Stale Notes

Find important notes that haven't been updated recently.

Purpose

Stale notes are:

• Important (have many backlinks = widely referenced)
• Outdated (not modified in 60+ days)

These may need review, updates, or archiving.

What Makes a Note "Important"?

• Has 5+ backlinks (widely referenced)
• OR has specific tags (#project, #active)
• OR in key folders (work/projects/, tech/)

Process

1. Get Recent Activity

recent_notes = get_recent_notes(days=60)
all_notes = search_notes({})

stale_candidates = all_notes - recent_notes

2. Filter for Important Notes

stale_important = []

for note in stale_candidates:
  backlinks = get_backlinks(note)

  if backlinks.count >= 5:
    stale_important.append({
      path: note.path,
      backlinks: backlinks.count,
      last_modified: note.modified,
      days_stale: (today - note.modified).days
    })

3. Sort by Importance

Sort by backlink count (most referenced first).

4. Report Results

Stale Notes
═══════════════════════════════════════════════
Found 42 important but stale notes

🚨 Critical (100+ days, 10+ backlinks):
   • [[Architecture Docs]] - 156 days, 47 backlinks
   • [[Best Practices]] - 203 days, 34 backlinks
   • [[Team Onboarding]] - 178 days, 28 backlinks

⚠️ High (60-100 days, 5+ backlinks):
   • 18 notes need review

💡 Actions:
   • Review critical notes - update or archive
   • Add "last reviewed: YYYY-MM-DD" to frontmatter
   • Consider if information is still relevant

═══════════════════════════════════════════════

Recommended Actions

For each stale note:

1. Review: Read and assess if still relevant
2. Update: Refresh outdated information
3. Archive: Move to archive/ if no longer needed
4. Link: Add to current work if relevant
5. Tag: Add #reviewed/YYYY-MM-DD frontmatter

Ignore Patterns

Don't flag as stale:

• Daily/weekly/monthly notes (intentionally historical)
• Archive folders
• Reference material (timeless)
• Meeting notes (historical record)

Version: 1.0.0