Nooks: Places worth revisiting

Personal place intelligence — save and find cafes, coworking spaces, libraries, restaurants, and other spots worth revisiting. Stores one markdown file per p...

Security Scan

The skill's requested actions, files, and optional API use are consistent with its stated purpose of storing and searching local place notes; it only reads/writes files in your workspace and optionally calls Google Places for maps links.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the instructions: the skill creates and manages markdown place files under mind/nooks/, greps/searches them, and optionally fetches Google Places IDs for stable Maps links. Nothing requested is unrelated to maintaining a local place library.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md instructs the agent to read and write files under mind/nooks/, run grep across those files, search the web to pre-fill fields, and optionally call the Google Places API or a find_location tool. These actions are within scope, but the agent will access all files in the nooks folder and can append notes and update files. It also suggests adding a periodic heartbeat (see persistence).

Install Mechanism

This is an instruction-only skill with no install spec or code. README offers manual install commands (curl to a raw GitHub URL or npx). Manually fetching SKILL.md from a trusted repo is normal — verify the source if you run those commands.

Credentials

There are no required env vars or credentials. An optional Google Places API key can be stored in mind/nooks/nooksconfig.yml to fetch place IDs; this is proportional to the Maps feature and not requested elsewhere. The skill does not ask for unrelated secrets.

Persistence & Privilege

always:false (normal). The skill recommends adding an entry to HEARTBEAT.md or creating a cron job every 30 minutes to run periodic checks; enabling that increases how often the agent will read random nook files and surface notes. Autonomous invocation is allowed by default — consider this if you want to limit background activity.

Assessment

This skill appears coherent and low-risk for its stated purpose, but check a few things before installing: 1) the agent will read and modify files in mind/nooks/ — don't keep secrets there; 2) if you enable Maps automation, store your Google Places API key only in mind/nooks/nooksconfig.yml and restrict the key to the Places API and appropriate referrers/IPs; 3) the README suggests fetching SKILL.md via curl from a GitHub raw URL — verify you trust that repository before running the command; 4) the skill recommends adding a heartbeat/cron (every 30 minutes) which increases how often it will access your files — only enable if you want periodic checks; 5) if you prefer to avoid autonomous background activity, disable autonomous invocation for this skill in the agent settings. If you want more assurance, provide the upstream GitHub repo for verification or inspect the SKILL.md/README in your environment before installing.

📍 Nooks — local place intelligence

Data

Base path is relative to workspace root or document root. On first use, create it: mkdir -p mind/nooks/. Nooks uses a mind/nooks/ folder in your workspace.

Files live in mind/nooks/<city>/. City folders use short lowercase slugs: hk, sf, sg, london, bkk. Create on first use: mkdir -p mind/nooks/<city>/.

mind/
└── nooks/
    ├── nooksconfig.yml   ← config file, make one if it is not there yet
    ├── hk/
    │   ├── blue-bottle-central.md
    │   └── amber-lan-kwai-fong.md
    └── sf/
        └── sightglass-soma.md

File names: <place-slug>.md. Include neighborhood when the same place has multiple locations: blue-bottle-central.md vs blue-bottle-admiralty.md.

---

Place File

# Place Name

Type: cafe / coworking / library / park / restaurant / bar / museum / church / etc.
Area: station/neighborhood
Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/...
Price: $ / $$ / $$$ / $$$$
Image: `../assets/slug-that-make-sense` only if adding an image.
Vibe: quiet / moderate / buzzy
Good for: focus, calls, client meetings, leisure
Features: #wifi #charging #outdoor #healthy-food #coffee #24h #ac #3dprinter

## Notes

4 Apr 2026: upper floor is quieter, fills up fast after 10am

Field guidance:

Maps: if a Google Places API key is configured, fetch automatically (see Google Places API). Otherwise paste the share link from Google Maps mobile (maps.app.goo.gl/...) or leave blank. Good for: your standing assessment of what this place suits. Comma-separated. Update if your opinion changes. Notes: dated personal log. Observations, tips, surprises, things that shift over time. Format: 4 Apr 2026: ... Features: use standard tags so grep works: #wifi #charging #outdoor #food #coffee #quiet #24h #reservations #alcohol #coworking

Good for vs Notes — the distinction: Good for is the verdict; Notes is the evidence. One is a label, the other is a log.

