PHASE D / CORE ARCHITECTURE

Obsidian Atlas

Obsidian is the human-owned source of truth. Keep durable knowledge in ordinary Markdown so it remains portable.

Humandecides what belongs

Obsidiancanonical Markdown

OpenVikingrebuildable index

Hermes memorycompact hot-cache

Evidenceverifiable output

IMPLEMENTATION

Build a canonical Markdown knowledge base

Create a human-readable, portable, inspectable knowledge base that does not require plugins for core navigation.

Choose a vault root

Place your vault where you control backups and sync.

Create folder structure

Use the standard zones: Identity, Projects, Systems, Procedures, Decisions, Research, Inbox, Reviews, Attachments, Archive, System.

Add minimal metadata

Use frontmatter only for stable facts like status, tags, dates, and owners.

Keep plain-Markdown navigation

Rely on folder names and wikilinks, not plugins for core navigation.

Review before promoting

Move items from Inbox to canonical only after review and expiry.

STRUCTURED REFERENCE

Vault folder map

01 - Identity and Preferences/
02 - People and Organizations/
03 - Projects/
04 - Systems and Devices/
05 - Procedures and Skills/
06 - Research and References/
07 - Decisions/
08 - Daily and Session Notes/
09 - Memory Inbox/
10 - Reviews/
90 - Attachments/
98 - Archive/
99 - System/

FAILURE MODES

Common pitfalls and mitigations

Bulk-importing raw sessions

Only import curated summaries; never index raw transcripts or chat logs.

Storing secrets in vault

Keep credentials, tokens, and keys in encrypted secret manager, not in notes.

Over-relying on plugins

Ensure a usable plain-Markdown navigation fallback exists.

Copyable public prompt

Design an Obsidian vault structure for [PROJECT]. Use ordinary Markdown, separate canonical notes from inbox and archive material, add minimal metadata, and preserve manual navigation.

Public boundary

Use placeholders for paths, accounts, endpoints, identities, and credentials. Never publish secret values, private records, or a live control surface.

Verification gate

Verify scope and inputs
Run a focused test
Check outputs and evidence
Confirm no private data leaked