rejot-dev/thalo
Overview
This skill helps you work with Thalo (Thought And Lore Language) for creating and maintaining .thalo files and thalo code blocks inside Markdown. It guides setup of a knowledge base with thalo-cli, defining entities and syntheses, and generating an AGENTS.md collaborator guide. It focuses on practical commands and file structure to keep your knowledge base consistent and LLM-ready.
How this skill works
It inspects and edits Thalo entries, entity definitions, and synthesis blocks in .thalo files or fenced thalo code blocks in Markdown. It validates metadata, required sections, timestamps, and links using thalo check, formats with thalo format (or Prettier with the Thalo plugin), and runs thalo actualize to materialize syntheses for LLM consumption. It also helps generate or update AGENTS.md and default templates produced by thalo init.
When to use it
- Initializing a new Thalo knowledge base (thalo init)
- Adding or updating entries (.thalo files or thalo code blocks in Markdown)
- Validating schema, links, and sections before commits (thalo check)
- Formatting files consistently for repo or PR hygiene (thalo format / Prettier)
- Materializing syntheses to generate LLM prompts and outputs (thalo actualize)
- Defining or evolving entity schemas and syntheses in entities.thalo
Best practices
- Use ISO 8601 timestamps with timezone (e.g., 2026-01-05T15:30Z) for every create/update entry
- Always include required sections defined by entities.thalo; all content must live inside a # Section
- Provide stable ^link-id values for entries you will reference elsewhere
- Run thalo check after edits and thalo format before commits; consider Prettier with the Thalo plugin for CI consistency
- Store entity definitions and sample templates in references/entities.thalo.txt and references/example-entries.thalo.txt for easy onboarding
- Use thalo actualize to produce LLM-ready prompts and inspect changed outputs before committing
Example use cases
- Bootstrapping a personal knowledge base with thalo init and customizing entities.thalo
- Converting research notes in Markdown to structured Thalo entries using fenced thalo blocks
- Creating a synthesis that aggregates project notes and generating an LLM prompt with thalo actualize
- Running thalo check in CI to catch missing sections, invalid enums, or broken links before merging
- Generating an AGENTS.md guide for collaborators that describes syntheses and agent responsibilities
FAQ
Use a create directive with ISO timestamp, entity type, title, and optional ^link-id, then include required metadata and at least one # Section. Run thalo check to validate.
When should I run thalo actualize?
Run actualize when you want syntheses materialized for LLM use—typically after edits to sources or synthesis definitions. Inspect outputs before using them in downstream prompts.
