Watch a folder

Your documents already have a place they naturally arrive — Downloads, a scanner's output folder, a project directory. A watched folder makes that arrival the trigger: point Trunkbase at the folder once, and from then on, new files flow into your vault automatically.

Setting one up

In the Ingest rail, click Watch Folder and pick the folder. Before anything happens, Trunkbase shows a preview: every ingestable file it found, with checkboxes, a filter box, an optional skip list ("ignore anything with drafts in the name"), and a Watch nested folders toggle (off by default). Nothing is ingested until you click Start ingestion. No surprises.

The rules it lives by

• New file appears → queued and ingested automatically — even files that arrived while Trunkbase was closed. On launch, it sweeps the folder and catches up.
• File changes → the note is re-decomposed and updated in place. You never end up with report(1).md, report(2).md.
• Duplicate content → skipped, with the reason shown in the queue. Nothing is silently dropped.
• Source file deleted → your note is kept, simply marked as having a removed source. Trunkbase never cascade-deletes your knowledge.
• The golden rule → Trunkbase never writes to, moves, renames, or deletes anything inside a watched folder. It only reads — the dialog states it in so many words.

Managing a watch

The destination folder in your vault gets a small gear in its header — pause the watch, adjust the file selection, or delete the watch entirely. Deleting a watch keeps every already-ingested note; only the watching stops.