Thinking Vault Template

A sanitized, shareable template for an Obsidian/Markdown "thinking vault" — structure, design patterns, conventions, and automation hooks — with no private content.

Clone this repo and start using it immediately.

What This Is

• A filesystem-first knowledge base (Markdown files + folders)
• Optimized for: capture → process → ship
• Designed to work with Obsidian, vault-cli, and AI agents

Full Folder Structure

thinking-vault-template/
│
├── .claude/
│   └── commands/              # Custom Claude commands
│       ├── archive.md
│       ├── auto-link.md
│       ├── new-person.md
│       ├── new-tool.md
│       ├── process.md
│       ├── vault-health.md
│       └── weekly-review.md
│
├── 00-inbox/                  # Raw captures (unprocessed)
│   ├── AGENTS.md
│   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   ├── articles/              # Article captures
│   ├── captures/              # Screenshots, misc
│   ├── tweets/                # Tweet captures
│   └── videos/                # Video notes
│
├── 01-archive/                # Processed inbox items
│   ├── AGENTS.md
│   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   └── tweets/                # Archived tweets
│
├── 02-concepts/               # Glossary-style definitions
│   ├── AGENTS.md
│   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   └── [topic]/               # Topic subfolders (ai, leadership, etc)
│
├── 03-people/                 # People notes
│   ├── AGENTS.md
│   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   ├── 00-1-1-prep.md         # 1:1 prep template
│   ├── [team-name]/           # Your team/company
│   │   ├── AGENTS.md
│   │   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   │   ├── org-structure.md   # Org chart
│   │   └── [person-name]/     # Person folder
│   │       ├── [person-name].md
│   │       └── YYYY-MM-DD-1-1.md
│   ├── network/               # People you've met
│   └── industry/              # Public figures you follow
│
├── 04-outputs/                # Publishable work
│   ├── AGENTS.md
│   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   ├── daily-updates/
│   │   ├── AGENTS.md
│   │   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   │   └── [year]/
│   │       └── [month]/
│   ├── ideas/                 # Draft ideas
│   ├── posted/
│   │   └── [year]/            # Published by year
│   └── presentations/         # Slide decks, talks
│
├── 05-reference/              # Templates and reference docs
│   ├── AGENTS.md
│   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   ├── writing-guide.md
│   ├── companies/             # Company notes
│   ├── templates/             # File templates
│   │   ├── article.md
│   │   ├── blog-post.md
│   │   ├── concept.md
│   │   ├── daily-update.md
│   │   ├── daily.md
│   │   ├── health-check.md
│   │   ├── linkedin.md
│   │   ├── meeting-notes.md
│   │   ├── monologue.md
│   │   ├── output.md
│   │   ├── person.md
│   │   ├── presentation.md
│   │   ├── sections.md
│   │   ├── tool.md
│   │   └── tweet.md
│   └── tools/                 # Tool reference docs
│       ├── AGENTS.md
│       └── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│
├── 06-meetings/               # Meeting notes
│   ├── AGENTS.md
│   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   └── [year]/                # By year
│
├── 99-stubs/                  # Auto-created stubs
│
├── assets/
│   ├── AGENTS.md
│   ├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md
│   └── inbox/
│       └── captures/
│
├── scripts/
│   ├── add-aliases.sh
│   ├── check-broken-links.sh
│   ├── check-frontmatter.sh
│   ├── check-orphans.sh
│   ├── clean-mock-data.sh
│   ├── link-agents.sh
│   └── vault-health.sh
│
├── 00-MOC.md                  # Map of Content
├── AGENTS.md                  # Agent instructions
├── CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md      # Symlink
├── README.md                  # This file
├── SKILL.md                   # Clawdbot skill definition
├── SPEC.md                    # Vault specification
└── [OWNER].md                 # Owner context (rename to your name)

Placeholders

Replace these with your own values:

Placeholder	Example
[team-name]	acme, buildpass
[person-name]	john-smith
[topic]	ai, leadership
[year]	2026
[month]	January
[OWNER]	AARON, JOHN

Key Files

File	Purpose
AGENTS.md	Instructions for AI agents (root + per-folder)
CLAUDE.md	Symlink to AGENTS.md
SPEC.md	Vault design decisions and conventions
[OWNER].md	Owner context and preferences
00-MOC.md	Map of Content (quick navigation)
SKILL.md	Clawdbot integration

Mock Data

Files ending in .mock.md are examples. Remove them when ready:

./scripts/clean-mock-data.sh

Scripts

Script	Purpose
vault-health.sh	Full health check
check-broken-links.sh	Find broken wikilinks
check-frontmatter.sh	Validate frontmatter
check-orphans.sh	Find unlinked files
add-aliases.sh	Auto-add aliases from titles
link-agents.sh	Create CLAUDE.md symlinks
clean-mock-data.sh	Remove all .mock.md files

Getting Started

1. Clone this repo
2. Rename [OWNER].md to your name
3. Replace placeholder folders with real names
4. Run ./scripts/clean-mock-data.sh
5. Start capturing

Related

• vault-cli — CLI for vault maintenance

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Capture quickly → Process deliberately → Ship occasionally