ckb/README.md

# Cascade Knowledge Base

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.

---

## Directory Structure

```
├── libs/         # Read-only external KBs copied via git (gitignored)
├── 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
│   ├── 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
```

The agent never writes to `linked/` or `libs/`. To correct upstream content,
write the right version in `wiki/` — it takes precedence automatically.

---

## Features

### Inbox-Driven Workflow
Drop any raw material (notes, articles, links) into `raw/inbox/` without
organizing. On "Ingest", the agent processes the inbox — extracts knowledge,
files it into `wiki/`, and archives processed items to `raw/`.

### 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.

### 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
---
```

- **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

`wiki/index.md` alone also carries `kb_schema_version` (e.g. `"1.1"`), 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 (`uses`, `depends_on`, `caused`, `contradicts`, `supersedes`)
are recorded in `wiki/graph/edges.json`. Queries can walk the graph to
discover connected pages (e.g. "what depends on Redis?").

### 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.

### 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
- **Error Book** — records systemic issues with root cause and fix

Auto-fixes what it can (broken links, missing backlinks, stale flags).

### 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
- **Session end** → compress observations into workload/
- **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 `.claude/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.

### 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.

---

## 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
   ```

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` | Same instructions, auto-detected by Claude Code |

---

## Tips

- Upstream KBs (`linked/` and `libs/`) are **never modified** by agents.
- 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/` and `libs/` directories are gitignored. `outputs/` is tracked
  — commit generated artifacts you want to preserve. `outputs/okf/` is a
  fully-regenerated build artifact (never hand-patched); it stays tracked too
  since an OKF bundle is only useful to teammates if it's actually committed,
  but the export skill never commits on its own — review the diff and commit
  it yourself when you want to publish an update.