for AI Studio

To one-shot the prompts, provide the AI with these constraints:

• Reliability Over Creativity: Always return valid JSON. No conversational filler.

• Action-Oriented: When processing projects, always extract a “Next Action” (e.g., “Email Sarah,” not “Work on website”).

• Conciseness: Daily and weekly summaries must be mobile-friendly and fit on one screen.

Considerations

• Why not building it within Obsidian (maybe a plugin )

References

Second Brain