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Saving a Place

1. Search the web (name + city/area) — pre-fill Type, Price, Vibe, and Features from what's publicly known.
2. Fetch the Maps link (optional — silent skip if unavailable):
   • If the find_location tool is in your tool list, call it with <name>, <city> and use the maps_url it returns.
   • Otherwise if google_places_api_key is set in mind/nooks/nooksconfig.yml, call Places API Text Search yourself (IDs only, free):

     POST https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:searchText
     Headers: X-Goog-Api-Key: <key>, X-Goog-FieldMask: places.id
     Body: { "textQuery": "<place name>, <city>" }
     → https://www.google.com/maps/place/?q=place_id:<id>
     

   • Otherwise leave the Maps field blank and don't mention it. Do not ask the human to install a key or paste a share link.
3. Show what you found: "Found Sightglass — specialty coffee roaster in SoMa SF, $$. Wifi confirmed, communal tables, no time limit."
4. Ask as a group (skip anything already answered):
   • What's it good for? — focus, calls, meetings, catch-up, date, leisure?
   • Vibe? — quiet / moderate / buzzy (if unclear from search)
   • Features to correct? — confirm or fix what you found
   • Any notes? — first impressions, tips, things to remember
5. if mind/nooks/nooksconfig.yml have images: yes search for an image of palace interor and add to Image: feild.

---

Finding Places

Use grep with expanded terms. Search city folder or all of mind/nooks/ cross-city.

# Quiet wifi spots in HK
grep -rl "#quiet" mind/nooks/hk/ | xargs grep -l "#wifi"

# Focus-friendly places in SF
grep -ril "focus\|deep.work\|laptop\|coworking" mind/nooks/sf/

# All cafes across cities
grep -ril "Type:.*cafe" mind/nooks/

# Charging spots anywhere
grep -rl "#charging" mind/nooks/

Always read the full file after grepping — the matched line is a signal, not the full picture.

Keyword expansion — always broaden the query:

• "work / focus" → focus\|deep.work\|laptop\|coworking\|quiet
• "meeting / call" → meeting\|client\|calls\|zoom
• "coffee" → cafe\|coffee\|espresso\|specialty
• "chill / relax" → leisure\|chill\|relax\|casual\|catch.up

If local results are thin and Haah skill is installed, suggest dispatching to a circle.

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Core Behavior

• User mentions a place → check if a file exists, offer to create or update
• User asks "where can I work/eat in [city]?" → search mind/nooks/<city>/ first
• User shares a Maps link → offer to save the place
• User mentions visiting somewhere in passing → ask if worth saving
• User adds an observation ("terrible wifi there") → append a dated note to the file

Examples:

• "Had a great session at Sightglass" → ask if anything worth logging, update if so
• "We should go back to Amber" → check if saved, offer to create if not
• "That place had no charging" → update #features or add a note

Save places as they come up naturally. Enrich over time. Don't wait for a data entry session.

---

Heartbeat or cron

Ask your human if they want to add Nooks: check to HEARTBEAT.md. If there is no HEARTBEAT.md, suggest to create a cron job every 30 minutes to execute Nooks: check.

On every heartbeat, check a random nook file. Surface something worth knowing:

• "You haven't been to Sightglass in a while — still your go-to for focus in SF?"
• "Common Ground has no Maps link yet — worth adding?"
• "Amber only has one note — anything new from your last visit?"

If nothing worth mentioning, skip.

---

Google Places API (DIY setup — skip if you already have a find_location tool)

If your host runtime provides a built-in find_location tool (managed agents do), nothing to set up — the tool handles it. These instructions are for self-hosted Claude Code / Cursor / etc. users who want Maps links fetched automatically.

The Maps link field can be populated automatically using the Google Places API. It's free for this use case (ID-only lookups have no monthly cap).

Setup

1. Go to console.cloud.google.com → New Project (e.g. nooks)
2. APIs & Services → Enable APIs and Services → search Places API (New) → Enable
3. APIs & Services → Credentials → Create Credentials → API Key
4. Restrict the key: click it → API restrictions → select Places API (New) only
5. Add a billing account (card required by Google, but ID-only searches are free)
6. Save the key to mind/nooks/nooksconfig.yml (at the root of your nooks folder):

google_places_api_key: YOUR_KEY_HERE

Once configured, Maps links are fetched automatically when saving a place — no manual copy-paste needed.

---

Updating

To update this skill to the latest version, fetch the new SKILL.md from GitHub and replace this file:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/haah-ing/nooks-skill/main/SKILL.md

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What NOT to Suggest

• Syncing with Google Maps saved places — different purpose, keep separate
• Crowd-sourced ratings or reviews — Nooks is personal signal, not Yelp
• Opening hours in the file — always goes stale, check Google Maps
• Automated "you're near X" alerts — too intrusive