Maintain a second-brain in an Obsidian vault using the Zettelkasten method. Use this skill to update the vault with architecture decisions, ideas, and repo context, and to retrieve context from the vault as a source of truth for agent memory.
The second-brain skill enables an agent to maintain and navigate an Obsidian-based Zettelkasten. It provides a structured approach for capturing knowledge, architectural decisions, and research findings, ensuring that the agent's memory is grounded in a persistent, searchable source of truth.
When starting a new session or task, the agent must follow this precise discovery workflow to establish baseline context and find relevant information:
01 - State of the Union.md from the vault to establish the current high-level project state and "Current Focus" priorities.obsidian search with a combination of tags (e.g., #rule, #invariant) and keywords to find atomic notes, MOCs, or DEC/INV/BRN notes.To ensure comprehensive context retrieval, the agent should navigate Maps of Content (MOCs) using the following guidance:
"If a relevant MOC is found, read the first 5-10 links to build a 'contextual neighborhood' of related atomic notes."
This technique helps uncover related concepts that might not have been captured by the initial keyword search.
The /second-brain-update command follows this precise workflow to capture and persist new knowledge:
obsidian search to see if these atoms already exist.assets/templates/ (DEC, INV, BRN, MOC) to create new notes.obsidian search.01 - State of the Union.md if the change is high-impact."Always search for related MOCs before creating a link to ensure the Zettelkasten structure is maintained."