#!/usr/bin/env python3 """daybook-cue.py — PostToolUse cue (Write|Edit): the daily note has no trigger. Diagnosed 2026-08-24 from the record, not from impression. Daily notes for 19-22 August do not exist; 2026-08-23 exists at 33,242 bytes across eight commits — written incrementally, as the convention specifies. So the practice has produced exactly one note, on the day the convention was authored and live in working memory. The failure is structural. `daybook-ensure.py` fires at SessionStart and ONLY EVER CREATES. The next cue is /wrap-up §7.5, hours later. Between them — the entire working session, which is exactly when the convention says to write — there is no cue at all. The vault's own notes diagnosed the two dead predecessors correctly ("neither had a trigger. The hook is the trigger") and then built the trigger for the half that never needed one. Whether the file exists was never the failure mode. The convention's own trigger word is "as it lands", and work lands when a file is written. So this fires there. REMINDER, NOT BLOCK — unlike verify-before-compose, whose failure is unrecoverable. This one's is recoverable, and a gate that interrupts every write would be removed within a day. Fail-open everywhere: any unexpected condition exits 0. """ import datetime, json, os, sys, time HOME = os.path.expanduser("~") VAULT = os.path.join(HOME, "Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents", "David, root-and-branch") DAILY_DIR = os.path.join(VAULT, "01. Daily") STAMP = os.path.join(HOME, ".claude/state/daybook-cue.stamp") SKELETON_CEILING = 1200 # the generated skeleton is ~558 bytes QUIET_SECONDS = 900 # cue at most once per 15 minutes; a nag gets disabled # Writes that are not "work landing". IGNORED_FRAGMENTS = ("/scratchpad/", "/private/tmp/", "/tmp/", "/.git/", "/node_modules/", "/.obsidian/") IGNORED_SUFFIXES = (".bak", ".stamp", ".lock", ".log", ".jsonl", ".pyc") def is_substantive(path): if not path: return False if any(f in path for f in IGNORED_FRAGMENTS): return False if path.endswith(IGNORED_SUFFIXES): return False # writing the daily note itself is the thing being asked for, not a trigger for it if os.path.normpath(DAILY_DIR) in os.path.normpath(path): return False return True def note_path(today=None): d = today or datetime.date.today() return os.path.join(DAILY_DIR, f"{d.isoformat()}.md") def should_cue(path, note_size, note_exists, seconds_since_last, today=None): """Pure decision, so it can be tested without a filesystem or a clock.""" if not is_substantive(path): return False if not note_exists: # daybook-ensure owns creation, not us return False if note_size >= SKELETON_CEILING: # it is being written; say nothing return False if seconds_since_last < QUIET_SECONDS: return False return True MESSAGE = """DAILY NOTE — still a skeleton, and work is landing elsewhere. The convention is FILL IT AS THE WORK HAPPENS, not at the wrap: 01. Daily/{date}.md (currently {size} bytes) Give what just landed its own `##` heading now — plain language, for the steward on a day he wants to know what happened without reading git log. /wrap-up §7.5 finalises; it never begins the file, and a skeleton at wrap is a failure that step exists to catch. (Cue at most once per 15 min. Reminder, not a block — the write already succeeded.)""" def main(): try: raw = sys.stdin.read() data = json.loads(raw) if raw.strip() else {} except Exception: sys.exit(0) path = (data.get("tool_input") or {}).get("file_path") or "" np = note_path() try: exists = os.path.exists(np) size = os.path.getsize(np) if exists else 0 except OSError: sys.exit(0) try: last = os.path.getmtime(STAMP) if os.path.exists(STAMP) else 0 except OSError: last = 0 since = time.time() - last if not should_cue(path, size, exists, since): sys.exit(0) try: os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(STAMP), exist_ok=True) open(STAMP, "w").write(str(time.time())) except OSError: pass print(MESSAGE.format(date=datetime.date.today().isoformat(), size=size), file=sys.stderr) sys.exit(2) # PostToolUse: tool already ran; stderr is surfaced as feedback def selftest(): ok = fail = 0 def check(name, cond): nonlocal ok, fail if cond: ok += 1; print(f" PASS {name}") else: fail += 1; print(f" FAIL {name}") vault_md = os.path.join(VAULT, "08. Notes/Something.md") daily_md = os.path.join(DAILY_DIR, "2026-08-24.md") # positive control — it fires when it should check("cues on a real vault write while the note is a skeleton", should_cue(vault_md, 558, True, 9999) is True) check("cues on a repo write too", should_cue(os.path.join(HOME, "_Dev/x/y.py"), 558, True, 9999) is True) # negative controls — each suppression works in isolation check("silent once the note is being written", should_cue(vault_md, 5000, True, 9999) is False) check("silent when the note does not exist", should_cue(vault_md, 0, False, 9999) is False) check("silent inside the quiet window", should_cue(vault_md, 558, True, 10) is False) check("silent on the daily note itself", should_cue(daily_md, 558, True, 9999) is False) check("silent on scratchpad", should_cue("/private/tmp/claude-501/x/scratchpad/a.md", 558, True, 9999) is False) check("silent on /tmp", should_cue("/tmp/a.md", 558, True, 9999) is False) check("silent on .obsidian config", should_cue(os.path.join(VAULT, ".obsidian/x.json"), 558, True, 9999) is False) check("silent on backups", should_cue(vault_md + ".bak", 558, True, 9999) is False) check("silent on jsonl logs", should_cue(os.path.join(HOME, "a/b.jsonl"), 558, True, 9999) is False) check("silent on empty path", should_cue("", 558, True, 9999) is False) # boundary check("threshold is exclusive at the ceiling", should_cue(vault_md, SKELETON_CEILING, True, 9999) is False) check("just under the ceiling still cues", should_cue(vault_md, SKELETON_CEILING - 1, True, 9999) is True) # fail-open on malformed input import subprocess r = subprocess.run([sys.executable, __file__], input="not json", capture_output=True, text=True) check("fail-open on malformed stdin", r.returncode == 0) r = subprocess.run([sys.executable, __file__], input="", capture_output=True, text=True) check("fail-open on empty stdin", r.returncode == 0) print(f"\nSELFTEST {'PASS' if not fail else 'FAIL'} — {ok} ok, {fail} failed") return 0 if not fail else 1 if __name__ == "__main__": if "--selftest" in sys.argv: sys.exit(selftest()) main()