Obsidian Project Bootstrap

Obsidian Project Bootstrap

Bootstrap a project knowledge base for the current repository.

Role in the workflow

This is a supporting skill.

Use obsidian-project-memory as the main workflow authority. Use this skill only when a repository still needs its initial binding or rebuild.

When to use

• The user says “start a new research project”.
• The user has an existing repo with code plus Markdown and wants an Obsidian knowledge base generated automatically.
• obsidian-project-memory detects a research-project candidate but no existing binding.

Required input

Resolve the vault path from one of: 1. explicit user input, 2. OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH.

Procedure

1. Identify the repository root. 2. Run a preflight detect step first:

   python3 "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/obsidian-project-memory/scripts/project_kb.py" detect --cwd "$PWD"

3. Only if the repo is unbound and should be imported, run bootstrap:

   python3 "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/obsidian-project-memory/scripts/project_kb.py" bootstrap --cwd "$PWD" --vault-path "$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH"

4. Verify that bootstrap created at least:

• .claude/project-memory/registry.yaml
• .claude/project-memory/<project_id>.md
• Research/{project-slug}/00-Hub.md
• Research/{project-slug}/01-Plan.md
• Research/{project-slug}/Knowledge/Source-Inventory.md
• Research/{project-slug}/Knowledge/Codebase-Overview.md

5. If the imported project still lacks real background or experiment context, switch to an agent-first pass:

• read the most informative repo docs and code entry points,
• synthesize durable notes into Knowledge/, Papers/, Experiments/, Results/, or Writing/,
• avoid placeholder notes.

6. Summarize the created knowledge base and the next recommended canonical notes to fill in.

Notes

• The bootstrap process imports structure and summaries, not raw datasets, caches, checkpoints, or the whole code tree.
• Ignore .git, .venv, node_modules, caches, checkpoints, binaries, and other heavy artifacts.
• The default vault is compact: 00-Hub.md, 01-Plan.md, Knowledge/, Papers/, Experiments/, Results/, Writing/, Daily/, Archive/.
• If python3 is unavailable in the current shell, use the system Python interpreter that can run project_kb.py and say so explicitly.

References

• references/BOOTSTRAP-RUNBOOK.md - preflight decisions, failure modes, and post-bootstrap verification

Bootstrap Runbook

Preflight decisions

1. Run detect first. 2. If the repo is already bound, stop and reuse the existing project. 3. If the repo is not research-like, stop and ask for confirmation instead of forcing bootstrap. 4. If OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH is missing, request it explicitly.

Common failure modes

• vault path missing -> require explicit path or environment variable.
• already bound -> do not rebuild by default.
• repo not research-like -> do not create a vault structure automatically without confirmation.
• python interpreter mismatch -> run with the available interpreter and state the path used.

Post-bootstrap verification

Check for these minimum artifacts:

• .claude/project-memory/registry.yaml
• .claude/project-memory/<project_id>.md
• Research/{project-slug}/00-Hub.md
• Research/{project-slug}/01-Plan.md
• Research/{project-slug}/Knowledge/Source-Inventory.md
• Research/{project-slug}/Knowledge/Codebase-Overview.md

If the project still feels empty after bootstrap, continue with agent-first synthesis instead of adding placeholder notes.