Secondbrain Project Scaffolding

Scaffold a complete knowledge management system with microdatabases, VitePress portal, and Claude automation.

Overview

Initialize a new secondbrain project with:

• Microdatabase architecture (YAML + JSON Schema validation)
• VitePress documentation portal (custom theme, Vue components)
• Configurable entity types (ADRs, Discussions, Notes, Tasks, Custom)
• Claude automation (hooks, maximum freedom settings)

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Project Information

Ask the user for:

1. Project name (kebab-case, e.g., my-knowledge-base)
2. Target directory (default: ./<project-name>)
3. Use case (optional context for customization):
   • Personal knowledge base
   • Project documentation
   • Team collaboration

Step 2: Select Entity Types

Present entity selection with checkboxes:

## Entity Selection

Which entities would you like to enable?

[x] ADRs (Architecture Decision Records)
    - Numbered decisions with status workflow
    - Category-based numbering ranges

[x] Discussions (Meeting notes, conversations)
    - Monthly partitioned records
    - Participant tracking

[x] Notes (General knowledge capture)
    - Date-based IDs
    - Tag support

[ ] Tasks (Action items, todo tracking)
    - Sequential numbering
    - Priority and due dates

Would you like to define a custom entity type? (y/n)

Step 3: Configure Semantic Search

Present search configuration options:

## Search Configuration

Which semantic search would you like to enable?

[ ] qmd (Claude Code search)
    - CLI-based semantic search for AI
    - Requires: bun/npm install -g qmd (~1.5GB models)
    - Best for: Local development, Claude Code integration

[ ] Orama (VitePress browser search)
    - Client-side semantic search for humans
    - Adds ~30MB to browser (on-demand model loading)
    - Best for: Static sites, offline-capable portals

[x] Both (Recommended)
    - Dual index: qmd for Claude, Orama for browser
    - Same semantic search quality for AI and humans

[ ] None (Skip search)
    - Use basic VitePress search (keyword only)
    - Can add semantic search later with /secondbrain-search-init

Based on selection:

Step 5: Configure Maximum Freedom Settings

CRITICAL: Always propose creating .claude/settings.local.json with maximum permissions:

{
  "$schema": "https://json.schemastore.org/claude-code-settings.json",
  "_comment": "Secondbrain project - maximum freedom for knowledge management",

  "permissions": {
    "allow_web_search": true,
    "allow_web_fetch": ["*"],
    "allow_read": ["~/**", "/tmp/**"],
    "allow_bash": ["*"],
    "auto_approve_write": ["<project_path>/docs/**"]
  }
}

Show the settings and ask for confirmation before proceeding.

Step 6: Generate Scaffolding

Create the following structure:

<project-name>/
├── .claude/
│   ├── settings.local.json     # Max freedom permissions + hooks
│   ├── data/
│   │   ├── config.yaml         # Project configuration
│   │   ├── adrs/               # (if enabled)
│   │   │   ├── schema.yaml
│   │   │   └── records.yaml
│   │   ├── discussions/        # (if enabled)
│   │   │   ├── schema.yaml
│   │   │   └── YYYY-MM.yaml    # Current month
│   │   ├── notes/              # (if enabled)
│   │   │   ├── schema.yaml
│   │   │   └── records.yaml
│   │   └── tasks/              # (if enabled)
│   │       ├── schema.yaml
│   │       └── records.yaml
│   ├── lib/
│   │   └── tracking.py         # CRUD library with validation
│   ├── hooks/
│   │   ├── freshness-check.py
│   │   ├── sidebar-check.py
│   │   ├── session-context.py
│   │   └── search-index-update.py  # (if qmd enabled)
│   └── search/                     # (if qmd enabled)
│       └── (qmd index files)
├── docs/
│   ├── .vitepress/
│   │   ├── config.ts           # Navigation, sidebar, plugins
│   │   ├── theme/
│   │   │   ├── index.ts
│   │   │   ├── Layout.vue      # Giscus comments
│   │   │   ├── custom.css
│   │   │   └── components/
│   │   │       ├── EntityTable.vue
│   │   │       └── SearchBox.vue   # (if Orama enabled)
│   │   └── data/
│   │       └── <entity>.data.ts # Per enabled entity
│   ├── index.md                # Home page
│   ├── adrs/                   # (if enabled)
│   │   ├── index.md
│   │   └── TEMPLATE.md
│   ├── discussions/            # (if enabled)
│   │   ├── index.md
│   │   └── TEMPLATE.md
│   ├── notes/                  # (if enabled)
│   │   └── index.md
│   └── tasks/                  # (if enabled)
│       └── index.md
├── package.json                # VitePress dependencies
├── qmd.config.json             # (if qmd enabled)
├── CLAUDE.md                   # Project instructions
└── .gitignore

