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Quick capture

The lowest-friction path from a thought into your vault (#285, #475). A single command opens one prompt and keeps what you type as a thought in your thinking space (see Think) — no canvas, no wizard, no folder decision, no title to invent. The point is speed: get the idea out of your head before it's gone, and develop it later.

A capture is not a note. It has no title, no lifecycle state and no Inbox to empty: it is not in the knowledge model, it cannot be an orphan, and Health does not count it. A captured thought is the same as one typed in Think.

Using it

  1. Run ZettelFlow: Capture a thought from the command palette (bind your own hotkey — there is no default, to avoid clashing with your setup).
  2. Type the thought and press Enter (or click Capture).
  3. ZettelFlow keeps it in the thinking space and says Captured. It is in your thinking space.

If no thinking-space folder is set, nothing is written: the notice sends you to Settings → Thinking (Thinking space folder). Capture never falls back to creating a note.

It works on mobile (a plain modal, Enter to submit) as well as desktop.

The capture → develop loop

A quick capture is deliberately raw. Open Think to find it among your other thoughts and develop it there: connect it, question it, and when it has earned it, crystallize it into a note. Nothing becomes knowledge until you decide it is an idea.

Safe writing

Capture goes through the thinking space's own writer. The modal stays open with your text until the write is confirmed; repeated submits are coalesced while busy, and a failed write keeps your text so you can retry.

Details

  • Where — the thinking-space folder (Settings → Thinking → Thinking space folder, default _ZettelFlow/lab).
  • Recorded — each capture is logged as the move externalize · capture in the move record.
  • Offline — writes through the Vault API; no network, no AI.