davekilleen/journal

Purpose

Toggle journaling on/off, or start a journal entry.

Usage

• /journal on — Enable daily journaling prompts
• /journal off — Disable journaling (daily planning works without it)
• /journal — Start today's journal (morning or evening based on time)
• /journal morning — Start morning journal
• /journal evening — Start evening journal
• /journal week — Start weekly journal

Behavior

/journal on

1. Update System/user-profile.yaml journaling section to enable all types (morning: true, evening: true, weekly: true)
2. Create 00-Inbox/Journals/ folder if it doesn't exist
3. Confirm: "Journaling enabled. I'll prompt you for morning reflection before daily planning, and offer evening reflection at end of day. Your journals will be in 00-Inbox/Journals/."

/journal off

1. Update System/user-profile.yaml journaling section to disable all types (morning: false, evening: false, weekly: false)
2. Confirm: "Journaling disabled. Daily planning will work normally without journal prompts. Your existing journals are preserved in 00-Inbox/Journals/."
3. Do NOT delete existing journal entries

/journal (no argument)

Check current time:

• Before 12pm → Start morning journal
• After 12pm → Start evening journal

/journal morning

1. Check if today's morning journal exists

• If yes: Open it for review/editing
• If no: Create from template, guide user through prompts

1. After completion, offer to generate daily plan: "Ready to plan your day? I can create your Daily Note now."

/journal evening

1. Check if today's evening journal exists

• If yes: Open it for review/editing
• If no: Create from template

1. Pull in morning journal intention for reflection
2. Guide user through evening prompts
3. After completion: "Day closed. See you tomorrow morning."

/journal week

1. Check if this week's journal exists

• If yes: Open for review/editing
• If no: Create from template

1. Link to this week's daily journals
2. Summarize patterns from daily entries (if available)
3. Guide through weekly reflection
4. After completion, surface insights: "Based on your week, you might want to focus on {{pattern}} next week."

Daily Planning Integration

When journaling is enabled and user asks to plan their day:

1. Check for morning journal

• If missing: "Let's start with a quick morning reflection first. It'll take 5 minutes and helps you plan with more intention."
• Guide through morning journal
• Then generate daily plan

1. Morning journal informs daily plan

• "ONE thing that matters most" from journal → First priority in daily plan
• "What might derail me" → Blocked time or warnings in plan
• Energy/mood → Adjust intensity of planned tasks

Folder Structure

When journaling is enabled:

00-Inbox/
└── Journals/
    ├── 2024/
    │   ├── 01-January/
    │   │   ├── Morning/
    │   │   │   ├── 2024-01-15-morning.md
    │   │   │   └── 2024-01-16-morning.md
    │   │   ├── Evening/
    │   │   │   ├── 2024-01-15-evening.md
    │   │   │   └── 2024-01-16-evening.md
    │   │   └── Weekly/
    │   │       └── 2024-W03.md

Why Journaling Matters

When explaining to users during onboarding or /journal on:

> Morning journaling (5 min) helps you start intentionally instead of reactively. You'll notice what's on your mind, set a clear focus, and anticipate obstacles before they derail you. > > Evening journaling (5 min) closes open loops, captures wins and lessons, and prevents the day from blurring into the next. What you notice, you can change. > > Weekly journaling (15 min) reveals patterns you can't see day-to-day. Energy cycles, recurring frustrations, what's actually getting your time vs. what matters. > > Research shows: Regular reflection improves decision-making, reduces stress, and increases goal achievement. It's not about writing perfectly — it's about paying attention to your own experience.

Configuration

Journaling preferences are stored in System/user-profile.yaml under the journaling section:

yaml
journaling:
  morning: true   # Enable morning journal prompts
  evening: true   # Enable evening journal prompts
  weekly: true    # Enable weekly journal prompts

Check this file to determine which journal types are enabled for the user.

Prompting Style

When guiding journal entries:

• Ask one question at a time
• Don't overwhelm — templates are comprehensive, but conversation can be lighter
• Accept short answers
• Reflect back patterns when you notice them
• Be warm but not saccharine
• Respect if user wants to skip sections

Example morning flow:

Good morning. Before we plan your day, let's take 5 minutes to check in.

How are you arriving today? Rate your sleep, energy, and mood 1-5.

[User responds]

Got it. What's on your mind right now? Just free write whatever's there.

[User responds]

Thanks. Now the important one: If you could only accomplish ONE thing today, what would it be?

[User responds]

Why does that matter?

[User responds]

Great. One more: What might get in the way today, and how will you handle it?

[User responds]

Perfect. Your morning journal is saved. Ready to build your daily plan around that focus?

Track Usage (Silent)

Update System/usage_log.md to mark journaling as used.

Analytics (Silent):

Call track_event with event_name journal_entry_created and properties:

• type (morning/evening/weekly)

This only fires if the user has opted into analytics. No action needed if it returns "analytics_disabled".