Idea Vault

Save and organize links, notes, and timestamps into a searchable Idea Vault. Use when a user drops a YouTube/web link (or just notes), then says “/vault” or...

Idea Vault (Public)

A lightweight capture → organize → retrieve workflow.

Goal

Turn messy chat drops (links + rough notes + timestamps) into structured markdown entries and a searchable index.

One-time setup (required)

Run this once after cloning the skill so OpenClaw can execute it reliably:

cd ~/.openclaw/skills/idea-vault
python3 --version
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Environment setup (recommended):

cp .env.example .env
# then set IDEA_VAULT_TRANSCRIPTAPI_KEY and IDEA_VAULT_DIR in your shell/env manager

Notes:

• Python 3 is required.
• requests from requirements.txt is required.
• IDEA_VAULT_TRANSCRIPTAPI_KEY is strongly recommended for reliable YouTube transcripts.
• yt-dlp is optional fallback for some videos/environments.

Privacy and network behavior

This skill can make outbound network calls to:

• youtube.com (video/transcript fallback paths)
• transcriptapi.com (when IDEA_VAULT_TRANSCRIPTAPI_KEY is set)
• source/asset URLs included in captured messages

Security notes:

• The helper uses subprocess.run([...], shell=False) for yt-dlp (no shell string execution).
• Do not use this skill with sensitive private chat content unless you are comfortable with these external calls.
• Keep API keys in environment variables only; never commit secrets.

Inputs supported

• YouTube links + notes + optional timestamps
• Web links + notes
• Note-only captures (no link)

Recommended path setup (portable)

Use an environment variable or local default path:

VAULT_DIR="${IDEA_VAULT_DIR:-$HOME/workspace/idea-vault}"
CACHE_DIR="$VAULT_DIR/_cache"

Core flow (triggered by /vault or vault)

1. Read recent messages in the current chat.
2. Extract the newest capture block.
3. If source is YouTube, fetch transcript + optional clips around timestamps.
4. Write summary/elaboration/tags/associations.
5. Upsert into vault (append addendum on duplicate URL/video).

Commands

Extract capture

python3 ./scripts/idea_vault.py extract --user-id <author.id> --fallback-messages 30 < messages.json > capture.json

Fetch transcript (YouTube only)

Preferred source is TranscriptAPI via IDEA_VAULT_TRANSCRIPTAPI_KEY.

python3 ./scripts/idea_vault.py fetch --cache-dir "$CACHE_DIR" < capture.json > youtube.json

Save / upsert entry

python3 ./scripts/idea_vault.py upsert --vault-dir "$VAULT_DIR" < save_request.json > saved.json

Query vault

python3 ./scripts/idea_vault.py query --vault-dir "$VAULT_DIR" --limit 50
python3 ./scripts/idea_vault.py query --vault-dir "$VAULT_DIR" --since 2026-03-01
python3 ./scripts/idea_vault.py query --vault-dir "$VAULT_DIR" --channel "podcast" --text "pricing"

Annotate latest entry

python3 ./scripts/idea_vault.py annotate --vault-dir "$VAULT_DIR" --last --star true --priority high --add-tag actionable

save_request.json shape

{
  "capture": {"...": "from extract"},
  "source": {
    "kind": "youtube|web|note",
    "url": "https://... (optional)",
    "title": "string (optional)",
    "author": "string (optional)",
    "id": "string (optional)",
    "transcript_txt": "/path/to/transcript.txt (youtube only, optional)",
    "transcript_json": "/path/to/raw.json (youtube only, optional)",
    "clips": [{"center_sec": 123, "window_sec": 60, "text": "..."}]
  },
  "summary": "string",
  "elaboration": "string",
  "tags": ["tag"],
  "associations": [{"timestamp_sec": 1461, "note": "..."}]
}

Output layout

Under VAULT_DIR:

• entries/YYYY/YYYY-MM-DD__<slug>__[<suffix>].md
• transcripts/YYYY/<id>.transcript.txt (YouTube only)
• assets/YYYY/MM/* (optional attachments)
• index.json
• _cache/

Agent response style after save

Reply with:

• title + link
• 3–6 concise bullets
• relevant clips for flagged timestamps (if present)
• saved file path