Knowledge Islands Enter Arcadia
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Acquiring knowledge

You can preserve a selected conversation, meeting or public signal with its source and limits visible, then let the receiving island decide what to retain, harvest or turn into work.

Selected captures and public signals into an island A data-flow diagram generated by Archify. 01 / Selected sources 02 / Source routes 03 / Scope and evidence 04 / Preserved or handed off 05 / Receiving island Agent sessions · Exception-selected scope · 01 / Selected sources Agent sessions Exception-selected scope ChatGPT · Readable supplied capture · 01 / Selected sources ChatGPT Readable supplied capture Granola · Principal-owned meetings · 01 / Selected sources Granola Principal-owned meetings Read-only route · Proven session coverage · 02 / Source routes Read-only route Proven session coverage Local import · Digest or full snapshot · 02 / Source routes Local import Digest or full snapshot Granola adapter · UUIDs, notes, originals · 02 / Source routes Granola adapter UUIDs, notes, originals Verify scope · Read back; name gaps · 03 / Scope and evidence Verify scope Read back; name gaps Capture package · Only acquisition record · 04 / Preserved or handed off Capture package Only acquisition record Island intake · Receiver owns adoption · 05 / Receiving island Island intake Receiver owns adoption Public signals · Submitted or bounded · 01 / Selected sources Public signals Submitted or bounded Pulse · One cited disposition · 02 / Source routes Pulse One cited disposition Authorised handoff · Destination owner gates · 04 / Preserved or handed off Authorised handoff Destination owner gates selected scope readable text owned notes session evidence capture scope text and images verified bytes whole package current leads explicit consent owner accepts Legend data store data flow
Selected sessions and conversations become verified capture packages through their source routes. Pulse signals use a separate authorised handoff; each island owns adoption. Interactive

What it is

Acquisition faithfully preserves an authorised source scope. The capture package is its only record, with Git keeping earlier bytes. Evaluation, dispatch and source retirement are separate operations. ki-acquire governs the common contract, provider skills govern source completeness, and ki acquire executes supported adapters.

Ordinary learning moves forward through durable notes and repository guidance. Importing a full agent session is an exception for a named evidence need selected by the owner or authorised receiving work. A Pulse is another route into knowledge: one bounded inspection of a submitted source or current public developments, whose results remain transient unless a handoff is authorised.

How it works

Establish the source, selected scope, receiver, required coverage and originals before capture. Find an existing capture by source identity before writing. Preserve source statements, uncertainty and corrections separately from interpretation, then read the destination back and compare text or byte hashes. A digest, a partial source and a complete export make different coverage claims. Unknown dates and identifiers stay unknown.

  • Agent sessions. Select exact Claude or Codex sessions from one physical repository, including any required descendants and material assets. Use a proven read-only source route and keep missing coverage explicit. A preview cannot establish full-session capture, and no unproven importer is implied.
  • ChatGPT. Capture readable conversation text or an official export kept outside Git. The executable bridge imports one user-prepared local capture. A digest records its inclusive last substantive message in README frontmatter, using an evidenced message ID, timestamp or distinctive exact excerpt. Later substantive knowledge becomes a dated linked segment; a requested full-thread snapshot is a new linked capture. Opaque store records and interface titles are not conversation content.
  • Granola. Import the connected principal's own meeting notes through the official read-only MCP route. Reconciled date windows and folder sets establish coverage; UUIDs establish identity and folder IDs supply routing evidence. Preserve notes, the complete returned transcript and screenshots with byte checksums, and state omissions. Existing captures stay in place unless explicitly refreshed. Acquired-folder members are skipped unless --refresh-acquired is selected; that skip proves membership alone.
  • Pulse. Capture one submitted source or scan an invocation-scoped interest or query. A scan considers at most ten leads and returns at most five cited observations. Triage gives each exactly one disposition: Read / learn, Watch, Act or Discard. Actionable technical or governance claims need primary-source evidence. Pulse keeps no standing inbox, subscription or log.

Arrival and adoption

Dispatch moves a whole capture package, or a chosen roll-up of packages, into the receiver's +/_ACQUIRED/. The Git move is the record. The receiver files, parks or turns it into work locally, preserving original material and adding no return marker to the acquisition port.

For an acquired AI session, receiver-local knowledge triage is recorded in the package's existing README or capture document. Its dispositions are Harvested, Retained as source evidence, Routed onward and No residual knowledge. They name the scope reviewed, destination evidence and any remainder. Filing alone does not prove harvesting; a partial session cannot be declared fully triaged.

Pulse signals follow their destination owner's route instead: a reading candidate may go to a selected Knowledge Base, an action to the owning standard or work queue, and a watch condition to an existing record. If the destination is unavailable or unconfirmed, the signal stays transient.

How you use it

On fictional Tern Holm, Mara needs the evidence behind a disputed survey method. She selects one meeting and names the island that should receive it. The capture preserves the returned notes, transcript, screenshot bytes and omissions; an unresolved folder route remains visible for her choice. The receiver then links the method knowledge it harvests from that package.

Use ki acquire list to see available adapters, activation guidance and executable status. Preview the selected Granola scope with ki acquire import --adapter granola --since 2026-10-01 --until 2026-10-25 --dry-run. A prepared ChatGPT capture uses ki acquire import --adapter chatgpt --capture <path> --output <path>. Trades and acquisition commands explains these command surfaces at v0.13.0.

ki acquire images verifies separately exported Granola originals against the capture. ki acquire mark previews a separate additive Acquired-folder marker; --confirm permits it only after committed capture evidence passes the required checks. Import never marks implicitly.

What it provides

You get preserved evidence whose coverage can be checked, retries that respect source identity and a clear distinction between receiving material and adopting knowledge. Honest gaps remain visible instead of being mistaken for an empty source or a complete capture.

Boundaries

Capture authorises no provider mutation, canonical adoption, source deletion or history compaction. ChatGPT acquisition is read-only; Granola marking preserves existing folder memberships and grants no retirement permission. Source retirement needs its own current approval. A Pulse disposition grants no implementation or destination-write authority. Saving and updating follows the island's canonical-change rules.