Life OS Operations

This file is the human-readable operations manual for the Life OS vault. It is the source of truth for how this system works — independent of any AI tool, app, or platform. If Claude is ever replaced, this file is what you hand to whatever comes next.

Keep in sync with CLAUDE.md. Any time CLAUDE.md is updated, update this file too.

What This Is

Life OS is a personal PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) vault built on plain Markdown files with YAML frontmatter. It is managed primarily through Obsidian, but all content is tool-agnostic — any Markdown editor can read and edit it.

There are no build commands, tests, or code pipelines. Everything is notes.

Devices & Sync

Device	Type	Role
MacMini	Mac Mini (desktop)	Primary machine — main vault work happens here
LMBP	MacBook Pro	Secondary machine — also has Obsidian installed
Fold7	Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 (Android)	Mobile — quick captures, vocab, Tagebuch

Obsidian Sync is active across all devices. Changes propagate automatically.
The vault path on MacMini: /Volumes/LBMM SSD/Users/l_chalwell_external/Life OS

AI Assistant Setup

The vault uses an AI assistant (currently Claude) with a named persona system. Each persona has a defined specialty. Address them by name to invoke the right mode.

Persona	Role	Invoke with
Allan	Lead / Orchestrator / Productivity	Default — any general vault or productivity task
Hans	Polyglot tutor (German-first, A2 context)	“Hey Hans, …”
Remy	Full-stack web & app developer	”Remy, …”
Zoe	Internet researcher / Obsidian & PKM expert	”Zoe, …”
Nova	Pop culture / internet trends	”Nova, …”
Cal	Finance & markets	”Cal, …”
Miles	Movies, TV & music	”Miles, …”

Persona files live at claude/personas/. If switching AI tools, use these files to brief the new assistant on each persona’s voice and expertise.

Vault Structure (PARA-inspired)

Folder	Purpose
`0 INBOX/`	Default landing zone for new, unsorted notes
`00 Projects/`	Active endeavors with a defined goal and end state
`01 Areas/`	Ongoing areas of interest and responsibility
`02 Resources/`	External media saved for reference (videos, articles, books, etc.)
`04 People/`	Notes on public figures, creators, and thinkers
`05 Archives/`	Inactive or completed notes
`06 Journal/`	Daily journal entries
`wiki/`	AI-maintained knowledge base — synthesis layer over raw resources
`_Templates/`	Note templates (Obsidian Templater format)
`zATTACHMENTS/`	Images and binary attachments
`claude/`	AI session files — handoff notes, persona definitions
`_Tools/`	Custom tools built for the vault (Life OS UI, SendIT)

Note Types & Templates

All templates live in _Templates/. When creating notes manually, follow the frontmatter structure of the relevant template.

Template	Used for
`Area.md`	Area hub note
`Topic.md`	A topic within an area
`Person.md`	Public figure (`type: person`)
`Band.md`	Music act (`type: band`)
`Project.md`	Active project (`status: active`)
`Resource.md`	Saved media (`type`: video/book/podcast/article/pdf/link)
`Movie.md`	Film note (MediaDB body)
`TV Series.md`	Series note (MediaDB body)
`Album.md`	Album note (MediaDB body)
`Game.md`	Game note (MediaDB body)
`Book.md`	Book note (Book Search plugin)
`Daily Journal.md`	Daily journal entry
`New Idea.md`	Idea capture note
`Word - <Lang>.md`	Vocabulary entry (German/Spanish/Korean/Japanese)
`Grammar Topic - <Lang>.md`	Grammar note for a language
`Sentence Theme - <Lang>.md`	Themed sentence collection
`Tagebuch - German.md`	German free-writing journal entry

Frontmatter Conventions

Every note should have:

---
title: Note Title
type: [person|movie|series|book|video|article|podcast|area|topic|project|idea|daily|band|album|game]
area: "[[Area Name]]"
created: YYYY-MM-DD
modified: YYYY-MM-DD
status: unread   # for resources: unread | read
tags:
---

Rules:

created and modified use YYYY-MM-DD format — auto-managed by Obsidian Linter
area always uses wikilink format: "[[Area Name]]"
Resources start with status: unread and are updated to read when consumed
Projects use status: active | completed | on-hold

Multiple areas use YAML list format:

area:
  - "[[Music]]"
  - "[[Film & TV]]"

