Experimenting with AI-Assisted Note-Taking: Combining PARA + Zettelkasten with Notion and Claude

This is my for any productivity enthusiasts familiar with or interested in the PARA method and/or the Zettelkasten system; anyone exploring AI-assisted note-taking workflows; users of Notion and Claude

Updated 2 months ago

Human-AI CollaborationExperiment

A little about the PARA and Zettelkasten methods: The PARA method is an easy organizational system that divides all information into four categories: Projects, Areas, Resources and Archive. The Zettelkasten system is a way to strengthen our thinking, based on the principle that writing or note-taking IS thinking. Two key rules in this system that stood out to me are: first, take all the notes in your own words, no copy/paste (except when recording specific quotes, for literature notes) and second, always try to make connections between notes, to see how new information connects to your existing notes and projects.

Reading vs understanding in the age of LLMs

I came across the Zettelkasten method only recently and it struck me as the perfect antidote to the endless consumption of information we experience today. The Zettelkasten system forces us to write ALL notes in our own words and actively connect them to other notes in our knowledge base, ensuring we confront the extent of our understanding as well as capture the context that we find most interesting for a certain piece of information.

The set-up

In this system, I integrated my Notion with Claude using the Notion Connector. Anthropic launched these connectors on July 14, 2025, which are extremely easy to set up and work with via the browser, desktop app and mobile app (though, I think you have to enable the connector on your desktop app first, for mobile to work).One thing to be mindful of here is that connectors by default have access to ALL of your notion data. I did not find any settings that let me give permissions for specific pages. So if you want to limit data access, I suggest using the MCP workflow instead of connectors.

Claude Notion connector

Notion architecture:

I organized my Notion manually. I tried doing this with Claude initially but I was worried about it accidentally jumbling or deleting my data, so I thought it was best to do this part myself which also gave me a chance to revisit some of my content and decide to merge or delete things. I ultimately organized my notion in a PARA + Inbox + Garden format with the following pages: Projects, Areas/Resources (even though these are supposed to be separate sections per the PARA method, I prefer to combine them), Archive, Garden (where ALL of my notes live), Inbox (this is more of a sketchpad for quick to-dos, links, or thoughts that are not formed enough to even be fleeting notes yet). In this article, I will focus on the workflow using connectors and limit the scope to these three pages: Garden, Projects and Resources.

Notion setup

Projects This page follows the PARA method definition, it has a single database of Projects, which are active work with deadlines. Since Notion lets you create different views of the same database, I often don’t move old projects into archive and prefer to have them all in one place because I frequently return to old projects to create case studies or find interesting insights to discuss in interviews.
Resources / Areas This page also has a single database where I combine the idea of Resources and Areas from the PARA method. This is where I typically store things like inspirations related to topics I'm interested in, LLM instructions I'd like to document, templates, etc.
Garden This page has four databases in it
- Notes database: There are three types of notes per the Zettelkasten system: Fleeting , Literature and Permanent. I created templates for each note type, so Claude can easily follow the correct format.
- Books database: Contains all the books I want to read, am reading, have read or have put on hold.
- Ideas database: Mostly a list of random ideas that come to me and usually hold potential to become side projects or writing topics.
- Topics: A list of overarching themes I can use to tag my notes.

All databases use the ‘Relation’ property in Notion to convey their relationships with each other, making for a flexible system where I can maintain tags and connections between all these databases.

Claude set up

I created a project in Claude so I could add instructions once and use multiple chats, since there’s a limit to chat lengths. Here are the instructions I used:

Instructions for Claude project

## Notion Workspace Rules

## Core Structure

- **Projects**: Action-oriented work with deadlines
- **Garden**: Knowledge development (Notes, Ideas, Books, Topics)
- **Resources**: Templates, references, ongoing areas

**Default Rule**: When no database specified → Create as Fleeting Note in Garden

## Content Placement Decision Tree

### 1. Knowledge to develop/remember? → Garden Notes

- **Fleeting**: Quick thoughts, temporary captures (default)
- **Literature**: Source-based insights and summaries
- **Permanent**: Refined, atomic concepts for long-term value

### 2. Reference material or template? → Resources

- Templates, guides, best practices
- Always connect with relevant Topics

## Processing Rules by Content Type

### Action Items

1. Add to primary location based on context
2. Also add to Inbox page to-do list
3. Communicate: "Added to [Primary Location] and Inbox to-do list"

### Fleeting Thoughts

1. Create in Notes database as "Fleeting" type
2. Use Fleeting Note template (You can ask Claude to fetch the template ID and add it here so its very explicit for the LLM to follow)
3. Suggest connections to other notes, resources and relevant topics, resources and projects to other notes

### Reading/Research

1. Check if entry exists in Books database
2. Use Literature note template (Add template ID here)
3. Suggest insights that could become Permanent notes
4. Suggest connections to other notes, resources and relevant topics

### Developed Ideas

1. Use Permanent note template (Add template ID here)
2. Ensure atomic concept (one clear idea per note)
3. Must link to at least 1 other note and topic
4. Suggest connections

### Project Work

1. For existing projects: Add content to the mentioned project
2. For new projects: Use project template (Add template ID here)
3. Map content to template sections:
- Problem to solve
- In scope / Out of scope
- Solutions Explored
- Notes and Updates
4. Suggest insights for new Garden notes or connections to existing ones
5. Communicate: "Adding to [Project Name] → [Section] → [Content]"

## System Review (On-Demand Only)

**Command**: "Review my recent notes"

**Process**:

1. Fetch last 15-20 notes from Garden
2. Identify genuine patterns:
- Unlinked related concepts
- Notes ready for conversion
- Missing connections to active projects
- Emerging topics
3. **Only suggest improvements that add genuine value**

## Critical Rules

- Always search before creating
- Use actual Notion templates (fetch by ID)
- Ask clarifying questions when uncertain
- Quality over quantity for connections

Reflections

What worked:

Notion Architecture: The hybrid PARA-Zettelkasten structure I designed continues to work well for me, manually as well as with Claude.
Template following: Claude does a good job of following the note templates and properly categorizing content.

What did not work:

Technical Issues: The Notion connector in Claude is quite finicky for me. It fails frequently and requires a lengthy reconnection process. I found that simply toggling the notion connector off and on doesnt fix the issues, I actually have to go to manage connectors, disconnect and connect again, which is quite tedious.
Permission Management: Without page level permission controls, I keep settings on “Always ask for permission”, which means I have to constantly monitor Claude and manually allow each step. This gets tedious but I dont feel comfortable allowing Claude to go through all of my notion and take actions unmonitored.
Language Enhancements: Claude’s tendency to refine my words is a grey area for me. While I personally appreciate how it makes my rough thoughts more legible without adding extra content, it does challenge the core principle that note-taking should be purely in my own words. I'm still experimenting with this trade-off.