Principles
Ray Dalio-inspired personal knowledge system.
- Rating
- 3.8 (189 reviews)
- Downloads
- 4,357 downloads
- Version
- 1.0.0
Overview
Ray Dalio-inspired personal knowledge system.
Complete Documentation
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Principles — Personal Knowledge System
A structured system for turning raw observations into tested wisdom and personal principles. Inspired by Ray Dalio's "Principles" methodology.
Overview
You manage a pipeline that transforms raw input into lasting knowledge:
Inbox (raw capture) → Wisdom (claims with sources) → Principles (tested beliefs)
Everything lives in personal/ under the user's workspace. Create the directory structure on first use if it doesn't exist.
Directory Structure
personal/
├── _system.md # These instructions (copy from SKILL.md on init)
├── inbox.md # Raw thought capture
├── journal.md # Daily reflections
├── wisdom/
│ └── collected.md # Claims organized by domain
├── principles/
│ ├── _index.md # Master list of all principles
│ ├── life.md # Personal philosophy
│ ├── business.md # Business principles
│ └── leadership.md # Leadership principles
└── open-questions.md # Genuine dilemmas
Commands
/reflect or /reflect process
Process the inbox. Parse each thought, check for conflicts, route to the right file./reflect inbox or /inbox
Add a raw thought to inbox.md. User just dumps text — you clean it up later during processing./reflect wisdom
Show collected wisdom, optionally filtered by domain./reflect principles
Show current principles across all domains./reflect questions
Show open questions and their status./reflect sources
Show a summary of all sources and their credibility ratings across domains./reflect journal
Add a journal entry for today with timestamp.Processing Inbox (/reflect)
This is the core workflow. When triggered:
- Read
inbox.md - Parse each thought — identify type:
- External wisdom (from someone else) →
wisdom/collected.md - Personal belief or stance → check against
principles/*.md - Factual learning →
wisdom/collected.md - Question or uncertainty → evaluate if genuine dilemma
- Just context/event → extract insight if any, discard the rest
- Check for conflicts against existing wisdom claims:
- Same claim, new source → add as corroborating evidence
- Conflicting claim in same domain → STOP. Present conflict. Ask user to resolve.
- Check consistency against existing principles:
- If new input conflicts with a principle → STOP. Present conflict. Ask user to resolve.
- If ANY conflict found → STOP and ask user:
- Show the conflict clearly
- Offer options: update existing, keep existing, split claims, convert to open question
- Do NOT silently file conflicting information
- Route content based on user decisions
- Clean up
inbox.mdafter processing - Update
principles/_index.mdif new principles were added
Content Formats
Wisdom Claims (wisdom/collected.md)
Claims are organized by domain, not by source. Multiple sources can corroborate the same claim.
## [Domain/Aspect]
### [Claim stated plainly]
**Domain**: [category/aspect]
**Confidence**: [Low / Medium / High]
**Sources**:
1. [Person/Book] - [proven/plausible/untested] in this domain - [brief context]
**Your experience**: [Untested / Confirmed / Contradicted]
**Added**: YYYY-MM-DD | **Last updated**: YYYY-MM-DD
Source credibility is assessed PER DOMAIN:
- A source can be
[proven]in one domain and[plausible]in another - Example: Alex Hormozi on business =
[proven]. Alex Hormozi on health =[plausible]. - Credibility levels:
[proven](demonstrated expertise),[plausible](reasonable but not their domain),[untested](no track record)
category/aspect (e.g., health/sleep, business/pricing, productivity/focus)Principles (principles/*.md)
## [Principle stated as a clear belief]
**Confidence**: [certain / hypothesis / exploring]
**Added**: YYYY-MM-DD
**Context**: Why you believe this
**Reasoning**: Evidence and experience supporting it
**Related**: Links to related principles or wisdom claims
Open Questions (open-questions.md)
Only genuine dilemmas — not todo items or simple unknowns.
## [Question]
**Status**: [exploring / gathering-evidence / leaning-toward-X]
**Goal**: What are you actually trying to achieve?
**Problem**: What's blocking it?
**Options**:
1. [Option A] - pros/cons
2. [Option B] - pros/cons
**What would resolve this**: Specific criteria or evidence needed
Journal (journal.md)
Append-only daily entries:
## YYYY-MM-DD
[Observations, reflections, what happened today]
Graduation: Wisdom → Principles
When a wisdom claim reaches High confidence (multiple credible sources + personal experience confirms it), prompt the user:
"This claim has strong evidence and you've confirmed it personally. Want to graduate it to a principle in [domain]?"
If yes, create the principle entry and cross-reference it.
Assumption Surfacing
When user input has unstated assumptions:
- Make them explicit
- Ask: "This assumes X — is that accurate?"
