This file is the short reference for how things are named, structured, and written inside your brain. None of these rules are precious. They exist so that you (and the AI that helps you) can find anything six months from now without thinking about it.
If you are new, skim this once and move on. You will absorb the patterns by using them.
Naming notes
Files inside wiki/ use kebab-case slugs with no numeric prefix. Lowercase, words separated by dashes, no spaces, no capitals, no underscores.
Good:
wiki/people/jane-doe.mdwiki/projects/launch-coffee-shop.mdwiki/decisions/move-to-berlin-2026.mdwiki/concepts/network-effect.md
Bad:
wiki/people/Jane_Doe.mdwiki/projects/Launch Coffee Shop.mdwiki/decisions/d-001-move-to-berlin.md
Daily notes use the ISO-8601 date: wiki/daily/2026-05-13.md. The wiki/daily/ folder is created the first time you write a daily note, it is not present in a fresh brain. Source summaries lead with the date so they sort chronologically: wiki/sources/2026-05-13-q2-board-update.md.
Folders carry the type
The folder tells you the type of every page it contains. wiki/people/ holds people, wiki/decisions/ holds decisions, wiki/concepts/ holds concepts. The folder mirrors the page type. The filename is the slug. The content is the content.
The platform also maintains a small metadata header at the top of every wiki page (type, title, status, created, updated, and optional aliases and tags). You never write that header by hand. The platform writes and updates it automatically when pages are ingested or edited through your AI chat. You can read it, but you do not need to touch it.
When you create a note by hand, drop it in the folder that matches its kind. If it does not fit any folder clearly, put it in wiki/notes/ until it finds a home.
Frontmatter is platform-managed, not required
The platform prepends a small YAML block at the top of every ingested page. It looks like this:
---
type: concept
title: network-effect
status: active
created: 2026-05-13
updated: 2026-05-13
---
You do not fill this in yourself. The platform writes it during ingest. On hand-written notes, frontmatter is optional and nothing breaks without it. The one field you may want to add manually is aliases (see below).
Wikilinks for internal, markdown links for external
Internal references use double brackets: [[jane-doe]]. External references use the standard markdown link: [a16z](https://a16z.com).
This is mechanical, not stylistic. Wikilinks are how the brain becomes a graph. The brain's graph view, the walk_graph tool, and the linter all read [[...]] as a first-class connection between pages. Markdown links are treated as outbound to the web.
If you find yourself writing the same name twice in a note, link the second one. Future you will thank present you.
One idea per note
A note should be about one thing. If you are reading a note and three different topics are fighting for attention, split it. Link the pieces together.
Notes that try to cover too much are hard to link to. A "person" page should be about the person. The project they run gets its own page in wiki/projects/. The deal you closed with them gets a source summary in wiki/sources/. They all reference each other.
This is the atomic-notes habit. Small, well-titled, well-linked notes compound. Big sprawling notes rot.
Date every fact
When you write down something that is true today but might not be true next year, mention the date.
As of 2026-05-13, Jane is VP of Engineering at Acme. Reports to the CTO.
That single date tells the AI (and future you) when to start mistrusting the fact. Without it, a stale note looks identical to a fresh one.
The created and updated frontmatter fields help, but inline dates are stronger because they survive copy-paste and AI rewrites.
No em-dashes
Use commas, parentheses, or a period and a fresh sentence. The em-dash is a great tool in fiction, a problem in a brain you want to search. Search and replace stumbles on it, AI-generated text leans on it, and after a year the brain reads as if a thousand consultants wrote it.
This is one rule the AI inside your brain is asked to follow consistently. If you spot one, edit it out. It will train the AI to drop the habit too.
Aliases for canonical pages
The aliases field in frontmatter lists alternate spellings for the same entity:
---
type: person
aliases: [Jane D., J. Doe, Jane Doe-Smith]
---
This stops the brain from creating three different pages for the same person every time someone is mentioned by a nickname. When you ingest a WhatsApp export and your friend appears as "Janito", add it to her aliases on her canonical page. The next ingest will link new mentions to the right person.
The same applies to organisations (Acme, Acme Corp, Acme Inc.) and concepts (network effect, network effects, Metcalfe's law).
One canonical page per entity, every other variant lives in aliases. This is the single most useful piece of hygiene you can practice. The brain that does this is twice as useful as the brain that does not.
When in doubt
Ask the AI. "I have a note about X, where should it live?" is a one-line prompt that usually returns the right answer. The brain is designed for the AI to be your file clerk. Use it.