ckb/README.md

# Cascade Knowledge Base

*Read this in: **English** | [Polski](README.pl.md)*

**Source repo (always the most up-to-date version):**
[git.wierzbowa.cloud/michal/ckb](https://git.wierzbowa.cloud/michal/ckb)

A layered, agent-managed wiki where local content overlays read-only upstream
sources. Built on Karpathy's LLM Wiki pattern with extensions for scaling,
lifecycle management, and multi-agent support.

This document is a technical feature overview. For a task-oriented guide —
how to create a wiki, add knowledge, keep it tidy, sync with others, and
worked examples for every use case — see [MANUAL.md](MANUAL.md)
([Polski](MANUAL.pl.md)).

If this KB documents software you're building, the optional `software` module
adds `src/` repositories and spec-driven development — see
[OPENSPEC.md](OPENSPEC.md) ([Polski](OPENSPEC.pl.md)).

For the page schema in full, and for how both version numbers got where they
are, see [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) ([Polski](CHANGELOG.pl.md)).

### Release channels

The template repo keeps three branches. They are not interchangeable:

| Branch | What it is | Who should track it |
|---|---|---|
| `main` | **Stable** — the released template | Everyone, by default |
| `test` | **Release candidate** — validated before merging to `main` | Anyone helping validate a release, or needing a landed-but-unshipped fix |
| `experimental` | **Development** — active work, may be broken or reverted | People developing the template itself |

Both `ckb-init` and `ckb-upgrade` default to `main`. To use another channel,
just say which: *"initialize from the test branch"*, *"check experimental for
updates"*, *"switch this KB back to the stable channel"*. The branch a KB
tracks is recorded in `ckb.yaml`:

```yaml
template:
  repo: https://git.wierzbowa.cloud/michal/ckb.git
  branch: main
```

A KB with no `ckb.yaml` (or no `template:` block) is treated as tracking
`main`, which is what every KB predating this convention was doing anyway.

---

## Directory Structure

```
├── libs/         # Read-only external sources — git-copy clones (gitignored) OR
│                 #   connector configs (source.yaml) with a self-contained generated index
├── linked/       # Read-only upstream KBs mounted as symlinks
├── outputs/      # Generated artifacts, exports, compiled files
├── raw/          # User-provided source material
│   └── inbox/    # Drop zone: unprocessed material
├── tmp/          # Temporary files, caches (gitignored)
├── wiki/         # Local structured markdown wiki (agent-managed)
│   ├── index.md      # Routing table with "Use when" triggers + kb_schema_version
│   ├── overview.md   # High-level map
│   ├── log.md        # Root rollup change log
│   ├── error-book.md # Compilation errors & derived constraints
│   ├── query-gaps.md # Failed or missing-answer questions for future ingest
│   ├── projects/     # Optional local query scopes
│   ├── decisions/    # Numbered, append-only decision records + own index.md & log.md
│   ├── entities/     # Typed entity pages (people, projects, concepts) + own index.md
│   └── graph/        # Edge lists and relationship data + own index.md
└── workload/     # Session summaries & decisions
    └── YYYY-MM-DD_summary.md
```

---

## Cascade Priority

When searching, layers are checked in order — first match wins:

```
wiki/        (highest)  ← agent writes here, always wins
linked/A/    (medium)   ← symlinked upstream KBs
linked/B/    (low)      ← symlinked upstream KBs
libs/A/      (lowest)   ← git-managed external KB copies, or a connector's own generated index
```

The agent never writes to `linked/` or a git-copy `libs/<name>/`. To correct
upstream content, write the right version in `wiki/` — it takes precedence
automatically. The one exception is a connector-backed `libs/<name>/` (see
"External Source Connectors & Indexing" below) — the agent owns and
maintains its generated index exactly as it would `wiki/`.

