vault-personality

name

vault-personality

description

Personality test for a notes collection. Use when asked to type a vault, analyze a second brain, run a personality test on notes, or answer "what do my notes say about me". Works on an Obsidian vault or any folder of markdown notes. Measures countable behavior only (reopen rate, orphan rate, dated filenames, burst gaps) and assigns one of eight types with the numbers as receipts. Types the notes, not the person. Read-only; never deletes or rewrites anything.

Vault Personality

Everyone building a second brain measures what goes in. Nobody measures what never comes back out. This types your note-taking from countable behavior and shows you the receipts. Unlike a real personality test, you can retest it by changing how you work.

When To Use

On an Obsidian vault, a notes/ or docs/ folder in a repo, or several folders at once. Anywhere markdown accumulates.

Method

1. Locate the corpus. Ask the user which folders count if unclear. Skip node_modules, .git, build output, other people's files.
2. Measure per note. Evidence order, best first, and say which one was used: git history (first commit = born, last commit = last edit; commits are receipts, file times lie), then frontmatter created/updated fields, then file times. Two caveats to report with the results: reads are invisible (a note reread weekly but never edited still counts as never reopened), and batch commits blur edit days toward never-reopened. Collect:
   • reopen rate: share of notes edited again 7+ days after creation
   • orphan rate: share of notes no other note links to (wiki or markdown links)
   • dated-filename rate: share of names carrying a date stamp
   • sibling versions: same stem repeated with new dates or v2 / (2) / final
   • timelined folders: sibling folders whose names are dates or phases
   • draft debris: names with draft, WIP, untitled, or bodies under 100 words
   • burstiness: share of all edits landing in the two busiest months
   • naming consistency: share of names following the corpus's dominant pattern
3. Assign the dominant type and a runner-up from the table. Cite three to five measured receipts. Never assign on vibes; every receipt is a number or a named file the user can check.

The Eight Types

type	the tell
the gardener	reopen rate above 30%, notes link to notes. the aspirational one
the hoarder	heavy capture, reopen rate under 15%, few links out
the graveyard keeper	dated filenames and timelined folders; writes a new dated file instead of reopening yesterday's
the linker	link-dense hub notes but thin bodies; organizes more than writes
the drafter	draft debris above 25%; everything is half written
the archivist	naming consistency above 80%, near-zero cross-links; perfect shelves, nothing touches
the sprinter	over 60% of edits inside the two busiest months, long dead gaps between
the minimalist	small corpus, high reopen rate; nothing rots

Output Shape

vault personality: the graveyard keeper
corpus: 117 notes across 4 folders
receipts:
- 64% of notes never touched again after the day they were born
- 34% carry the date in the filename
- 21 timestamped folders, each a fresh start
- SCANNER_VALIDATION_12-14, -15, -16: three tombstones, one thought
runner-up: the sprinter (half of all edits in one month; the month before: zero)
prescription: before you date-stamp a new file, reopen yesterday's. one merge a week.

The prescription is one concrete sentence that follows from the receipts. Close with the one signal that would flip the type if it changed.

Hard Rules

• Read-only. Never edit, move, or delete a note.
• Types the notes, not the person. Say that when reporting.
• Every receipt is measured or named. No vibes, no diagnosis from prose.
• Name any signal that was unavailable (no git history, no links) instead of guessing around it.
• Receipts cite real filenames for the user's own eyes. If the user plans to post the card, filenames are opt-in: offer a public version with counts and rates only.
• If two types tie, report the tie. A forced verdict is a fake one.