distill

Synthesizing scattered markdown notes involves aggregating completed, already-vaulted notes across multiple sessions into a single structured digest for a user-specified topic. The resulting compilation includes core questions, findings, key decisions, lessons, and open questions as a durable reference.

Compiling research summaries from multiple sessions is done by aggregating matching session logs, inbox notes, and existing knowledge notes for a recurring theme. This crystallizes understanding by applying topic-based filtering to gather vault-wide sources into a structured knowledge output.

Appending new research findings to an existing markdown digest is supported through safe write workflows. The system checks whether the destination note already exists and supports create, append, or overwrite behaviors before updating the qmd index to prevent data loss.

Topic modeling handles filtering when a vault has too many matching notes by applying a >20-results guard during topic-based filtering. This prevents information overload by ensuring only highly relevant vault-wide sources are gathered for the final digest synthesis.

Vault search prerequisites for knowledge synthesis workflows include completed, already-vaulted notes and vault-wide source gathering capabilities via qmd/Grep-Glob. These tools filter topics across multiple sessions to generate a structured digest, excluding wrap-up or inbox-clearing workflows.

Automated research summarization should not be used for wrap-up, recap-to-memory, or inbox-clearing workflows. It is specifically designed for synthesizing research threads and recurring themes from completed, already-vaulted notes, rather than managing temporary or unprocessed inbox items.