Vault Layout & Frontmatter Conventions

Mirrors the canonical conventions defined in the vault's own STRUCTURE.md and BOOTSTRAP.md. If those change, they are the source of truth.

Folder Map (root-addressed)

/vault/
├── CLAUDE.md          ← operating contract + session protocol
├── STRUCTURE.md       ← layout, taxonomy, frontmatter standard
├── BOOTSTRAP.md       ← preflight/repair manifest (read first)
├── spinup.md  index.md  README.md
├── inbox/
│   ├── captures/      ← quick captures (inbox.md), date-prefixed lines
│   ├── imports/       ← raw imported material
│   └── processing-log/
├── journal/
│   ├── daily/         ← YYYY-MM-DD.md (has an "Agent Log" section)
│   ├── weekly/  monthly/
│   └── templates/
├── projects/         ← lifecycle: incubating → active → on-hold/archived
│   ├── active/        ← current work (status: active)
│   ├── incubating/    ← idea captured, not yet started (status: incubating)
│   ├── on-hold/       ← paused but kept (status: on-hold)
│   ├── archived/      ← done / abandoned (status: archived)
│   └── project-template.md
├── areas/             ← business / personal / learning / systems
├── resources/
│   ├── concepts/  references/  meetings/  source-material/
│   └── people/        ← <name>.md
├── decisions/
│   ├── by-date/       ← YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md (ADR-style)
│   ├── by-project/    ← mirror by project
│   └── decision-template.md
├── reviews/           ← weekly / monthly / quarterly / annual
├── archive/           ← notes / projects / imports
└── _agent/
    ├── context/       ← current-context.md and task bundles
    ├── memory/
    │   ├── working/   ← transient, time-boxed
    │   ├── episodic/  ← what happened, when
    │   └── semantic/  ← durable facts/patterns (operator-preferences.md)
    ├── sessions/      ← YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM-<slug>.md
    ├── templates/     ← canonical note templates
    ├── outputs/       ← briefs / drafts / summaries / synthesis
    ├── skills/        ← active / archived
    └── heartbeat/

Slug rules: kebab-case, ASCII only, truncate to ~40 chars.

Canonical Frontmatter

Every note starts with this block. Fill what applies; leave the rest empty rather than guessing.

---
type:            # see Note Types below
status:          # active | draft | done | archived | complete
created:         # YYYY-MM-DD (or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm for sessions)
updated:         # YYYY-MM-DD
tags: []
agent_written: false
source_notes: []   # plain relative paths as strings — NEVER [[wikilinks]]
---

agent_written: true + a populated source_notes is the key signal separating agent-managed content from human-authored content. When appending with POST, do not rewrite frontmatter — the append goes after existing content. To change updated: or status:, use PATCH with Target-Type: frontmatter.

No [[wikilinks]] in frontmatter. YAML parses [[...]] as nested lists, so wiki links there break and never render as clickable links in reading view. Put all cross-references in a ## Related section in the note body (bulleted [[links]]). Frontmatter holds scalar/string metadata only; source_notes values are plain relative paths, not links.

Note Types

daily-note, weekly-note, monthly-note, project, project-update, area, concept, reference, person, meeting, decision, review, session-log, working-memory, episodic-memory, semantic-memory, context-bundle, skill, draft, inbox-item.

File-Specific Conventions

operator-preferences.md (`_agent/memory/semantic/`)

The profile analog. Canonical headings:

## Operator — who Bryan is (one paragraph)
## Fact / Pattern — promoted, deduped rules. No date prefix. Timeless.
## Observations — timestamped raw observations. Date-prefixed lines (- 2026-06-07: ...). Default landing zone for new evidence.
## Evidence — citations/links supporting the rules
## Recommendation or Implication — how the rules should shape behavior
## Review Notes — confidence / last review date

Append observed facts under ## Observations by default. Promote to ## Fact / Pattern (dropping the date) once a pattern stabilizes. "The operator" is Bryan; do not attribute Jason's design preferences to Bryan without evidence — Jason's preferences live in the ECHO vault.

projects/active/<slug>.md

---
type: project
status: active
created: 2026-06-07
updated: 2026-06-07
tags: []
agent_written: false
source_notes: []
---

# Project Name

## Current status
One paragraph, kept fresh via PATCH replace.

## Decisions
- [[YYYY-MM-DD-decision-slug]] — one-line summary

## Open threads
- [ ] unresolved thing

## Log
- 2026-06-07: observation or update

## Related
- [[areas/business/business-ops]]

Lifecycle / status agreement: a project's folder under projects/ (active, incubating, on-hold, archived) and its status: frontmatter MUST match — moving the file and updating status: are the same operation. A note in projects/active/ with status: on-hold is broken state; fix it when you see it. Keep heading text ASCII (plain hyphens, no em dashes/parentheses) so headings stay PATCH-targetable.

sessions/YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM-<slug>.md

See session-log-template.md. goldbrain uses an HHMM time component in the filename — this is canonical, not optional. The four-digit local-time component makes filenames lex-sort in true chronological order, which the loading procedure relies on. Older session logs without HHMM may exist; leave them alone, but every new one must use the full YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM-<slug>.md form.

decisions/by-date/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md

ADR-style: Context → Decision → Consequences. Mirror a project-relevant ADR as a [[wikilink]] under that project's ## Decisions heading, and optionally into by-project/ per the vault's STRUCTURE.md. The by-date ADR is always the canonical record.

people/<name>.md

type: person. Use lowercase kebab-case for the slug (e.g. bryan-gilliom.md).

Cross-References

Use Obsidian wiki links freely: [[note-name]] or [[folder/note]]. The REST API doesn't resolve them, but Obsidian does when the operator browses the vault.

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