---

## Features

### Inbox-Driven Workflow
Drop any raw material (notes, articles, links) into `raw/inbox/` without
organizing. On "Ingest" (or "Sync the wiki" / "Update the wiki"), the agent
processes the inbox — extracts knowledge, files it into `wiki/`, and
archives processed items to `raw/` — then reminds you to review the result
and run "sync changes" to push it to `origin` once you're happy with it.
Implemented as a Claude Code Skill — see
`.agents/skills/ckb-ingest/SKILL.md` — rather than baked into
`CLAUDE.md`/`AGENTS.md`, so the full procedure only loads into context when
actually invoked. Distinct from the `ckb-sync-changes` skill, which is a
pure git-level operation with no wiki synthesis.

For long conversations, meeting notes, transcripts, or chat exports, ingest
uses a structured distillation rather than treating the whole file as one
undifferentiated blob: searchable question, short summary, resolution or
decision, systems/code references, people involved, and high-signal excerpts
that deserve to stay findable on their own.

"High-signal" is an explicit test, not a judgment call, or every excerpt
looks worth keeping and the page becomes a second copy of the transcript.
An excerpt earns its own retrievable section only if it carries a term rare
across the wiki (checked with `rg -c` — a distinguishing search handle, not
a word already on twenty pages), runs to roughly 200 characters or more, and
is corroborated by something later in the material agreeing with, acting on,
or correcting it. Fail any one and the content still lands in the page, just
inside the summary rather than as its own unit. Promoted excerpts carry
their parent heading or thread question with them, so they read
unambiguously alone.

### Lazy-Loading Index with "Use When" Triggers
`wiki/index.md` is a routing table. Each entry has a **Use when** column
listing trigger keywords. The agent reads the index first (stays in context),
matches keywords against the task, and only loads matching pages. This
drops context overhead from ~12K to ~3.2K tokens per task.

### TLDR-First Query Layer
Every page carries a one-sentence `tldr` in frontmatter. When querying, the
agent reads TLDRs first. If the TLDR already answers the question, the full
body is never loaded. Fallback chain: TLDR → body → raw source.

### Local Project Scopes
For recurring teams, clients, systems, or initiatives, the wiki can keep
plain Markdown scope pages under `wiki/projects/`. A scope page lists the
wiki pages, entities, raw/archive sources, connector-backed libs, outputs,
and graph areas that should be searched first for that project. This gives
the same practical benefit as a project workspace in a larger retrieval
system while staying local, transparent, and editable with any text editor.

Scopes only narrow the first pass. If the scoped search does not answer the
question, the agent falls back to the full cascade.

### Local Hybrid Retrieval
When index/TLDR routing is not enough, the agent can combine several local
signals before answering:
- exact text search with `rg` for error strings, commands, flags, filenames,
  hostnames, ticket IDs, and other literal tokens — including across
  `raw/inbox/`, so material dropped an hour ago and not yet ingested can
  still answer a question (and flags that an ingest is overdue)
- semantic/entity matches from page titles, TLDRs, project scopes, and graph
  relationships
- freshness and confidence metadata, so stale or weak pages are treated with
  care
- context expansion around a matched section, so answers are grounded in the
  neighboring headings and paragraphs rather than a lone snippet

Each signal produces its own ranked list, and the lists are then fused
rather than resolved by picking a favourite: every candidate scores
`weight / (k + rank)` summed across the lists it appears in, so a page
ranked third by three signals beats one ranked first by a single signal.
`k` is 10, deliberately smaller than the 60 rank fusion is usually quoted
with — 60 is tuned for retrievers returning hundreds of candidates and
flattens all scores into near-identical values against the dozen a local
wiki produces. Literal-token queries up-weight the exact-match list, since
no amount of title similarity should outrank a match on the exact string
someone pasted.

Fused candidates are then deduplicated by claim — a wiki page, the
`raw/archive/` file it cites, and a connector page pointing back at it are
three hits for one fact, not three sources — and reranked 0–10 on how well
each answers the literal question rather than how well it matches the
question's wording. Same agent, deliberate second pass, no separate model.

The result is normalized internally as an evidence packet: source path,
matched claim, date/freshness, confidence/quality, relationship or scope
hints, and which signals each candidate was fused from. No server, vector
database, or dedicated client is required.

