I’ve been maintaining a TIL (Today I Learned) page for a while now, and while the idea is great, I have had some issues updating the sheet daily. The manual workflow was becoming a bottleneck in my learning documentation process.

The Problem with Manual TIL Management

My original flow looked like this:

1. Discovery: Whenever I find a link or factoid interesting, I save them in a WhatsApp group where I’m the only member for later record
2. Manual Transfer: Add these to the TIL page whenever I could find time
3. Reality: Lately, I’ve not been able to keep up with the manual updates

The problems with this approach were numerous:

I had been meaning to leverage a Telegram bot for this task for quite some time, but never got around to actually building it. This weekend, as I prepped myself to shift my body clock to attend David Beazley’s RAFT Course, I decided to use the midnight oil to write my own bot.

Why Discord Over Telegram?

I’ve been using Discord to talk to friends and communities lately, and I’ve found its integration with Linux to be amazing. Here’s why I chose Discord:

Platform Benefits

• Cross-Platform: Excellent web UI, desktop app that works well everywhere
• Mobile Support: Great mobile app for phones and tablets
• Linux Integration: Seamless experience on my primary development platform
• API Quality: Robust Python library with comprehensive documentation

Developer Experience

• Rich API: Discord’s API is well-designed and feature-complete
• Python Library: discord.py provides excellent abstractions
• Community: Large developer community with good examples and support

Development Resources

I relied on several key resources for building Sarathi:

1. Real Python Discord Bot Tutorial - Excellent starting point
2. Discord Official Documentation - Comprehensive API reference
3. discord.py Documentation - Library-specific guidance

Bot Goals and Features

I wanted Sarathi to handle the complete TIL workflow automatically:

Core Functionality

1. Input Processing: Parse arbitrary commands for URLs or factoids
2. Content Extraction: Extract titles from URLs automatically
3. Data Management: Maintain a time-based JSON file in my blog’s GitHub repository
4. Git Integration: Automatically commit the JSON to GitHub
5. Site Generation: Regenerate the til.md file using Jinja2 templates
6. Auto-Deploy: Push code to GitHub for instant blog updates
7. Search API: Query the knowledge base with simple search functionality

Smart Features

• Duplicate Detection: Prevent adding the same TIL on the same date
• Repetition Tracking: Track when I encounter previously recorded information
• Category Management: Organize TILs with space-separated category tags
• Mobile-First: Designed for easy use from Discord mobile app

Bot in Action

Let me show you how Sarathi works in practice:

Help Command

The bot uses / as a command prefix and provides comprehensive help:

/help - Show all available commands
/til add <url> <categories> - Add a URL to TIL with categories
/til add <factoid> <categories> - Add a text factoid to TIL
/til find <search-string> - Search existing TIL entries

Duplicate Prevention

If you try adding the same TIL on the same date, Sarathi provides intelligent feedback:

Factoid Support

Not all TILs are links - sometimes they’re just interesting facts:

/til add "Python's GIL can be released using C extensions" python performance

Sarathi handles both URLs and plain text factoids seamlessly.

Search Functionality

Query your accumulated knowledge instantly:

/til find python regex

The search matches against:

• Categories: Tagged topics and themes
• Content: URL titles and factoid text
• Context: Any metadata associated with entries

Technical Architecture

Core Technologies

• Python: Primary development language
• discord.py: Discord API integration
• Beautiful Soup: Web scraping for URL title extraction
• Jinja2: Template engine for TIL page generation
• Git/GitHub: Version control and hosting
• JSON: Simple, readable data storage format

Workflow Automation

1. Discord Input → Parse command and extract data
2. Content Processing → Fetch URL titles, validate input
3. Database Update → Add to JSON with timestamps and categories
4. Git Operations → Commit changes with descriptive messages
5. Site Regeneration → Use Jinja2 templates to rebuild TIL page
6. Deployment → Push to GitHub for instant site updates

Data Structure

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{
  "2020-11-30": [
    {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://example.com/article",
      "title": "Extracted Page Title",
      "categories": ["python", "automation"],
      "added_at": "2020-11-30T10:30:00Z",
      "repeated_added_on": []
    }
  ]
}

Learning and Development Experience

Building Sarathi taught me several important lessons:

Discord Bot Development

• Command Patterns: How to structure bot commands effectively
• Async Programming: Working with Discord’s async/await patterns
• Error Handling: Graceful failure and user feedback
• State Management: Handling persistent data across bot restarts

Workflow Automation

• Git Integration: Programmatic commits and pushes
• Template Systems: Dynamic content generation with Jinja2
• Web Scraping: Reliable title extraction from diverse websites
• Data Validation: Ensuring data integrity in automated systems

Future Improvements

Several enhancements are planned for Sarathi:

Immediate Roadmap

1. TODO Bot: Manage my TODO list with VSCode-compliant TODO files
2. Book Bot: Interface with my bookshelf’s API for reading tracking
3. Reading Progress: Track book reading progress and notes
4. Anki Integration: Generate Anki cards from TIL entries for spaced repetition

Advanced Features

• Regex Search: More powerful search with regular expression support
• Notes Integration: Interface with my notes repository for learning packages
• Analytics: Learning pattern analysis and knowledge gap identification
• Export Options: Multiple output formats (PDF, Markdown, etc.)

Impact and Results

Sarathi has dramatically improved my learning documentation workflow:

Quantitative Improvements

• Speed: From manual updates taking 10-15 minutes to instant Discord commands
• Consistency: No more missed or forgotten TIL entries
• Accessibility: Can update from anywhere using Discord mobile app
• Organization: Automatic categorization and searchable knowledge base

Qualitative Benefits

• Reduced Friction: Learning documentation is now effortless
• Better Retention: Searchable format helps reinforce past learning
• Pattern Recognition: Duplicate tracking reveals learning gaps
• Motivation: Seeing accumulated knowledge encourages continued learning

Source Code and Learning

The complete source code for Sarathi is available on GitHub: stonecharioteer/sarathi

While very specific to my personal workflow, the codebase demonstrates several useful patterns:

Reflection on Automation

This project reinforces a core principle I hold: automate the boring stuff. By removing the friction from learning documentation, I’ve made it more likely that I’ll actually capture and retain new knowledge.

Sarathi proves that sometimes the best solutions are the ones we build ourselves, tailored exactly to our personal workflows and preferences.

Building Sarathi was a weekend project that turned into a daily productivity multiplier. It demonstrates how automation can transform tedious manual processes into effortless habits, ultimately supporting better learning and knowledge retention.