Plan: Ingest Claude Session Markdown into qmd on Artbird

syncthing-folders-plan.md

Ingest Claude Session Markdown into qmd on Artbird

Context

On greybird, claudectl sync-sessions chunks session markdown, embeds it via vectorctl, and stores in ChromaDB for semantic search. Separately, claudectl mirror-sessions renders sessions to ~/code/content/sessions/ as plain markdown files. Two other content directories (content/links, content/topics) already sync to artbird via Syncthing and get indexed by qmd. Sessions are the missing piece — the markdown exists, it just isn't syncing or indexed.

Plan

Step 1: Create qmd.yaml in sessions directory

File: ~/code/content/sessions/qmd.yaml

name: content-sessions
description: Claude Code session transcripts and agent conversations organized by project
multi: true

multi: true makes each project subdirectory (e.g. -Users-mike-code-arthack) its own qmd collection (content-sessions:-Users-mike-code-arthack). Follows the exact pattern of content-topics/qmd.yaml. ~140 project dirs become ~140 collections — same scale as content-topics (64 subtopics).

Step 2: Create .stignore to exclude junk

File: ~/code/content/sessions/.stignore

-private-var*
-private-tmp*

Excludes ~22 pytest temp directories with long names and negligible content.

Step 3: Add Syncthing folder via config-driven sync

Config: ~/.config/watchctl/folders.yaml (stowed from system/watchctl/)

folders:
  - id: arthack
    path: ~/code/arthack
    type: sendonly
    devices: [artbird]
  - id: content-links
    path: ~/code/content/links
    type: sendonly
    devices: [artbird]
  - id: content-topics
    path: ~/code/content/topics
    type: sendonly
    devices: [artbird]
  - id: content-sessions
    path: ~/code/content/sessions
    type: sendonly
    devices: [artbird]

New subcommand: watchctl sync-folders reads this config, resolves device names to IDs via Syncthing REST API, and ensures all folders exist. Called from scripts/install.sh with fingerprinting.

Library additions: cli_common/syncthing.py gains REST API functions: get_local_device_id(), resolve_device_names(), list_folders_api(), add_folder(), update_folder().

Step 4: Fix new-subdirectory detection gap

File: apps/qmdctl/qmdctl/run_watch_collections.py

watch-collections now re-resolves multi collections on every reindex cycle (not just when qmd.yaml changes), so new project subdirectories from mirror-sessions get registered automatically. The old rescan_event / needs_rescan conditional branch is removed.

Verification

1. After creating qmd.yaml + .stignore, verify locally: ls ~/code/content/sessions/qmd.yaml
2. Run watchctl sync-folders — should show content-sessions as added/unchanged
3. On artbird, accept the folder in Syncthing and verify: ssh artbird ls /home/artbird/collections/content-sessions/qmd.yaml
4. Check qmdctl watcher logs on artbird: journalctl --user -u qmdctl-watch-collections -f — should show new collections being registered
5. After indexing, search: qmd search "some query" --collection content-sessions:-Users-mike-code-arthack

Files modified

• ~/code/content/sessions/qmd.yaml — new (collection config)
• ~/code/content/sessions/.stignore — new (Syncthing ignore)
• apps/qmdctl/qmdctl/run_watch_collections.py — edit (always re-resolve multi collections)
• system/watchctl/.config/watchctl/folders.yaml — new (Syncthing folder config)
• apps/watchctl/watchctl/config_schema.py — edit (add SyncthingFoldersConfig model)
• apps/watchctl/watchctl/run_sync_folders.py — new (sync-folders subcommand)
• apps/watchctl/watchctl/cli.py — edit (register sync-folders, update AGENT_HELP)
• apps/cli_common/cli_common/syncthing.py — edit (REST API folder management functions)
• scripts/install.sh — edit (fingerprinted watchctl sync-folders call)