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The minutes_base_<shortname> template provides the initial structure for a group’s HackMD meeting minutes document. When you run the CLI, generateMeetingMinutes() in src/meeting.mjs reads this file and replaces all template variables with live data before uploading the result to HackMD.

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File naming

templates/minutes_base_<shortname>
For example: templates/minutes_base_tsc

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Example: TSC minutes base file

The following is the actual minutes_base_tsc file: 
# $TITLE$

## Links

* **Recording**:  
* **GitHub Issue**: $GITHUB_ISSUE$
* **Minutes**: $MINUTES_DOC$

## Present

$INVITED$
$OBSERVERS$

## Agenda

### Announcements

### Reminders

* Remember to nominate people for the [contributor spotlight](https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/main/doc/contributing/reconizing-contributors.md#bi-monthly-contributor-spotlight)

### CPC and Board Meeting Updates

*Extracted from **tsc-agenda** labeled issues and pull requests from the **nodejs org** prior to the meeting.

$AGENDA_CONTENT$

## Strategic Initiatives

## Upcoming Meetings

* **Node.js Project Calendar**: <https://nodejs.org/calendar>

Click `Add to Google Calendar` at the bottom left to add to your own Google calendar.

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Standard sections

The template is organized into the following sections:
  • Links — Recording URL (filled in after the meeting), the GitHub issue URL ($GITHUB_ISSUE$), and the URL of the minutes document itself ($MINUTES_DOC$).
  • Present — The invited member list ($INVITED$) followed by any observers ($OBSERVERS$). Attendees check off their own names during the meeting.
  • Agenda — The structured agenda for the meeting, including sub-sections for announcements, reminders, and standing topics. The auto-generated agenda items from labeled GitHub issues and PRs are inserted at $AGENDA_CONTENT$.
  • Strategic Initiatives — A section for TSC members to report on ongoing strategic work (TSC-specific; remove or rename for other groups).
  • Upcoming Meetings — A link to the Node.js Project Calendar so attendees can add future meetings to their own calendars.

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Template variables

The following variables are substituted when generateMeetingMinutes() processes this file:
VariableDescription
$TITLE$The generated meeting title, e.g. Node.js TSC Meeting 2025-01-15
$GITHUB_ISSUE$The URL of the created GitHub issue
$MINUTES_DOC$The URL of the HackMD document
$INVITED$Contents of the invited_<shortname> file
$OBSERVERS$Contents of the observers_<shortname> file
$AGENDA_CONTENT$Auto-generated Markdown list of GitHub agenda issues, grouped by repository
See Template Variables for descriptions of every available substitution.

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How it is processed

generateMeetingMinutes() reads the file at templates/minutes_base_<shortname>, builds a variable map from the meeting configuration and runtime data, then calls parseVariables() from src/utils/templates.mjs to perform the substitutions. Any $VARIABLE$ placeholders that have no matching entry in the variable map are replaced with an empty string.

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