Creation and lifecycle tools

Tools that create new notes or move existing ones through their lifecycle.

Creation

Tool	Inputs	Effect
`create_project`	`title`, `context`, `core_question?`, `slug?`, `vars?`	Create a project (parked if at the active cap). (`cdno project create`)
`create_portfolio`	`question`, `project?`, `slug?`, `vars?`	Create an evidence portfolio. `question` is free text or an existing question’s slug; given a slug, the portfolio takes that question’s text as its title, links both ways, and `slug` must be omitted or equal to it (`portfolio_slug_mismatch` otherwise).
`create_question`	`domain` (`research`\|`life`), `text`, `slug?`, `vars?`	Create a question note.
`create_stewardship`	`name`, `context`, `expanded?`, `slug?`, `vars?`	Create a stewardship; `expanded` adds a `tracking/` folder.
`create_custom_note`	`type_name`, `title`, `fields?`, `slug?`, `vars?`, `body?`, `origin?`	Create a note of a config-defined custom type (`[note_types.<name>]`); built-in types have their own dedicated create tools, on this page and under Write tools. `fields` is a name → value map of the type’s declared frontmatter fields — every `required` one must be present, and each key must be declared. `body` excludes the title heading (the engine writes the H1) and fills the template’s `{{body}}` placeholder, or is inserted after the H1; `origin` is one string of wikilinks to where the note came from, always stored as a frontmatter string, and is refused unless the type declares an `origin` field. Creation is logged to today’s daily note as `<type> created [[<folder>/<slug>]] — <title>`; a promotion (creation with `origin`) needs no other log line. Pass `slug` to name the file; passing it beside a `slug` entry in `fields` is refused (`slug_given_twice`). Without `slug`, a second note with the same title is not refused but created as `<slug>-2`, so for a `concept`, search the library (`search_notes` with `note_type: concept`) and refine an existing note with `revise_note` instead. Call `list_note_types` first to discover a vault’s types and their fields. (`cdno note create`)
`link_portfolio_to_question`	`portfolio`, `question`	Retrofit a portfolio→question link (backlinks both ways).
`link_portfolio_to_project`	`portfolio`, `project`	Retrofit a portfolio→project link (sets `project:` and appends to the project’s Links).

Lifecycle

Tool	Inputs	Effect
`park_project`	`project`	Move an active project to `_parked/`.
`complete_project`	`project`	Close an active or parked project whose work is done: move it to `_done/<year>/` with `status: completed` and `closed:`. Refused while any action or milestone is open. (`cdno project complete`)
`drop_project`	`project`, `reason?`, `open_items?` (`refuse`\|`drop`), `expected_open_items?`	Close an active or parked project that is not going to happen: `status: dropped`, `closed:`, moved to `_done/<year>/`. Refused with the open items by default; `open_items: "drop"` with the refusal’s hash drops them too. (`cdno project drop`)
`activate_project`	`project`	Bring a parked or closed project back, clearing `closed:` (enforces the five-project cap).
`set_question_status`	`question`, `status` (`active`\|`parked`\|`answered`\|`retired`)	Transition a question’s status.
`add_periodic_commitment`	`stewardship`, `title`, `recurrence`, `next_date`	Append a periodic commitment to a stewardship dashboard.

The holder

Tool	Inputs	Effect
`hand_off_project`	`project`, `holder?`, `take_back?`	Record whose move an open (active or parked) project is. Exactly one of `holder` (the name the person gives, written as `held_by: "<name>"`) or `take_back: true` (writes `held_by: null`); omitting both is an error, never a silent take-back. The map keeps its status and folder. Logs `holder on [[<slug>]]` with indented `was:` / `now:` lines, `(mine)` for no holder; naming the holder it already has changes nothing. (`cdno project hand-off`, `take-back`)

An active project that names a holder does not count toward the cap (counts: false, and slots.counted on list_projects leaves it out). Handing off is never the way to make room at the cap: call it only on the person’s word that someone else is moving the project. Rejections:

empty_field (remedy: take_back): an empty holder, or one on the vault’s [projects] holder_sentinels (a name meaning the person or no one in particular). If they cannot name who has it, it is theirs.
project_in_focus: an action on the project is in focus; the person pauses it first.
project_cap_reached: taking back an active project would make it count with the counted projects already at the cap; its details carry current, max and active_projects, which lists only the projects that count. Taking back a parked project only clears the name and never activates it.
project_not_active: the project is completed or dropped.

The tool also appears with the other project writes under Write tools.

Naming a note

The eight create tools (create_project, create_question, create_portfolio, create_stewardship, create_custom_note, add_action, promote_action, create_commitment) take an optional slug naming the new note’s file; omitted, it is derived from the title. Propose one when the title is long. It follows the slug rule: lowercase a-z, 0-9 and single -, at most 50 characters, not something YAML reads as a number, boolean, null or date. An explicit slug is used exactly or refused, never suffixed with -2. Refusals are coded rejections with nothing written: invalid_slug, slug_taken, portfolio_slug_mismatch and slug_given_twice, listed with their details under When a call is rejected. add_action ignores slug unless with_note is true: an inline bullet has no file.

Notes

context is one of the fixed life domains.
recurrence follows the recurrence syntax: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or every N months.
activate_project enforces the cap — if activating would make more projects count than the cap (active and naming no holder), the call fails and the assistant must park one first.
Closing a project never needs a slot, and works on a parked project directly. While an action or milestone is open, both closing tools return a project_has_open_items rejection whose details list the actions, the milestones (with date and hard), the untouched_commitments (linked standalone commitments, which no close ever touches) and an open_items_hash. complete_project stays refused until each item is completed or dropped: a completion is a claim that the work was done. drop_project with open_items: "drop" and expected_open_items set to that hash drops every listed item with the project, each logged with reason: project dropped (<reason>) (plain reason: project dropped when no reason was given); if the list has changed since, it is refused again with the new list and hash. The result names dropped_actions, dropped_milestones and untouched_commitments.
A closed project can take the other outcome later (complete_project on a dropped one, and the reverse), re-filed under this year’s folder with a new closed: date. The same outcome again is a project_not_active rejection whose details carry status and closed.
vars? is an optional name -> value map supplying values for a custom template’s [variables.prompt] placeholders — the MCP analogue of the CLI’s repeatable --var name=value. Supply an entry for each prompted variable the note’s template uses that has no static [variables] default; otherwise creation fails with an “unresolved prompts” error (MCP has no interactive prompt to fall back on).
See also: Write tools, Context-gathering tools.