Step 7: Generate Files

For each enabled entity, generate from templates in ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/templates/:

1. Microdatabase files:

   • config.yaml from scaffolding/microdatabase/config.yaml.tmpl
   • Entity schema.yaml from entities/<entity>/schema.yaml
   • Entity records.yaml initialized empty

2. VitePress files:

   • config.ts from scaffolding/vitepress/config.ts.tmpl
   • Theme files from scaffolding/vitepress/theme/
   • Data loaders from scaffolding/vitepress/data/

3. Documentation:

   • Home page from scaffolding/docs/index.md.tmpl
   • Entity index pages from scaffolding/docs/entity-index.md.tmpl
   • Templates from entities/<entity>/TEMPLATE.md

4. Automation:

   • settings.local.json from scaffolding/claude/settings.local.json.tmpl
   • tracking.py from scaffolding/lib/tracking.py.tmpl
   • Hooks from hooks/ (copy to project)

5. Search (if enabled):

   • qmd: qmd.config.json from scaffolding/search/qmd.config.json.tmpl
   • qmd: Copy search-index-update.py hook
   • Orama: SearchBox.vue from scaffolding/vitepress/theme/components/SearchBox.vue.tmpl
   • Orama: build-search-index.ts from scaffolding/vitepress/search/build-search-index.ts.tmpl
   • Orama: Add dependencies to package.json

Step 8: Show Summary

## Secondbrain Created Successfully!

**Project:** my-knowledge-base
**Location:** /path/to/my-knowledge-base
**Entities:** ADRs, Discussions, Notes

### Structure Created

.claude/
├── settings.local.json    ✓ Maximum freedom permissions
├── data/                  ✓ Microdatabases with schemas
├── lib/tracking.py        ✓ CRUD operations
└── hooks/                 ✓ Automation hooks

docs/
├── .vitepress/            ✓ Custom theme with EntityTable
├── adrs/                  ✓ Decision records
├── discussions/           ✓ Meeting notes
└── notes/                 ✓ Knowledge capture

### Next Steps

1. Navigate to project:
   cd my-knowledge-base

2. Install dependencies:
   npm install

3. Start development server:
   npm run docs:dev

4. Create your first decision:
   /secondbrain-adr infrastructure my-first-decision

5. Add a note:
   /secondbrain-note my-first-note

### Available Commands

- /secondbrain-search <query>          — Semantic search (if enabled)
- /secondbrain-adr <category> <title>  — Create ADR
- /secondbrain-note <title>            — Create note
- /secondbrain-discussion <who> <topic> — Document discussion
- /secondbrain-freshness               — Check what needs attention
- /secondbrain-entity <name>           — Add custom entity type
- /secondbrain-search-init             — Enable semantic search later

Template Variables

When generating files, replace these variables:

Entity Configuration

Each entity has standard configuration:

<entity_slug>:
  enabled: true
  label: "Entity Label"
  singular: "Entity"
  doc_path: docs/<entity_slug>
  freshness:
    stale_after_days: 30

Additional Resources

Reference Files

For detailed entity schemas and templates:

• references/entity-schemas.md — Predefined entity schema definitions

Related Skills

• secondbrain-search — Semantic search your knowledge base
• secondbrain-search-init — Enable search on existing project
• secondbrain-entity — Add custom entity types
• secondbrain-adr — Create Architecture Decision Records
• secondbrain-note — Create notes
• secondbrain-task — Create tasks
• secondbrain-discussion — Document discussions
• secondbrain-freshness — Freshness report