- Don't proceed until confirmed
Language & Tone
- Clean up sloppy writing but preserve original meaning exactly
- User may write in any language — process accordingly
- Be direct, not preachy. This is a tool, not a lecture.
First-Time Setup
If personal/ doesn't exist, create the full directory structure with empty template files. Tell the user:
"Set up your principles system. Start by dumping thoughts into/inbox— I'll help you process and organize them with/reflect."
Installation
openclaw install principles
💻Code Examples
Inbox (raw capture) → Wisdom (claims with sources) → Principles (tested beliefs)
Everything lives in `personal/` under the user's workspace. Create the directory structure on first use if it doesn't exist.
## Directory Structure└── open-questions.md # Genuine dilemmas
## Commands
### `/reflect` or `/reflect process`
Process the inbox. Parse each thought, check for conflicts, route to the right file.
### `/reflect inbox` or `/inbox`
Add a raw thought to `inbox.md`. User just dumps text — you clean it up later during processing.
### `/reflect wisdom`
Show collected wisdom, optionally filtered by domain.
### `/reflect principles`
Show current principles across all domains.
### `/reflect questions`
Show open questions and their status.
### `/reflect sources`
Show a summary of all sources and their credibility ratings across domains.
### `/reflect journal`
Add a journal entry for today with timestamp.
## Processing Inbox (`/reflect`)
This is the core workflow. When triggered:
1. **Read** `inbox.md`
2. **Parse** each thought — identify type:
- External wisdom (from someone else) → `wisdom/collected.md`
- Personal belief or stance → check against `principles/*.md`
- Factual learning → `wisdom/collected.md`
- Question or uncertainty → evaluate if genuine dilemma
- Just context/event → extract insight if any, discard the rest
3. **Check for conflicts** against existing wisdom claims:
- Same claim, new source → add as corroborating evidence
- Conflicting claim in same domain → **STOP**. Present conflict. Ask user to resolve.
4. **Check consistency** against existing principles:
- If new input conflicts with a principle → **STOP**. Present conflict. Ask user to resolve.
5. **If ANY conflict found** → STOP and ask user:
- Show the conflict clearly
- Offer options: update existing, keep existing, split claims, convert to open question
- Do NOT silently file conflicting information
6. **Route content** based on user decisions
7. **Clean up** `inbox.md` after processing
8. **Update** `principles/_index.md` if new principles were added
## Content Formats
### Wisdom Claims (`wisdom/collected.md`)
Claims are organized by **domain**, not by source. Multiple sources can corroborate the same claim.**Added**: YYYY-MM-DD | **Last updated**: YYYY-MM-DD
**Source credibility is assessed PER DOMAIN:**
- A source can be `[proven]` in one domain and `[plausible]` in another
- Example: Alex Hormozi on business = `[proven]`. Alex Hormozi on health = `[plausible]`.
- Credibility levels: `[proven]` (demonstrated expertise), `[plausible]` (reasonable but not their domain), `[untested]` (no track record)
**Domain format:** `category/aspect` (e.g., `health/sleep`, `business/pricing`, `productivity/focus`)
### Principles (`principles/*.md`)**Related**: Links to related principles or wisdom claims
### Open Questions (`open-questions.md`)
Only genuine dilemmas — not todo items or simple unknowns.**What would resolve this**: Specific criteria or evidence needed
### Journal (`journal.md`)
Append-only daily entries:personal/
├── _system.md # These instructions (copy from SKILL.md on init)
├── inbox.md # Raw thought capture
├── journal.md # Daily reflections
├── wisdom/
│ └── collected.md # Claims organized by domain
├── principles/
│ ├── _index.md # Master list of all principles
│ ├── life.md # Personal philosophy
│ ├── business.md # Business principles
│ └── leadership.md # Leadership principles
└── open-questions.md # Genuine dilemmas## [Domain/Aspect]
### [Claim stated plainly]
**Domain**: [category/aspect]
**Confidence**: [Low / Medium / High]
**Sources**:
1. [Person/Book] - [proven/plausible/untested] in this domain - [brief context]
**Your experience**: [Untested / Confirmed / Contradicted]
**Added**: YYYY-MM-DD | **Last updated**: YYYY-MM-DD## [Principle stated as a clear belief]
**Confidence**: [certain / hypothesis / exploring]
**Added**: YYYY-MM-DD
**Context**: Why you believe this
**Reasoning**: Evidence and experience supporting it
**Related**: Links to related principles or wisdom claims## [Question]
**Status**: [exploring / gathering-evidence / leaning-toward-X]
**Goal**: What are you actually trying to achieve?
**Problem**: What's blocking it?
**Options**:
1. [Option A] - pros/cons
2. [Option B] - pros/cons
**What would resolve this**: Specific criteria or evidence needed## YYYY-MM-DD
[Observations, reflections, what happened today]Tags
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