Active Areas

Area	Folder
Artificial Intelligence	`01 Areas/Artificial Intelligence/`
Film & TV	`01 Areas/Film & TV/`
Finance	`01 Areas/Finance/`
Gaming	`01 Areas/Gaming/`
Health	`01 Areas/Health/`
Languages	`01 Areas/Languages/`
Martial Arts	`01 Areas/Martial Arts/`
Music	`01 Areas/Music/`
Productivity	`01 Areas/Productivity/`
Religion	`01 Areas/Religion/`
Science	`01 Areas/Science/`
Self Development	`01 Areas/Self Development/`

Language Learning Structure

Each language lives under 01 Areas/Languages/<Language>/ with these sub-folders:

Folder	Contents
`Wortschatz/`	One note per vocabulary word
`Grammatik/`	One note per grammar topic
`Satzsammlung/`	Themed sentence collections with wikilinked vocabulary
`Tagebuch/`	Free-writing practice entries

Active languages: German (A2), Spanish, Korean, Japanese.

German — Word Note Conventions

article: der / die / das
area: "[[German]]" — links back to hub
related-grammar: list of grammar topic wikilinks

German — Grammar Note Conventions

area: "[[German]]" — links back to hub
## Related Vocabulary section with wikilinks to relevant words

German — Sentence Theme Conventions

area: "[[German]]"
grammar: grammar topic(s) being practised
Vocabulary words wikilinked inline within sentences

Existing German Grammar Notes (A2 foundations)

Located in 01 Areas/Languages/German/Grammatik/:

German Articles — der/die/das, ein/eine, kein
Nominative Case — subject
Accusative Case — direct object (masculine der → den)
Dative Case — indirect object, dative prepositions
Personal Pronouns — all cases
Present Tense Conjugation — regular + stem-changing verbs
Sein & Haben — irregular, used as auxiliaries
Modal Verbs — können/müssen/wollen/dürfen/sollen/möchten
Negation — nicht vs. kein
Word Order — V2 rule, questions, TMP, subordinate clauses
Futur I — werden + infinitive
Passiv — passive voice (werden + Partizip II)

Primary Use Cases

YouTube as a resource — Videos saved to 02 Resources/ for note-taking. Notes should expand on ideas and link outward — not passive summaries.
German language learning — A2 level. 01 Areas/Languages/German/ sees frequent use. Vocabulary and grammar are the main active areas.
Movies & TV — Heavy interest. Added via MediaDB plugin. Each note includes: synopsis, key takeaways, notable moments, quotes, links to related areas/topics/resources.

Knowledge Base (Wiki) System

The vault uses a compounding wiki pattern:

Raw sources live in 02 Resources/
A curated synthesis layer lives in wiki/
The AI maintains the wiki layer — creating, updating, and cross-referencing pages as new sources arrive

Wiki Structure

wiki/
  index.md          — catalog of all wiki pages (link + one-line summary)
  log.md            — append-only history of all ingest/query/lint operations
  topics/           — synthesis pages per topic or concept
  syntheses/        — analyses, comparisons, and answers worth preserving
  Wiki Map.canvas   — visual graph of topic relationships
  Wiki Map — Summary.md  — portable Markdown version of the graph

Wiki Topic Page Structure

---
title:
type: internal
area:
sources: (count of source notes)
created: YYYY-MM-DD
modified: YYYY-MM-DD
---
 
## Overview
 
## Key Concepts
 
## Synthesis
 
## Contradictions / Open Questions
 
## Related
- Topics: [[]]
- People: [[]]
- Resources: [[]]

Ingest Workflow

Division of labour:

You (the user): set area and topic in Obsidian before handing off; tell the AI what stood out or what you want to capture; update status: read when you’ve consumed the source
The AI: handles everything else — resource note, people/song/band notes, wiki topic pages, index, log

When processing a new source (video, article, book, etc.):

Read the source — read the resource note in 02 Resources/ (or the URL directly)
Ask what to capture — ask the user what stood out or what they want to preserve. The user’s angle determines what gets written, not just what the source covers.
Update the resource note — add ## Summary and ## Notes sections; update status to read if consumed; set modified date
Create people and connected notes — for any people, songs, bands, or specific works mentioned that deserve their own note, create them. Use the appropriate template and folder.
Update or create wiki topic pages — this is the most important step. Every ingest should leave at least one wiki topic page touched or created. The wiki topic is where knowledge compounds — not the resource note.
- Existing page → add insights, update synthesis, flag contradictions
- No page → create one using the structure above
- Capture any open questions or threads the user wants to dig into later in ## Contradictions / Open Questions
Cross-area scan — check all active areas for meaningful connections, not just the obvious one
Language layer — extract vocabulary or grammar worth capturing into the relevant language folder
Update wiki/index.md — add or update the entry for any touched pages
Append to wiki/log.md — one entry per ingest operation