### Answer Caveats
Metadata the wiki already tracks is stated in the answer itself, not just
consulted while building it. When a page grounding an answer is past its
`freshness_window_days`, carries low `confidence`/`quality`, rests on
un-ingested `raw/inbox/` material, or was checked against a cached
connector index rather than a live re-fetch, the answer says so next to
the claim it qualifies. Conflicts between two live pages are surfaced the
same way even when neither carries `superseded_by` yet. The failure mode
this closes is answering confidently *from* a stale page without passing
that on.

### Expertise & Ownership Lookups
"Who knows about X" and "who owns X" are direct graph lookups rather than
full-text guesses. Ingest records `has_expertise_in` edges when someone
demonstrably answers questions or explains decisions on a topic, and
`owns` edges for declared responsibility over a system, area, or decision
— both from demonstrated evidence only, never inferred from meeting
attendance or job title. Where no edge exists yet, retrieval falls back to
authorship evidence and says which of the two grounded the answer, since
an inferred expert is a weaker claim than a recorded one.

### Decision Records
`wiki/decisions/` holds one numbered page per decision (`NNNN-slug.md`):
what was decided, `decided_by` whom, `decided_on` what date, why, the
alternatives that lost, and what it `affects`. A `status` field
(`proposed`/`accepted`/`rejected`/`superseded`/`reversed`) says whether it is
actually in force, and an optional `review_on` date marks it for revisiting.

Decision pages are **append-only**. When the choice changes, a *new* decision
supersedes the old one — `supersedes`/`superseded_by` are set on both sides,
the old page's status becomes `superseded` or `reversed`, and its original
context and rationale stay untouched. That is what makes "why is it like
this?" answerable years later, and what turns "we use Postgres" into "we use
Postgres, and before that MySQL, changed in September because of reporting".
`decided_by` and `affects` also become graph edges, so "who decided X" and
"what decisions touch Y" are direct lookups. The `ckb-decide` skill records
decisions and answers questions about them; `ckb-lint` checks their structure
(status vocabulary, required dates, two-sided supersession, unique numbers,
overdue reviews).

### Query Gaps
If the cascade cannot answer a question, the agent records or proposes a
short entry in `wiki/query-gaps.md`: what was asked, where it looked, and the
smallest source or page that would close the gap. This makes failed searches
useful demand signals for the next ingest instead of disappearing into chat
history.

### Page Frontmatter Schema
Every wiki page uses YAML frontmatter. `type` is required; the rest are optional:

```yaml
---
type: concept              # REQUIRED. Open string: person, project, concept, library, decision, playbook, ...
resource: https://...      # Canonical URI to the authoritative external source this page describes
tldr: One-sentence summary optimised for LLM reading
confidence: 0.0–1.0      # Source corroboration score
quality: 0.0–1.0          # Self-evaluation (below 0.7 → flagged)
supersedes: path/to/old.md
superseded_by: path/to/new.md
last_updated: YYYY-MM-DD
freshness_window_days: 90 # Days before considered stale
retention: high|medium|low
source_fingerprint: sha256:3f9a2c1e   # digest of the source this page was built from
source_checked: YYYY-MM-DD            # when that digest was last verified
---
```

- **type** — required; unregistered string, new values always valid, readers tolerate unrecognized ones
- **resource** — optional pointer to the live/authoritative source, kept separate from the wiki's own commentary
- **confidence** — set on write, decays with time, reinforced by new sources
- **quality** — self-scored on write, pages below 0.7 flagged for review
- **supersedes / superseded_by** — when new info replaces old, link them
- **freshness_window_days** — pages older than this get flagged during lint
- **retention** — low pages are archived after 2× freshness window
- **source_fingerprint / source_checked** — a digest of the material the page
  was synthesized from, plus when it was last confirmed. A freshness window is
  a guess that a source *might* have moved; a fingerprint is a fact about
  whether it *did*, and lint checks it mechanically.

