Structure Overview
A local-first Obsidian vault with a folder for every type of thinking.
The Philosophy
Your vault lives on your machine. You own the files. They are plain Markdown that works with or without Obsidian, with or without Claude, with or without an internet connection. Nothing is locked inside a SaaS database you cannot export from.
- Local-first. Files on disk, not in the cloud. You control backups, you control access.
- Git-synced. The vault is a private GitHub repo. Every change is versioned. Agents commit on branches. You merge when ready.
- Self-documenting. Every folder has a hub file that explains what belongs there, how it works, and what the rules are. The vault teaches itself to new sessions.
- Folder per thinking type. Ideas, decisions, tasks, projects, people. Each gets its own space with its own workflow. No flat dump of mixed-purpose notes.
Vault Structure
This is the full folder tree. Every folder has a purpose. Nothing is random.
MySecondBrain/ ├── daily/ ── Brain dumps, captures, agent standups │ ├── YYYY-MM-DD.md ── One file per day │ ├── Daily Journal.md ── Hub file with full instructions │ └── reflections/ ── Weekly + monthly reflections ├── ideas/ ── App ideas, business concepts │ ├── ACTIVE.md ── The ONE active idea (forcing function) │ └── Ideas.md ── Hub: scoring, workflow, rules ├── tasks/ ── Folder-based task pipeline │ ├── backlog/ ── Proposed, awaiting approval │ ├── ready-to-start/ ── Approved, ready to execute │ ├── in-progress/ ── Currently being worked on │ ├── waiting-for-review/ ── Done, needs human review │ └── Task Board.md ── Kanban board (Obsidian plugin) ├── projects/ ── Active work with status tracking ├── decisions/ ── What was decided, why, what changed ├── artifacts/ ── Everything the system produces │ ├── article-ideas/ ── Pre-draft article concepts │ ├── articles/ ── Published blog posts │ ├── briefs/ ── Product, strategy, research briefs │ ├── page-copy/ ── Website copy, landing pages │ ├── plans/ ── Implementation specs, architecture │ ├── presentations/ ── Slide decks, pitch decks │ └── spreadsheets/ ── Data analysis, reports ├── knowledge-base/ ── Processed external intelligence │ ├── tiktok-favorites/ ── Video digests │ ├── youtube-favorites/ ── Video digests │ ├── twitter/ ── Tweet digests │ └── repos/ ── GitHub repo analyses ├── personal/ ── Life outside work │ ├── family/ ── Dad moments, traditions │ ├── investments/ ── Real estate, stocks, tax │ ├── health/ ── Tracking, wellness, fitness │ └── goals/ ── Life milestones, annual planning ├── radar/ ── External market signals ├── people/ ── One file per person ├── governance/ ── Approval matrix, permissions, rules ├── schedule/ ── Scheduled agent configs ├── runs/ ── Workflow execution artifact trails ├── assets/ ── Shared images, screenshots, files ├── _templates/ ── Templater templates for new notes ├── .claude/ ── AI system configuration │ ├── skills/ ── 83 skills, flat category-prefix │ ├── agents/ ── 7 agent definitions │ ├── memory/ ── Persistent memory, git-synced │ └── hooks/ ── PostToolUse shell scripts ├── archive/ ── Completed work, never deleted └── CLAUDE.md ── Master system instructions
Folder Map
Every folder has a clear purpose. Content lands in the right place because the structure makes the routing obvious.
| Folder | Purpose |
|---|---|
| daily/ | Universal entry point. Brain dumps, captures, agent standups. The daily note IS the inbox. |
| ideas/ | App ideas, business concepts, internal build concepts. One active idea at a time. |
| tasks/ | Task pipeline with folder-based workflow. Backlog, ready, in-progress, review, done. |
| projects/ | Active work with strategy docs, build logs, and status tracking. |
| decisions/ | Decision log. What was decided, why, and what changed as a result. |
| artifacts/ | Everything Claude produces. Briefs, articles, page copy, presentations, spreadsheets, plans. |
| knowledge-base/ | Reference material. TikTok digests, YouTube summaries, Twitter captures, GitHub repo analysis. |
| personal/ | Life outside work. Family, investments, health, goals. |
| radar/ | External market signals. Competitor moves, pricing shifts, emerging trends, opportunities. |
| people/ | One file per person. Clients, prospects, connections. A relationship graph. |
How Content Flows
Content follows a predictable path from capture to archive. Nothing sits in limbo.
- Capture. Brain dump into the daily note. Drop links, screenshots, fragments, voice recordings. No sorting required.
- Route. The system reads your captures and routes them. Ideas go to ideas/. Tasks go to tasks/backlog/. Signals go to radar/. Links get extracted and summarized into knowledge-base/.
- Execute. Approved tasks move through the pipeline. Agents draft, you review. Artifacts land in artifacts/. Decisions get logged.
- Archive. Completed tasks move to archive/tasks/. Nothing gets deleted. The vault only grows.
Hub Files
Every major folder has a hub file at its root. Hub files are the self-documenting layer. They explain what belongs in the folder, link to key items, and give agents the context they need to work correctly without reading every file.
| Hub File | What It Contains |
|---|---|
| daily/Daily Journal.md | Full instructions for the daily system. Template structure, capture format, agent standup rules. |
| ideas/Ideas.md | Idea workflow, scoring formula, active idea rules, and links to all ideas. |
| tasks/Task Board.md | Kanban board with literal items across backlog, ready, in-progress, review, and done columns. |
| projects/Projects.md | Active projects list, status overview, stalled project detection rules. |
| decisions/Decisions.md | Decision log index, template, and rules for when to log a decision. |
| people/People.md | Relationship graph, person template, categories, and interaction tracking rules. |
| radar/Radar.md | Signal categories, routing rules, and links to active market intelligence. |