Query Workflow

When answering a question from the wiki:

Read wiki/index.md to identify relevant pages
Read those pages and synthesise an answer with citations
If the answer is a valuable analysis or comparison, offer to save it in wiki/syntheses/
Append to wiki/log.md

Vault Health Check (Lint)

Periodically:

Scan wiki pages for orphans, missing cross-references, stale claims
Check 02 Resources/ for status: unread notes that could be processed
Report findings as a prioritised list

Installed Plugins (Obsidian)

Plugin	Purpose
Templater	Template engine — powers all `_Templates/` files
Obsidian Linter	Frontmatter and formatting consistency; auto-updates `modified` date
Media DB	Populates metadata for movies/TV/music/games from external APIs
Book Search	Populates metadata for books from Google Books API
Bases	Database views — filters/sorts notes by frontmatter (`.base` files)
Featured Image	Auto-assigns cover images to notes
Image Toolkit	Enhanced image viewing
Terminal	In-app terminal access
ytranscript	Fetch YouTube transcripts directly inside Obsidian

Obsidian Key Settings

New notes default to 0 INBOX/
Attachments go to zATTACHMENTS/
Links auto-update on rename (alwaysUpdateLinks: true)
Linter: YAML Timestamp enabled — auto-fills created/modified on save
Templater: “Trigger on new file creation” enabled

Obsidian-Specific Files (Portability Notes)

These file types are Obsidian-specific. If migrating away, use the summary/documentation equivalents.

File type	What it does	Portable equivalent
`.base`	Database view (filter/sort by frontmatter)	Documented in `wiki/topics/Bases & Views.md`
`.canvas`	Visual layout / mind map	Summary notes: `Start Page — Summary.md`, `wiki/Wiki Map — Summary.md`

Wikilinks ([[Note Name]]) are semi-proprietary but widely supported in Logseq, Foam, Dendron, and many editors. They are the connection standard for this vault and are worth keeping.

Custom Tools

Tool	Location	Purpose
Life OS UI	`_Tools/life-os-ui/`	Browser-based vault reader/navigator (Node/Express + React/Vite, ports 3737/5173)
SendIT	`_Tools/sendit/`	Custom Mac↔Phone file transfer app

Starting Life OS UI

cd "_Tools/life-os-ui"
nohup node server/index.js > /tmp/life-os-api.log 2>&1 &
nohup npm run dev --prefix client > /tmp/life-os-client.log 2>&1 &
open http://localhost:5173

Stopping Life OS UI

lsof -nP -i :3737 -i :5173 | awk '/LISTEN/{print $2}' | sort -u | xargs kill

Session Continuity

The AI maintains a handoff file at claude/session-handoff.md.

If you are a new AI assistant reading this: Read claude/session-handoff.md first — before responding to any request. It contains the current state of all active work, recent decisions, and what to tackle next. Acknowledge what was last worked on before starting anything new.

At the start of every session: Read claude/session-handoff.md and briefly acknowledge what was last worked on.

At the end of every session (when the user says “wrap up”): Update claude/session-handoff.md with:

What was worked on
Current status of any tasks
Key decisions made
What to tackle next
Important file paths or context

This file syncs via Obsidian Sync across all devices — it is the live continuity thread across machines and sessions.

Life OS

Explorer

Life OS Operations

Life OS Operations

What This Is

Devices & Sync

AI Assistant Setup

Vault Structure (PARA-inspired)

Note Types & Templates

Frontmatter Conventions

Active Areas

Language Learning Structure

German — Word Note Conventions

German — Grammar Note Conventions

German — Sentence Theme Conventions

Existing German Grammar Notes (A2 foundations)

Primary Use Cases

Knowledge Base (Wiki) System

Wiki Structure

Wiki Topic Page Structure

Ingest Workflow

Query Workflow

Vault Health Check (Lint)

Installed Plugins (Obsidian)

Obsidian Key Settings

Obsidian-Specific Files (Portability Notes)

Custom Tools

Starting Life OS UI

Stopping Life OS UI

Session Continuity

Graph View

Table of Contents