Set up a new Obsidian knowledge base with the LLM Wiki pattern. Use when the user wants to create a second brain, initialize a vault, set up a personal knowledge base, or says "onboard". Guides through an interactive wizard to configure vault name, location, domain, agent support, and tooling.
Set up a new Obsidian knowledge base using the LLM Wiki pattern. The LLM acts as librarian — reading raw sources, compiling them into a structured interlinked wiki, and maintaining it over time.
Guide the user through these 5 steps. Ask ONE question at a time. Each step has a sensible default — the user can accept it or provide their own value.
Ask:
"What would you like to name your knowledge base? This will be the folder name." Default:
second-brain
Accept any user-provided name. This becomes the folder name and the title in the agent config.
Ask:
"Where should I create it? Give me a path, or I'll use the default."
Default: ~/Documents/
Accept any absolute or relative path. Resolve ~ to the user's home directory. The final vault path is {location}/{vault-name}/.
Ask:
"What's this knowledge base about? This helps me set up relevant tags and describe the vault's purpose."
Examples: "AI research", "competitive intelligence on fintech startups", "personal health and fitness"
Accept free text. Use this to:
Auto-detect which agent is running this skill. State it clearly:
"I'm running in [Agent Name], so I'll generate a [config file] for this vault."
Then ask:
"Do you use any other AI agents you'd like config files for? Options: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI — or skip."
Skip the agent that was auto-detected. Generate configs for all selected agents.
Agent detection logic:
CLAUDE.md convention is being used or the Skill tool is Claude Code's → Claude Code.cursor/ exists in the working directory → CursorGEMINI.md convention is being used → Gemini CLIAsk:
"These tools extend what the LLM can do with your vault. All optional but recommended:"
- summarize — summarize links, files, and media from the CLI
- qmd — local search engine for your wiki (helpful as it grows)
- agent-browser — browser automation for web research
"Install all, pick specific ones (e.g. '1 and 3'), or skip?"
After collecting all answers, execute these steps in order:
Run the onboarding script, passing the full vault path:
bash <skill-directory>/scripts/onboarding.sh <vault-path>
This creates all directories and the initial wiki/index.md and wiki/log.md files.
For each selected agent, read the corresponding template from <skill-directory>/references/agent-configs/:
| Agent | Template | Output File | Output Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | claude-code.md | CLAUDE.md | Vault root |
| Codex | codex.md | AGENTS.md | Vault root |
| Cursor | cursor.md | second-brain.mdc | <vault>/.cursor/rules/ |
| Gemini CLI | gemini.md | GEMINI.md | Vault root |
For each template, replace the placeholders:
{{VAULT_NAME}} → the vault name from Step 1{{DOMAIN_DESCRIPTION}} → a one-line description derived from Step 3{{DOMAIN_TAGS}} → generate 5-8 domain-relevant tags as a bullet list based on the domain from Step 3{{WIKI_SCHEMA}} → read <skill-directory>/references/wiki-schema.md and insert everything from ## Architecture onwardWrite the generated config to the vault.
Append the setup entry:
## [YYYY-MM-DD] setup | Vault initialized
Created vault "{{VAULT_NAME}}" for {{DOMAIN_DESCRIPTION}}.
Agent configs: {{list of generated config files}}.
For each tool the user selected in Step 5, run the install command:
npm i -g @steipete/summarizenpm i -g @tobilu/qmdnpm i -g agent-browser && agent-browser installAfter each install, verify with <tool> --version. Report success or failure for each.
Show the user:
Install the Obsidian Web Clipper to easily save web articles into your vault: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/obsidian-web-clipper/cnjifjpddelmedmihgijeibhnjfabmlf
raw/, then run /second-brain-ingestThese files are bundled with this skill and available at <skill-directory>/references/:
wiki-schema.md — canonical wiki rules (single source of truth for all agent configs)tooling.md — CLI tool details, install commands, and verification stepsagent-configs/claude-code.md — CLAUDE.md templateagent-configs/codex.md — AGENTS.md templateagent-configs/cursor.md — Cursor rules templateagent-configs/gemini.md — GEMINI.md templateAfter setup is complete, the user's workflow is:
raw/ using the Obsidian Web Clipper/second-brain-ingest — processes raw files into wiki pages/second-brain-query — searches and synthesizes from the wiki/second-brain-lint — run after every 10 ingests or monthly