#### Reserved body sections
Four `##` headings mean something specific everywhere in the KB:

| Section | What it holds |
|---|---|
| `## Sources` | one bullet per source, each with a fingerprint |
| `## Crux` | verbatim quotes from those sources — evidence, never paraphrase |
| `## Notes` | human-authored and **protected**: no skill rewrites it, ever |

`## Crux` is what lets a question be answered from the page instead of from
the archive: a summary can drift silently, a quote either still matches its
source or it doesn't. `## Notes` is the inverse guarantee — on pages the agent
regenerates (connector indexes, code maps), it is the one place an annotation
survives the next rebuild.

`wiki/index.md` alone also carries `kb_schema_version` (currently `"1.5"`), declaring
which revision of this schema the wiki was authored against — bump minor for
additive optional fields, major for breaking changes.

### Entity Extraction & Knowledge Graph
During ingest, the agent extracts typed entities (people, projects, libraries,
concepts, systems) and stores them as pages in `wiki/entities/`. Typed
relationships are recorded in `wiki/graph/edges.json`, using a closed
vocabulary where each verb is defined by the question it answers (see
`wiki/graph/index.md`) — structural ones (`part_of`, `uses`, `depends_on`,
`produces`, `configures`, `validates`, `implements`, `caused`, `contradicts`,
`supersedes`) plus people-to-topic ones (`has_expertise_in`, `owns`). Queries can walk the
graph to discover connected pages (e.g. "what depends on Redis?") or to
answer "who knows about X" directly.

### Recursive Index & Log Convention
Any `wiki/` subdirectory that groups multiple pages (`entities/`, `graph/`,
future topic folders) keeps its own `index.md` — a plain link list, no
frontmatter — so subdirectory navigation stays lazy instead of requiring a
full scan. A subdirectory can also keep its own `log.md` once it has enough
independent history; `wiki/log.md` stays the root-level rollup and never
duplicates a change a subdirectory log already recorded.

### External Source Connectors & Indexing (on demand)
A `libs/<name>/` folder supports a second population mode alongside the
existing git-copy one: a small user-authored `libs/<name>/source.yaml`
declaring a *live* external source — a SharePoint folder, a Google Drive
folder, a plain URL, or another connector — that you don't want to fully
mirror locally:
```yaml
connector: sharepoint
location: "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Finance/Shared Documents/Reports"
description: "Finance team's shared reports folder"
refresh_interval_days: 7   # optional, defaults to 30
```
`refresh_interval_days` tunes cadence per source — a folder that churns
daily deserves a shorter window than a quarterly archive that barely moves
— and sets the `freshness_window_days` stamped on that source's generated
pages. Both "index external sources" and "Lint" report a source that's
overdue against it, and say by how much, so a read-only user knows which
admin to chase rather than quietly trusting a copy three weeks past due.

Say "index external sources" and the agent walks it, resolving `connector`
to whatever live tool is available that session (a connected Microsoft
365/Google Drive MCP tool, or `WebFetch` for a plain URL), and builds a
self-contained generated index inside that same `libs/<name>/` —
`index.md`/`entities/`/`graph/`/`log.md`, mirroring `wiki/`'s own shape via
the Recursive Index & Log Convention above, but scoped entirely to that one
connector. This is a deliberate design choice: the index is **not** blended
into the main `wiki/entities/`/`wiki/graph/edges.json` — it stays separated
at the `libs/` cascade layer, the same way a git-cloned KB's own files
already are. `source.yaml` itself stays user-only, never written by the
agent.

Two refinements on top of that:

- **Shared, pre-built indexes.** `source.yaml` can add an optional `index:`
  block declaring *where the already-built index lives* — a git repo, or a
  shared resource such as a network path or another connector-reachable
  location:
  ```yaml
  index:
    store: git   # git | shared
    location: "https://github.com/org/finance-index-cache.git"
    ref: main    # optional — branch, tag, or subpath hint within that store
  ```
  Every run checks that location: if it already has an index, fetch it —
  most people just read what's already there instead of building it
  themselves. If it doesn't yet, that's the normal first-time state, not an
  error: a write-access user's very next run is what creates and publishes
  it there, with no separate "initialize" step.
- **Read vs. write, per user, per source.** Whether *this* user can
  actually rebuild an index (versus only read a fetched/published one) is a
  separate, local, gitignored `libs/<name>/source.local.yaml` — read-only
  by default. Setting `access: write` there opts a given machine/user in as
  that source's admin, so a team can designate one or two people to
  maintain a source while everyone else just reads the result — no
  redundant rebuilding, no need for every user to have their own connector
  authorization.

