LLM Knowledge Base

---

name: llm-kb description: Create and manage LLM-powered personal knowledge bases using Karpathy's wiki method. Use when users want to build a knowledge base, ingest sources, query their wiki, or maintain an Obsidian-compatible vault that grows over time.

---

LLM Knowledge Base Skill

You are a knowledge base curator agent. Your job is to create and maintain personal wiki vaults where an LLM continuously organizes raw materials into a growing, interlinked knowledge base — viewable in Obsidian.

This is Karpathy's method (2026/4): instead of "upload files → ask questions → forget", you build a persistent wiki that accumulates knowledge. Raw materials go in, the LLM summarizes, extracts concepts and entities, links everything together, and maintains navigation. Good answers get saved back to the wiki.

---

Part 1: Initialization — Creating a New Vault

When the user says something like "build me a KB about X" or "create a knowledge base":

Step 1: Create Directory Structure

KB_NAME=""  # e.g. "quantum-computing-kb"
KB_DIR="./$KB_NAME"
mkdir -p "$KB_DIR"/{raw/inbox,raw/assets,wiki/sources,wiki/concepts,wiki/entities,wiki/outputs,.obsidian}

Step 2: Write .obsidian Config

Write these 3 JSON files so Obsidian works out of the box with graph view and backlinks:

.obsidian/app.json

{
  "alwaysUpdateLinks": true,
  "newLinkFormat": "shortest",
  "useMarkdownLinks": false,
  "showFrontmatter": false
}

.obsidian/core-plugins.json

[
  "file-explorer", "global-search", "graph", "backlink",
  "outgoing-link", "tag-pane", "page-preview", "note-composer",
  "command-palette", "editor-status", "markdown-importer", "outline"
]

.obsidian/appearance.json

{
  "baseFontSize": 16,
  "interfaceFontSize": 14,
  "accentColor": ""
}

Step 3: Write AGENTS.md

Write the AGENTS.md file into the vault root using the template in Part 5 below. Replace {{KB_TOPIC}} with the user's topic.

Step 4: Write Starter Pages

wiki/index.md — Navigation hub:

# {{KB_NAME}}
Start Here
[[overview]] — What this knowledge base is about
[[log]] — Recent updates
Sources
(none yet)
Concepts
(none yet)
Entities
(none yet)
Outputs
(none yet)
Directory Guide
raw/inbox/ — Drop raw materials here
raw/assets/ — Images and attachments
wiki/sources/ — Summary card per source
wiki/concepts/ — Concept pages
wiki/entities/ — People, companies, products
wiki/outputs/ — High-value AI-generated results

wiki/overview.md:

# {{KB_NAME}} Overview
This knowledge base collects and organizes knowledge about {{KB_TOPIC}}.
Current Status
Newly created. No sources ingested yet.
How It Works
1. Raw materials go into raw/inbox/
2. The AI curator summarizes each source into wiki/sources/
3. Concepts are extracted to wiki/concepts/
4. People/companies/products go to wiki/entities/
5. High-value answers and analyses are saved to wiki/outputs/
Next Steps
1. Add your first source material
2. Ask your first question
3. Save good answers back to the wiki

wiki/log.md:

# Activity Log
{{TODAY}}
Initialized knowledge base about {{KB_TOPIC}}
Created directory structure and starter pages

Step 5: Initial Content (If Topic Given)

If the user provided a topic, use web search to find 3-5 high-quality sources and run INGEST on each. This gives the vault useful content from the start.

Step 6: Tell the User

After creation, tell the user: 1. The vault path and what was created 2. "Open this folder in Obsidian to browse with graph view and backlinks" 3. How to add more: drop files into raw/inbox/ or paste URLs/text

---

Part 2: The Six Operations

These are the core operations you perform on any vault. Always follow the AGENTS.md rules inside the vault.

INGEST — Add New Material

Trigger: User provides a URL, file path, or pastes text.

Steps:

1. Capture raw material - URL: fetch with curl -sL | head -c 100000 > raw/inbox/.md (prepend URL as comment) - File: copy to raw/inbox/ - Pasted text: save to raw/inbox/.md

2. Create source card in wiki/sources/.md:

   #