note.md + ChatGPT (work)

Why this pairing works

ChatGPT's work mode connects to folders and files and shines at the generative end of the pipeline: turning a rough outline into a draft, summarizing a stack of documents, and — increasingly — batch-generating images and diagrams. Left to itself, that output lives in a chat thread you'll lose. Aim it at a note.md vault instead and every deliverable lands as plain markdown (with images beside it), where your reading-annotation loop can catch it.

This is where the "one vault, many agents" idea earns its keep: ChatGPT is rarely your only agent. It's the fast generalist you reach for to produce — and the review, the long-running automation, and the final judgment can each go to whoever's best at that. Same files, different workers.

Setup

1. Keep your vault in a folder ChatGPT can reach — an OpenAI-connected folder, or a cloud/git-synced directory it can read and write.
2. Add an AGENTS.md at the vault root (conventions summary: llms-full.txt) and paste the same house rules into your ChatGPT project instructions — it won't auto-read the file the way a CLI agent does, so tell it.
3. Ask it to save deliverables into the vault as dated markdown, e.g. drafts/2026-07-23-launch-post.md, and to drop generated images into {docname}_files/ with relative links.
4. Open the result in note.md; read, highlight, question — your marks land in sidecar .note.md files, the source stays clean and regenerable.

The loop in practice

You ask ChatGPT to draft a launch post and generate three hero images; it writes drafts/launch-post.md and fills a _files/ folder. You read it in note.md, cut two images, highlight a paragraph that overclaims, and leave a note. Next you hand launch-post.note.md to a more careful reviewer agent — "address the margins." ChatGPT generated fast; the vault kept it; you judged it. That's the division of labor.

FAQ

Does ChatGPT read AGENTS.md automatically?

Not the way a CLI agent (Codex, Claude Code) does. Paste your vault conventions into the ChatGPT project or custom instructions, and point it at the AGENTS.md file so it follows the same house rules — sidecar files are off-limits, new work is dated markdown.

Can ChatGPT-generated images live in my vault?

Yes. Save them beside the document in a {docname}_files/ folder with relative links — the same convention note.md uses for pasted screenshots. They render in the reading view and travel with the vault in git.

Do I have to pick one agent?

No — that's the whole point. Use ChatGPT for fast generation, another agent for careful review, a local agent for private work. They collaborate through the files; you orchestrate. See the orchestration guide.