Implemented as a Claude Code Skill — see
`.agents/skills/ckb-index-external/SKILL.md`.

### Dual-Linking (Wikilinks + Markdown)
Every cross-reference uses both `[[Wikilinks]]` (Obsidian-compatible) and
standard `[markdown](path.md)` links. Works in Obsidian graph view, GitHub
rendering, and CLI tools. Upstream references use full relative paths:
`linked/<name>/...` or `libs/<name>/...`. Intra-wiki references prefer
project-root-absolute paths (`/wiki/entities/foo.md`) over relative ones,
so links survive later file moves.

### Self-Healing Lint
Periodically (or on demand), the agent health-checks the wiki:
- **Conformance** — flags any page missing parseable frontmatter or a `type` field
- **Freshness** — flags pages past their `freshness_window_days`
- **Confidence decay** — reduces confidence on unreinforced pages
- **Retention sweep** — archives `retention: low` pages past 2× window
- **Supersession detection** — finds contradictions, links old→new
- **Orphan detection** — finds pages with no inbound links
- **Graph consistency** — verifies all edges point to existing entities
- **Index/log consistency** — verifies every subdirectory has an index.md and no change is double-logged
- **Source fingerprints** — recomputes each cited source's digest and flags pages whose evidence has actually changed, not merely aged
- **Crux verbatimness** — flags a quoted excerpt that no longer appears in the source it cites
- **Connector cadence** — flags a connector-backed source whose generated index is overdue against its `refresh_interval_days`, and by how much
- **Error Book** — records systemic issues with root cause and fix

Auto-fixes what it can (broken links, missing backlinks, stale flags), and
reminds you to review the result and run "sync changes" to push it to
`origin` once you're happy with it. Implemented as a Claude Code Skill —
see `.agents/skills/ckb-lint/SKILL.md` — rather than baked into
`CLAUDE.md`/`AGENTS.md`, so the full checklist only loads into context when
actually invoked.

### Conflict Resolution (Supersession)
When new information contradicts an existing page, the agent adds
`supersedes` / `superseded_by` links. The old page is preserved but
marked stale. Version control for knowledge, not just files.

### Quality Scoring
Every page gets a quality score (0.0–1.0) on write, based on structure,
source citations, and consistency with the rest of the wiki. Pages below
0.7 are flagged for review or rewritten in the next lint pass.

### Error Book
Systematic errors (orphan links, formatting issues, cross-page contradictions)
are recorded in `wiki/error-book.md` with root cause, applied fix, and a
reusable constraint to prevent recurrence. Two-layer repair:
- **Layer 1** — deterministic auto-fix for structural issues
- **Layer 2** — agent reasoning pass for semantic/cross-page issues

### Automation Hooks
- **New source** → auto-ingest on next "Ingest" command
- **Session start** → load index + latest workload summary; check for
  unsynchronized changes (uncommitted work, or ahead/behind `origin`) and
  suggest `ckb-sync-changes` if any are found
- **Session end** → compress observations into workload/; re-check for
  unsynchronized changes (including anything the session itself just
  created) and suggest `ckb-sync-changes` if needed
- **Query** → file back valuable answers as wiki pages
- **Memory write** → check contradictions, trigger supersession
- **Schedule** → periodic lint, consolidation, retention decay

### Demand-Driven Context (DDC)
The wiki grows based on actual agent failures rather than upfront curation:
1. Agent can't answer → identifies missing knowledge
2. Proposes minimal entity/page to fill the gap
3. User approves or provides source material
4. Next ingest incorporates it

Converges to a stable KB after ~20–30 cycles.

### Session Summaries
After every conversational action, the agent appends to
`workload/YYYY-MM-DD_summary.md`. This provides continuity between sessions
and a browsable history of how the KB evolved. The agent reads the latest
summary on session start to pick up where it left off.

