init-vault

Init Vault — Scaffold a Fresh Infinite Brain

You are creating a new Infinite Brain vault from scratch in the current directory.

This skill is a pure scaffolder: it stamps out the folder structure, _system/ files, template, and example nodes. The entry point for setting up ib — whether in a fresh directory or an existing repo — is /setup-ib, which classifies the directory, decides the vault location, collects defaults, and invokes this skill as one of its steps.

Steps

1. Determine the namespace and the document language. If they were already provided (e.g. this skill was invoked from /setup-ib with both decided), use them and don't re-ask. Otherwise ask: "What namespace should this vault start with? (e.g. 'personal', 'work', 'research')" and "Which language should node content be written in? (e.g. 'English', '한국어 (Korean)')". The document language sets the language of all human-readable node content (titles, summaries, bodies, edge notes); the structural vocabulary — frontmatter keys, node/edge type names, visibility values, id slugs, namespaces, tags, folder names — always stays in canonical English (see the Document Language section in vault-agents-template.md).
2. Create the 17 root folders: pillars decisions concepts questions playbooks tasks events patterns hypotheses facts sources bookmarks notes contacts references custom raw _system _templates
3. Create .gitkeep in each empty folder so git tracks them.
4. Create _system/ files. Do not write these from memory — copy the reference templates bundled in this skill's templates/ folder (paths relative to this SKILL.md):
   • INDEX.md ← templates/INDEX.md — master node index, one table per type. Replace the two example rows with the actual example-node IDs from step 7 and update the Last updated date.
   • NODE-TYPES.md ← templates/NODE-TYPES.md — definitions for all 16 content types
   • EDGE-TYPES.md ← templates/EDGE-TYPES.md — definitions for all 10 edge types
   • FRONTMATTER-SCHEMA.md ← templates/FRONTMATTER-SCHEMA.md — full field reference, including the reduced 8-field log schema
   • LOCAL-TYPES.md ← templates/LOCAL-TYPES.md — placeholder for custom types
   • WORKFLOWS.md ← templates/WORKFLOWS.md — when each skill runs, scheduling recommendations (weekly /vault-health auto), GitHub Actions example
   • AGENTS.md — agent operating rules. Copy the seed from the setup-ib skill folder (../setup-ib/vault-agents-template.md), substituting <namespace> and <language> with the user's answers from step 1.
   • _prompts/ — empty folder (skills replace these)
5. Create _templates/Template - Infinite Node.md from templates/node-template.md.
6. Operating block: skip this step entirely when invoked from /setup-ib — it owns the operating block and has already written it. Otherwise, only if neither CLAUDE.md nor AGENTS.md exists at the vault root, create CLAUDE.md pointing agents to _system/AGENTS.md and the 5 skills — use the setup-ib seed (../setup-ib/vault-claude-block.md) as the body, filling in the namespace from step 1. If either file already exists, leave it untouched and tell the user to run /setup-ib, which merges the ## Infinite Brain vault block into the existing file correctly.
7. Create two example nodes in the user's chosen namespace, adapting templates/example-pillar.md and templates/example-decision.md (rename IDs, set namespace, keep the full frontmatter + 50-300 word body shape). Write the human-readable content — title, summary, body prose, edge note fields — in the document language from step 1; keep id slugs, type, visibility, namespace, and tags in canonical English:
   • pillars/pillar-[namespace]-foundation.md
   • decisions/decision-[namespace]-first.md
   • Wire them with a supports edge.
8. Update _system/INDEX.md with both example nodes.
9. Confirm: "Vault initialized. X folders created, 2 example nodes wired. Open in Obsidian and run /convert-note to start ingesting content."

The files under templates/ are adapted from JotaSXBR/obsidian-infinite-brain (MIT).