KB-OS — Knowledge Base Operating System

The unified vault at D:\FSS\KB\ is the operating system for managing Talbot’s businesses and (eventually) personal domains.

SSOT for all information, providing clear context for AI agents and humans
Context for any scope (departments, single/multiple/all businesses).
- Memory system: automatic, learning, efficient. See KB-OS-Context.
Local KB
- privacy
- off-line functionality
No vendor lock-in
- with AI models or KB format (Obsidian markdown files in folders)
AI model independence
- can us local and multiple models for token efficiency
Integrated task/project management. See SMTM_System.

Vault Layout

D:\FSS\KB\
├── Core\          — Cross-business: governance, AI, processes, logs, misc
├── MBR\           — myBetterRates
├── SDC\           — $MART DEBT Coach
├── FSS\           — Talbot Stevens
└── .obsidian\     — Vault config (plugins, themes, settings — one for all)

Key rule: Content that applies to two or more businesses lives in Core\. Content specific to one business lives in that business’s folder.

File	Purpose
`Core\CONSTITUTION.md`	Vault charter — mission, structure rules, governing principles
`Core\DASHBOARD.md`	Operational hub — current focus, recent decisions, active projects
`<Biz>\<Dept>\JOB_DESCRIPTION.md`	Dept scope, responsibilities, and SSOT links

Start at CONSTITUTION to understand the whole; start at DASHBOARD for current work.

DASHBOARD.md vs Folder Note: DASHBOARD.md is reserved for elevated hubs — vault root, business roots, an Ongoing-Project home, or a purpose-built dept index (e.g. Core/AI/Skills/DASHBOARD.md). Ordinary content folders use a Folder Note instead (Waypoint-generated, see Folder Notes.md) — cheap, auto-maintained, the right default everywhere else. Where a folder is both (an Ongoing-Project home that’s also an ordinary Obsidian folder), DASHBOARD.md wins and serves double duty — no separate Folder Note is created for it. Worked example: Core/Processes/Projects/KB-OS/DASHBOARD.md.

Standard Department Structure

Each business (MBR, SDC, FSS) uses a dept-first layout:

Folder	Contains
`Strategy\`	Identity, positioning, IP, competitive analysis
`IT\`	Systems, processes, dev standards, UX
`Mktg\`	Brand, content, distribution, growth
`Offerings\`	Products, services, pricing
`Notes\` or `Misc\`	Notes without a clear dept home
`_WorkingOn\`	Active tasks, projects, research

Not every dept exists until there’s content to put in it (activate on first need).

Core Departments

Dept	Contents
`AI\`	Claude Code, skills, prompting guides, AI tool notes
`Cancer50\`	Cross-business pledge coordination
`IT\`	Cross-business IT (apps, infrastructure)
`Logs\`	AI, Branding, Dev, Decisions, Projects, Snapshots, System logs
`Misc\`	Clippings, Glossary, meeting notes, miscellaneous
`Processes\`	SMTM, KB-OS, Software Dev, cheatsheets
`Utils\`	Custom and external utility references

Task Management (SMTM)

Full guide: Core\Processes\Simple Markdown Task Management\SMTM_System.md

Key rules (SMTM v5.2+ dept routing):

Dept-owned tasks: <Biz>\<Dept>\Tasks\<Name>.md (e.g. Core\IT\Tasks\, Core\Processes\Tasks\) — no date prefix
KB-native Ongoing Project tasks: self-contained in Core\<Dept>\Projects\<name>\Tasks\ (e.g. KB-OS)
Cross-dept / vault-level tasks: Core\_WorkingOn\Tasks\<Name>.md; master tracker: Core\_WorkingOn\Tasks\_active.md
Logs: YYYY-MM-DD_Description.md in the owning dept’s Logs\ (date prefix on logs, not tasks)
Scratch: _WorkingOn\Tasks\_tmp.md per business — Talbot’s personal scratch space, never modified by AI without explicit request
Scaffold a new Task: right-click any Tasks\ folder → New File — the SMTM Templater wizard fires via file regex .*/Tasks/.* (v5.4) and auto-registers the task
/task-start and /task-continue auto-load the owning dept’s charter chain (JOB_DESCRIPTION → Staff file → project STATUS) from the task’s path (2026-07-09); team org chart: Agent-Team.md

Ideas Workflow (Capture-Routing)

Full guide: Core\Processes\Capture-Routing.md (consolidated from Core\Ideas-Workflow.md, 2026-07-09)

Summary:

Capture — bullet in appropriate <Dept>\Inbox.md (or _tmp.md when routing uncertain)
Promote — when ready to act, convert to TaskNote in <Dept>\Tasks\<Name>.md
Archive — completed/parked tasks move to <Dept>\Tasks\archive\YYYY-MM\

Mobile capture: Obsidian mobile → dept Inbox directly.

Research Artifacts (added 2026-08-14)

_WorkingOn\ means active — so a finished research report that remains foundational must not stay there. Research follows the same three-stage lifecycle as tasks, owned by the dept whose decisions it informs:

Stage	Location	Meaning
In flight	`<Biz>\_WorkingOn\Research\<topic>.md`	Being produced; may change daily
Enduring	`<Biz>\<Dept>\Research\<topic>.md`	Complete, frozen, still load-bearing for that dept’s decisions
Superseded	`<Biz>\<Dept>\Research\archive\YYYY-MM\`	Replaced by newer research, or the decision it informed is closed

The split that matters: freeze the evidence, keep the synthesis living.

