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Capture note

Capture lets you speak or type a freeform note and have GardenOS file it into the right records. Instead of learning which form to open, you describe your garden in plain language and confirm what it found. It is the fastest way to keep the system current, and you never have to know the underlying structure.

Opening capture

  • Desktop: tap the Capture button pinned at the top of the sidebar (microphone icon, above the nav items).
  • Mobile: tap Capture in the bottom strip, or open the FAB (+ button) and choose Capture note.

What you can capture in one note

A single note can contain any mix of these, and GardenOS routes each one to the right place:

  • Observations: something you saw or noticed (“the kale has aphids on the lower leaves”)
  • Tasks: something that needs doing (“I need to water the tomatoes tomorrow”)
  • New plantings: something you just put in (“transplanted two San Marzano seedlings into Bed 2”)
  • Harvests: something you picked (“picked 2 lb of tomatoes from bed 3”). Logging a harvest records the weight or count against the planting and leaves the plant active, since most crops keep producing. The planting only closes when you say you pulled it.
  • Beds and spaces: something you built or added (“I built a new raised bed by the fence”, “set up two grow bags”)
  • Waterings: a bed you watered (“watered the front bed”). This logs a completed watering against the bed and its active plantings.
  • Seed packets: seed you acquired (“bought a packet of Cherokee Purple seeds”)

You do not need to separate them or open a form for each. Say it all in one note.

Linking to what already exists

Capture always checks your existing records before it creates anything, so one note never spawns duplicates:

  • “Picked tomatoes from bed 3” finds Bed 3 and the tomato planting in it and logs the harvest there, instead of inventing a new bed or planting.
  • Mention a bed that does not exist yet (“planted basil in Bed 5”) and GardenOS stages the new bed for you and links the planting to it once you confirm.
  • If something looks like a record you already have (the same planting, bed, or task), the review row flags it as a likely duplicate and links to the existing one. You can override with Create new anyway if it really is separate.

The review screen

After you submit your note, GardenOS shows everything it extracted, one row per item. Each row is editable before you save: correct the type, change the bed or planting it refers to, adjust the date, or edit the text. Each row also shows how it matched your garden (“Linked to Bed 3”, “Looks like an existing record”, “New bed will be created”).

  • Untick a row’s checkbox to leave it out.
  • Tap Confirm to save every ticked row. Items that link to an existing record are handled without creating a duplicate.
  • Tap Dismiss to drop the whole note without saving anything.
  • Nothing is written until you confirm.

Hands-free with Apple Shortcuts

The Capture page works in the browser, but iOS cannot run a continuous microphone in a web page. For hands-free use, in the garden with dirty hands or AirPods in, use the Garden Note Apple Shortcut. It records a voice note, sends it to GardenOS, and the result appears in your next capture review.

Setup instructions are in docs/capture-shortcut.md in the project, or ask in Feedback.

Note: the Shortcut requires the service-role key to be deployed as a Fly secret. If you are running a personal instance, see the deployment notes.

Tips

  • Name the location when you have several spaces (“in Bed 2”, “the south bags”). Capture resolves it to the real bed, or offers to create it if it is new.
  • Be specific about variety names. “San Marzano tomatoes” resolves better than “the tomatoes.”
  • Say the amount on a harvest (“2 lb”, “a dozen”) and it is recorded against the planting.
  • One long note works fine. You do not need to break it into separate submissions.
  • Capture works offline as a text field; the AI parsing requires a network connection.