Vault Synthesis

Operations that synthesize, aggregate, or organize information across multiple notes in the Brain vault. This skill provides a unified framework for various synthesis patterns.

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Compile periodic note mentions into a History note
• Generate or update description frontmatter for notes
• Roll up child note summaries into parent periodic notes
• Create topic hub notes that group related content

Core Principles

All synthesis operations share these principles:

1. Preserve source links: Always maintain wikilinks back to source notes for traceability
2. Respect hierarchy: Understand the relationship between daily → weekly → quarterly notes
3. Minimal overhead: Synthesis should reduce cognitive load, not add organizational complexity
4. Token efficiency: Use description frontmatter and hierarchical summaries to enable efficient navigation

Synthesis Operations

History Rollup

Compile periodic note mentions of a project/domain into a consolidated [[Histories]] note.

Triggers: “Roll up history for [[Project]]”, “Compile mentions of [[Topic]]”

See references/history-rollup.md for detailed workflow.

Summarize to Frontmatter

Generate a description property for a note’s YAML frontmatter based on content analysis.

Triggers: “Summarize this note”, “Generate description for [[Note]]”, “Add frontmatter summary”

See references/summarize-frontmatter.md for mode selection and guidelines.

Periodic Rollup

Synthesize child note descriptions into a parent periodic note’s description (e.g., weekly from dailies, quarterly from weeklies).

Triggers: “Roll up my weekly summary”, “Summarize this quarter from weeks”

See references/periodic-rollup.md for the hierarchical synthesis process.

Topic Note Creation

Create a Commentary topic note that groups related notes under a common theme, with automatic backlinking.

Triggers: “Group these under a topic about X”, “Create topic note for [[A]], [[B]], [[C]]”

See references/topic-note.md for the creation workflow.

General Synthesis Guidance

If you encounter a synthesis need not covered by the specific workflows above, apply these general principles:

1. Identify the scope: What notes are being synthesized? What’s the output format?
2. Preserve provenance: Link back to sources so the synthesis is traceable
3. Level of abstraction: Match the abstraction level to the purpose (detailed for working notes, high-level for indexes)
4. Update related metadata: If the synthesis creates new relationships, update related properties bidirectionally
5. Use existing conventions: Follow the vault’s metadata system (categories, types, tags) when creating new notes