Setup guide
Second Brain Setup: Zettelkasten
The Zettelkasten method is the gold standard for networked thought. Here's how to set it up with AI so the linking happens automatically.
What Zettelkasten needs from you
Write one idea per note. Link each note to related ideas. Revisit and revise over time. The method demands consistency. AI can automate the linking and surfacing so you focus on writing.
Setting up the capture habit
Your inbox is where all notes start. Write rough, one-idea notes as they come. AI checks each new note against your existing second brain and suggests links to related ideas.
From inbox to permanent notes
When you process your inbox, AI surfaces related notes for context. You revise the note, decide its links, and file it. Over weeks, the web grows automatically.
The daily briefing as a Zettelkasten tour
Each morning, AI presents three notes it finds interesting — based on what you've been working on, what connects deeply, or what you haven't revisited in a while. It's a guided tour of your own thinking.
Set it up with tentus
tentus makes this methodology practical. Lumi handles the linking and surfacing so you focus on the thinking.
Other setup methods
Second Brain Setup: PARA Method
Tiago Forte's PARA method organizes everything into Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives. Here's how to make it work with AI.
Second Brain Setup: GTD Workflow
David Allen's Getting Things Done is the original productivity workflow. Here's how AI keeps the capture-clarify-organize-review cycle running without the upkeep.
Second Brain Setup: Building a Second Brain (BASB)
Tiago Forte's BASB framework is the most popular second-brain system. Here's how to implement CODE — Capture, Organize, Distill, Express — with AI doing the heavy lifting.