Skills Catalog

BYB skills and external recommendations

Start with the shipped BuildYourBrain skills that integrate directly with the questionnaire flow. Then browse the external tools and skills we think are genuinely useful around a strong /Brain setup.

Shipped by BYB

These are the skills BuildYourBrain ships, recommends on results, and supports directly with install flows.

Filters

Archetype

Platform

brain

Manage the user's /Brain — capture thoughts, search knowledge, process inbox, run health checks, and consolidate memory. Use when user says 'capture this', 'remember this', 'search my brain', 'what's in my inbox', 'brain status', 'consolidate', or 'what did I capture recently'. NOT for: general file operations outside Brain, web searches, note-taking that doesn't need categorization, or editing existing Brain files directly.

Recommended for: Builder, Explorer, Writer, Strategist, Researcher, Generalist

Platforms: Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw

Install

Copy to ~/.claude/skills/brain.md

View skill contents

connect

Find unexpected connections between ideas in the user's /Brain. Use when user says 'find connections', 'what connects X and Y', 'cross-pollinate my ideas', 'surprise me with links', 'bridge my thinking across domains', or '/connect'. NOT for: simple search, finding a specific note, or organizing existing notes.

Recommended for: Explorer, Researcher

Platforms: Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw

Install

Copy to ~/.claude/skills/connect.md

View skill contents

qmd-search

Set up and use qmd for semantic search over the user's /Brain. Use when user says 'set up qmd', 'install semantic search', 'reindex my brain', 'qmd search', or 'why is search falling back to grep'. NOT for: general file search outside /Brain, vector database setup, or debugging unrelated shell issues.

Recommended for: Builder, Explorer, Writer, Strategist, Researcher, Generalist

Platforms: Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw

Install

Copy to ~/.claude/skills/qmd-search.md

View skill contents

session-context

Load the right /Brain context at the start of a session. Use when user says 'load my brain', 'start with context', 'read the important files first', or 'get up to speed from my Brain'. NOT for: full-vault ingestion, semantic search setup, or editing unrelated project files.

Recommended for: Builder, Explorer, Writer, Strategist, Researcher, Generalist

Platforms: Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw

Install

Copy to ~/.claude/skills/session-context.md

View skill contents

weekly-review

Run a weekly review of the user's /Brain. Use when user says 'weekly review', 'review my brain', 'what should I consolidate', 'what is stale', or 'what needs cleanup'. NOT for: single capture routing, one-off search queries, or automated memory promotion without review.

Recommended for: Builder, Researcher

Platforms: Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw

Install

Copy to ~/.claude/skills/weekly-review.md

View skill contents

consolidate-enhanced

Run a higher-signal consolidation workflow over the user's /Brain. Use when user says 'do a deeper consolidation', 'promote what matters', 'distill this week', or 'update memory from recent captures'. NOT for: raw capture routing, automatic unsupervised edits, or inventing CLI features that are not shipped.

Recommended for: Builder, Researcher

Platforms: Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw

Install

Copy to ~/.claude/skills/consolidate-enhanced.md

View skill contents

External skills and tools

These are researched recommendations from the broader ecosystem. They are not shipped or maintained by BYB, but they are worth knowing about.

External recommendations

These are not shipped or maintained by BuildYourBrain. They are curated from research because they complement a good /Brain workflow.

Archetype

skill • Research pick

claude-mem

Auto-capture and memory tooling for Claude Code workflows.

Useful if you want more aggressive write-back and session memory behavior around a personal context system.

Recommended for: Builder, Researcher, Writer, Generalist

Platforms: Claude Code

Open project

tool • Research pick

Smart Connections

Obsidian plugin for semantic search and link discovery across your notes.

Strong companion if your /Brain lives in Obsidian and you want search and recall without replacing your file structure.

Recommended for: Explorer, Researcher, Generalist

Platforms: Obsidian

Open project

tool • Research pick

Khoj

Self-hostable AI search and chat layer over personal notes and docs.

Good if you want broader recall over a larger corpus while keeping the /Brain as the high-signal startup layer.

Recommended for: Researcher, Explorer, Strategist, Generalist

Platforms: Self-hosted, Web, Obsidian

Open project

tool • Research pick

local-whisper-obsidian

Local voice-to-markdown workflow for Obsidian capture.

Useful if your biggest /Brain bottleneck is getting ideas in quickly from voice without cloud transcription.

Recommended for: Writer, Explorer, Generalist

Platforms: Obsidian, Local

Open project

template • Research pick

minimal-second-brain

A simple file-structure template for a lightweight second-brain setup.

Good reference if you want examples of a smaller, calmer file layout and don’t need the full BYB opinion stack.

Recommended for: Builder, Strategist, Researcher

Platforms: Any

Open project

tool • Research pick

QuickAdd

Obsidian plugin for low-friction capture and automation entry points.

Good if you already use Obsidian and want capture to happen in one keystroke before you worry about structure.

Recommended for: Writer, Explorer, Generalist

Platforms: Obsidian

Open project