A research report is a dated snapshot of what the evidence said. Once complete it is frozen — corrections only, never rewritten. It lives in <Dept>\Research\.
A synthesis note is the living SSOT that acts on that evidence. It lives in the dept folder proper and is edited freely.

Worked example (2026-08-14): Behavioural-Solutions is the living Strategy SSOT; Behavioral-Knowing-Doing-Gap and Behavioral-Barriers-Playbook are frozen in Core\Processes\Research\; the Gemini research they superseded sits in Core\Processes\Research\archive\2026-08\.

Keeping them apart prevents two failure modes: a living document quietly losing the citations that justified it, and a frozen report being edited until it no longer describes what was actually found.

Conventions

Rule	Detail
Folder Notes (Waypoint)	Ordinary content folders get a Folder Note (Waypoint-generated MOC) — see `Folder Notes.md`. Elevated hubs (vault/business root, Ongoing-Project home, dept index) use `DASHBOARD.md` instead.
`Misc\` per business	Notes without a clear dept home go here, not spread across folders.
Wikilinks	Use bare `filename` (no path prefix) for stability across restructures — path-prefixed links break on folder rename. Exception: when the same filename exists in more than one vault location (`DASHBOARD.md`, `Focus.md`, `Vision.md`, `Strategic Plan.md`, `UPGRADES.md`, …), always path-qualify: `[Focus](/mbr/_workingon/focus/)` — bare links resolve first-occurrence-wins, non-deterministically.
`link` vs `!embed`	A plain wikilink (`Note`) points at content — the note still has to duplicate the text alongside the link, which is itself an SSOT violation waiting to happen. An embed (`!Note`, or `!Note` for just one section) transcludes the target’s actual content — nothing is duplicated, there’s exactly one place to edit. Use embeds whenever a note’s job is to display another note’s SSOT content (not just reference it) — e.g. `MBR/_WorkingOn/Focus.md` and `SDC/_WorkingOn/Focus.md` embed their business’s `Strategy/Identity/Mission.md` rather than restating the mission text. Renders natively in Obsidian; any downstream build (e.g. the monorepo focus-page loaders, `sites/{mbr,sdc}/src/utils/load-focus-content.ts`) has to resolve embeds itself outside Obsidian. See Mission-SSOT (`Focus/logs/`) for the worked example.
SSOT	One home per concept. Never copy content to a second location — create a pointer instead.
Git	Single repo at `D:\FSS\KB\`. Commit after any session that adds substantive content.

AI Agent Usage

CLAUDE.md files — each _WorkingOn\ has a CLAUDE.md providing project-specific context to Claude Code sessions. The global ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md sets cross-project behavior.

Graphify — knowledge graph lives at Core\Misc\graphify-out\. To regenerate:

Run /graphify from the main Claude Code session (not a background agent — API key required)
.graphifyignore at vault root excludes plugin JS, .git\, graphify-out itself

Claude Code entry points:

Vault-level work: open session in D:\FSS\KB\
MBR work: open session in D:\FSS\KB\MBR\_WorkingOn\ (picks up CLAUDE.md there)
Core/cross-business: open in D:\FSS\KB\Core\_WorkingOn\

Git Repository

Single repo initialized 2026-06-09 at D:\FSS\KB\. Initial commit: b157a9e (791 files).

.gitignore excludes: **/graphify-out/, workspace.json, plugin compiled JS, OS artifacts. .gitattributes: * text=auto (normalizes CRLF/LF across platforms).

No remote configured — local-only as of 2026-06-09.

Obsidian Bases plugin (core plugin — Settings → Core plugins → Bases)

Issue	Wrong	Correct
Code fence name	```bases (plural)	```base (singular)
Filter format	`property/condition/value` YAML (Dataview style)	Expression syntax
Equality filter	`status = "ready"`	`status == "ready"` (double `==`)
Not-equal filter	—	`status != "complete"`
Grouping	`groupBy: risk` (not supported)	Sort by field — no native groupBy
Folder scope	`from: "_WorkingOn/Tasks"`	`file.inFolder("_WorkingOn/Tasks")` in filters
Column selection	`properties: [...]` in code block (ignored)	Click Properties (≡) in table toolbar — Obsidian writes `order:`
Nested boolean groups	`and:` list containing a nested `or:` sub-list	Confirmed broken (2026-07-07): a Core/DASHBOARD.md query nesting `or:` under `and:` rendered as a table but silently ignored the recency filter — every matching file showed regardless of `file.mtime`. Splitting into two separate flat `and:`-only blocks (no nesting) fixed it immediately, with the exact same `file.mtime` filter unchanged. Always use flat `and:` lists — one block/view per distinct path scope instead of `or:`-combining paths.
Relative date filter	—	Confirmed working (2026-07-07): `file.mtime > now() - "14 days"` filters correctly when used in a flat `and:` list (no nested `or:`). The date arithmetic itself was never the problem — see Nested boolean groups above.

Minimal working Bases block:

filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("_WorkingOn/Tasks")
    - status != "complete"
views:
  - type: table
    name: All Active Tasks
    sort:
      - property: risk
        direction: DESC

Deviating from this structure causes silent failure — the block renders as raw text with no error message.