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chemenu/docs/how-to/ingest-a-source.md
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feat(raw): raw derive unpacks ZIP archives and mails with attachments into a folder
A ZIP becomes incoming/<stem>/ with its files and a derived text beside each
document, the ZIP is removed and its sha256 named in the output. A mail with
attachments becomes a folder with original.eml, derived.md and the attachments;
a ZIP attached to a mail is unpacked once, an attached mail is quoted. Unsafe
entries, nested ZIPs and size limits are refused before anything is written.

Files changed:
- CHANGES.md
- VERSION
- docs/how-to/ingest-a-source.md
- docs/reference/commands/README.md
- docs/reference/commands/raw-material-and-uploads.md
- raw/CONTRACT.md
- tools/CONTRACT.md
- tools/README.md
- tools/chemenu/commands/raw_cmd.py
- tools/chemenu/filters/__init__.py
- tools/chemenu/filters/archive.py
- tools/chemenu/filters/mail.py
- tools/chemenu/tests/test_portability.py
- tools/chemenu/tests/test_raw_derive.py

Co-Authored-By: Claude Code <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01SnAJ7Z3CpVD3PRbN73QtU2
2026-10-08 13:04:01 +02:00

4.7 KiB

Ingest a source

Turn a file, a folder or a web page into wiki pages: a source page that summarises it, and the entity and concept pages it touches, cross-referenced and published. The agent does the work, using the wiki-ingest skill (skill catalogue). This page covers what you hand it and where it waits for you.

What you prepare

Put the material into incoming/ at the root of the instance. You don't have to classify it or pick a directory:

  • One file goes in directly: incoming/my-article.md.
  • Several files that belong together go into one folder, incoming/<name>/. The folder is one source. It is accepted whole, and its structure is kept.
  • A web page needs no download of your own. Name the URL to the agent, and tools/wikitool raw fetch puts two files into incoming/: the HTML exactly as received, and a text derived from it with a header recording where and when it was fetched.
  • A document that is not text - a Word, PowerPoint or Excel file, a mail or a ZIP archive - is put into incoming/ as it is. tools/wikitool raw derive incoming/<file> turns it into a folder with the untouched original and a readable text beside it, with a header saying how it was made. The folder is accepted whole; the agent runs this itself when it meets such a file. A ZIP is unpacked into a folder instead, and a mail's attachments land beside it.
  • A page behind a paywall or a login is saved from your browser into incoming/, HTML only. The agent derives the same text from that file with raw fetch --html.

Where a file ends up in raw/ is computed by tools/wikitool raw accept: a YYYY/MM shard for the day it was accepted. So is whether several files of one source get bundled. You never choose either. incoming/ itself is gitignored, so whatever waits there is never published by accident.

What you say

Ingest incoming/my-article.md
Ingest https://example.org/post
Ingest

A bare Ingest takes the oldest entry waiting in incoming/. tools/wikitool raw pending lists what is waiting and names the entry the next bare Ingest will take.

Where the agent asks you

  • Before promoting the file into raw/, the agent asks how faithful the capture is (fidelity) and what the material may claim about its subject (authority). Both are recorded once and never guessed: you know the answers now, and nobody can recover them later. raw/CONTRACT.md defines the values.
  • Before writing pages, the agent presents the key takeaways and asks which points matter most and what to emphasise. The pages follow your answer.
  • When it publishes, a source that touches ten or more files stops at the Mass-Update Gate (exit 42). The generated indexes, kb/log.md and kb/provenance.md do not count, so a small source goes straight through. The agent shows you the file list and the --confirm line. Nothing is committed until you approve. Exit codes and gates lists every gate.

What you get back

A source page under kb/sources/, new or updated entity and concept pages, cross-references among them, a rebuilt catalog, an entry in kb/log.md, and one commit. If the source also contains something you have to do, and a task tracker is configured, the agent files it there as an open item. A commitment never becomes a page (why).

Every ten sources, the agent suggests a lint run - see Maintain the wiki.

A document submitted from outside

When the MCP read server has its optional submit tool turned on, documents can arrive from another machine. They land in the quarantine mcp-upload/, not in incoming/, and nothing else reads them there. Before an ingest can start, a human has to promote the submission:

tools/wikitool upload list            # what is waiting
tools/wikitool upload show <id>       # one submission's manifest: who sent it, size, checksum

Ask the agent to review the queue, and it follows instructions/ingest-queue.md. Accepting a submission stops at the Upload Review Gate (exit 42), which shows you the manifest and the --confirm line. Once you approve, the file is in incoming/, and from there it is ingested like any other. Rejecting it needs no clearance. The file is deleted, and its checksum and your reason stay in the ledger.