### Change Log
Every wiki modification is immediately logged in `wiki/log.md` in reverse
chronological order (most recent first), recording what changed, why, and
the source.

### OKF Export (on demand)
The wiki can be exported as an [Open Knowledge Format](https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/knowledge-catalog/blob/main/okf/SPEC.md)
v0.1-conformant bundle at `outputs/okf/`, consumable by any generic OKF tool
(e.g. Google's reference graph visualizer) without disturbing the richer
internal schema (`confidence`/`quality`/`retention`/`supersedes`/dual-linking)
that OKF doesn't natively understand. Implemented as a Claude Code Skill —
see `.agents/skills/ckb-export-okf/SKILL.md` — rather than baked into
`CLAUDE.md`/`AGENTS.md`, so the mapping ruleset only loads into context when
actually invoked. A deterministic Python script
(`scripts/export_okf.py`) does the whole transform — frontmatter remapping,
link rewriting, index and log regeneration, and an OKF conformance pass over
its own output — so the export is reproducible rather than re-reasoned page
by page; the agent runs it and relays the report. `outputs/okf/` is
gitignored — it's a fully-regenerated build artifact, so each machine/tool
regenerates it on demand rather than carrying it in git history.

### Starlight Export (on demand)
The wiki can also be exported into an Astro + Starlight-consumable form at
`outputs/starlight/`, producing a human-readable documentation website —
unlike the OKF export, which targets machine/tool consumption. A
deterministic Python script (`scripts/export_starlight.py`) handles
frontmatter remapping, dual-link collapsing, wikilink resolution, asset
copying, and sidebar generation; the agent's job is just to ask the two
setup questions (export scope: full runnable scaffold vs. content-only;
whether to include the log/error-book meta pages) and relay the script's
report. Also on-demand and skill-only — see
`.agents/skills/ckb-export-starlight/SKILL.md`. Like `outputs/okf/`,
`outputs/starlight/` is gitignored as a regenerated build artifact.

### Decision Log (on demand)
Say "record a decision: ..." (or just "we decided ...") to file a numbered
decision record; ask "what did we decide about X", "who decided that",
"which decisions are still proposed", or "what superseded decision 3" to get
it back with the who, when, and status attached. Recording gathers the
missing fields in a single round rather than an interview, wires the
supersession links in both directions, adds `decided_by`/`affects` graph
edges, and logs to `wiki/decisions/log.md`. See
`.agents/skills/ckb-decide/SKILL.md`.

### Guided Onboarding Tours (on demand)
Ask "onboard me on X" (or "where do I start with X", "mini tour of X") to get
a short, read-only guided reading order: an overview paragraph plus an
ordered list of wiki pages to read, built by walking the knowledge graph
outward from the best-matching page (foundations first, then the topic
itself, then what builds on it). Never writes to `wiki/`. See
`.agents/skills/ckb-onboard-me/SKILL.md`.

### Project Summary (on demand)
Ask for "a project summary" (or "where do things stand", "catch me up on the
project") to regenerate `PROJECT-OVERVIEW.md` at the repo root — a
one-to-two-page snapshot (overview, project state, actions & status, risks,
assumptions) synthesized entirely from the current `wiki/` contents and its
knowledge graph. Always overwritten in full on re-run, never hand-appended
to. See `.agents/skills/ckb-project-summary/SKILL.md`.

### Git Sync (on demand)
This repo's own git history can be reconciled with its `origin` remote on
demand: local changes get committed, remote changes get pulled and merged,
any conflicts are presented to the user file-by-file to resolve, then the
result is pushed automatically. Say "sync changes" to trigger it. Also
implemented as a Claude Code Skill — see
`.claude/skills/ckb-sync-changes/SKILL.md` — and deliberately distinct from the
content-level "Sync the wiki" / "Ingest" workflow, which processes
`raw/inbox/` into structured `wiki/` pages and has nothing to do with git.

### Quiz Mode (on demand)
Ask to be quizzed on the wiki ("quiz me on X", "test my knowledge") for a
one-off, scored knowledge check: the agent reads the relevant pages,
generates open or multiple-choice questions grounded in specific wiki
facts, runs them one at a time with immediate feedback and a running
score, and closes with a verdict. Stateless — nothing is saved between
runs. See `.agents/skills/ckb-quiz/SKILL.md`.

