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Capture Browser Conversations with Chat Distiller

Chat Distiller is Aikito's optional browser companion. It distills a supported browser AI conversation into concise Markdown and saves the result directly to a local directory you authorize.

Chat Distiller handles capture. Aikito handles review, scoping, Git history, retrieval, and reuse across projects, sessions, and coding agents. Neither tool requires the other: Chat Distiller also works with Obsidian vaults, ordinary Git repositories, and other local Markdown knowledge bases.

flowchart LR
    A["Browser AI conversation"] -->|"Distill with Chat Distiller"| B["Aikito inbox/"]
    B -->|"Review & Archive"| C["Git-Managed Memory"]
    B -->|"Direct Use"| D["Coding Agents"]
    C -->|"Reuse Context"| D
  1. Install Chat Distiller and authorize the root of your Aikito workspace.
  2. Keep its default save subdirectory as inbox.
  3. From a supported conversation, run Generate and save.
  4. Decide the note's path based on your task:
  5. For immediate tasks: Let a coding agent read notes directly from inbox/ without committing raw drafts.
  6. For durable knowledge: Review the Markdown in inbox/, correct inaccuracies, and move verified conclusions into memory/ or projects/<name>/memory/.
  7. Link durable memory notes from that scope's index.md when useful.
  8. Commit verified memory changes with Git.

What inbox/ Means

inbox/ is a gitignored staging area for browser-distilled notes that have not yet been classified or accepted as durable memory.

Its contents serve two complementary purposes:

  1. Immediate task input: Coding agents and users can inspect notes in inbox/ directly via aikito show inbox [target] to carry out single-session tasks.
  2. Staging for review: Raw distilled notes remain uncommitted until reviewed, preventing temporary context or unverified ideas from polluting Git history.

Agents should not treat notes remaining inside inbox/ as established project constraints merely because they exist.

After review for long-term storage:

  • put cross-project knowledge in memory/notes/;
  • put project-specific knowledge in projects/<name>/memory/notes/;
  • discard transient, unverified, duplicated, or low-value material.

Prefer one stable conclusion per memory note. Keep each index.md as navigation instead of copying the note body into it. See Memory workflow for the full persistence criteria and Work with memory for the operational commands.

Trust Boundary

Chat Distiller writes only to a directory the user explicitly authorizes. Its generated notes still originate from an AI response and must be reviewed before they become durable memory. Do not place credentials, tokens, private keys, or other secrets in inbox/ or memory.

The extension currently bundles a ChatGPT adapter. Refer to the Chat Distiller repository for its current installation status, supported sites, permissions, privacy policy, and source-installation instructions.