### Guided Teaching Curriculum (on demand)
Ask to be taught the wiki ("teach me the wiki", "teach me about X", "run a
teaching session") for a stateful course rather than a one-off quiz. First
call plans it: scopes the material (optionally supplementing thin spots
from the web, clearly marked as non-authoritative), asks whether it should
be one session or a spaced series (duration, frequency, optional calendar
`.ics` reminders), chunks the content into session-sized portions —
preferring an extra session over cramming — and saves the accepted plan
and a progress tracker to `outputs/teaching/<topic>/`. Later calls compare
plan against progress, teach the next portion using a different technique
each time (Socratic questioning, analogies, worked examples, teach-back,
mnemonics, ...), spot-check retention, and re-teach weak spots before
advancing. Never writes to `wiki/`. See
`.agents/skills/ckb-teach-me/SKILL.md`.

---

## Quick Start

1. **Mount upstream KBs:**
   ```bash
   ln -s /path/to/other-kb ./linked/my-upstream
   git clone https://github.com/org/external-kb ./libs/external-kb
   ```
   Or, for a live source you don't want to fully mirror, drop a
   `libs/<name>/source.yaml` instead (see "External Source Connectors &
   Indexing" above) and say "index external sources."

2. **Drop raw material** into `raw/inbox/` (notes, links, articles).

3. **Tell an agent to "Ingest"** — it processes the inbox, consults the
   cascade, extracts entities, and writes structured markdown into `wiki/`.

4. **Ask questions** — the agent uses the index for routing, TLDRs for
   quick answers, and the graph for relationship discovery.

5. **Periodically ask to "Lint"** — the agent health-checks everything,
   auto-fixes what it can, and reports issues.

---

## Agent Instruction Files

| File | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `AGENTS.md` | Full instruction for any AI coding agent |
| `CLAUDE.md` | Symlink to `AGENTS.md`, auto-detected by Claude Code |

Skills live in one shared location, `.agents/skills/`, so any agent tooling
that reads that convention picks them up. `.claude/skills` is a symlink to
`.agents/skills` — Claude Code sees the same skill set without a second
copy to keep in sync.

---

## Tips

- Upstream KBs (`linked/` and git-copy `libs/`) are **never modified** by
  agents. A connector-backed `libs/<name>/` (one with a `source.yaml`) is
  the one exception — the agent owns and maintains its generated index,
  but only for a user who's opted themselves into `access: write` locally
  (see the next point); everyone else's copy stays read-only.
- To correct upstream content, write the correct version in `wiki/` — it wins.
- Use `raw/inbox/` for anything unprocessed; the agent clears it on ingest.
- The `wiki/index.md` routing table is the most important file — keep it current.
- Confidence, quality, and freshness let you trust the right content and
  flag the rest for review.
- The `tmp/` directory is gitignored, and so is most of `libs/` — but not
  all of it: a git-copy `libs/<name>/`'s cloned content stays gitignored as
  before, while a connector-backed `libs/<name>/`'s `source.yaml` and its
  generated `index.md`/`entities/`/`graph/`/`log.md` are tracked, since
  they're synthesized knowledge worth sharing via "sync changes," not a
  disposable build artifact. `libs/<name>/source.local.yaml` (per-user
  read/write setting) is the one exception that stays gitignored right
  alongside them — it's personal machine state, never meant to sync.
  `outputs/` itself is
  tracked, but its regenerated build subdirectories, `outputs/okf/` and
  `outputs/starlight/`, are gitignored — each is fully reproducible from
  `wiki/` on demand, so there's nothing to reconcile by carrying it in git
  history. `outputs/teaching/` (per-user learning plans and session
  progress from the teaching skill) is also gitignored, since it's
  personal session state rather than shared KB content. Commit other,
  hand-maintained artifacts under `outputs/` as normal.

---

## Version & License

Current template version: [VERSION](VERSION). Licensed under the
[Apache License 2.0](LICENSE).