second-brain

name	second-brain
description	Daily second brain workflow for AI agents. Maintain a personal knowledge base using the raw/wiki/outputs pattern. Run daily to compile sources, update wiki, and generate outputs.
disable-model-invocation	true

Second Brain — Daily Knowledge Base Workflow

Based on Karpathy's LLM Knowledge Base pattern and Ryan Sarver's Chief of Staff system.

What This Does

Turns your agent into a compound knowledge system. Every day:

1. Sources go into raw/
2. AI compiles them into wiki/
3. Questions generate outputs/
4. Memory compounds over time

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Prerequisites

• A git repo for your knowledge base (e.g., twilson63/agents-kb)
• Write access to that repo
• The ability to read files, search the web, and commit changes

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Directory Structure

agents-kb/
├── README.md              ← top-level index
├── agents/
│   ├── clu/
│   │   ├── index.md       ← memory index (updated daily)
│   │   ├── context.md     ← persistent context
│   │   ├── raw/           ← source material (today's inputs)
│   │   │   └── YYYY-MM-DD.md
│   │   ├── wiki/          ← compiled knowledge
│   │   │   ├── projects.md
│   │   │   ├── people.md
│   │   │   ├── glossary.md
│   │   │   └── insights.md
│   │   └── outputs/       ← generated answers
│   │       └── YYYY-MM-DD.md
│   └── _template/
├── shared/
│   ├── index.md
│   ├── projects.md
│   ├── people.md
│   └── glossary.md
└── CONTRIBUTING.md

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Daily Workflow

Step 1: Capture (Morning)

Run at the start of each session or on heartbeat.

Check:

• Emails — any urgent messages?
• Calendar — upcoming events in next 24-48h?
• Mentions — social notifications?
• News — relevant AI/industry updates?

Write to: agents/<name>/raw/YYYY-MM-DD.md

# Raw — YYYY-MM-DD

## Emails
- [summary of important emails]

## Calendar
- [upcoming events]

## News
- [relevant updates]

## Observations
- [anything the agent noticed]

Step 2: Compile (After capture)

Read today's raw file and any recent raw files from the last 7 days.

Update wiki files:

• wiki/projects.md — new projects, status changes
• wiki/people.md — new people, updated context
• wiki/insights.md — new insights, key takeaways
• wiki/glossary.md — new terms

Rules:

• Prefer updating over appending
• Keep wiki files current, not chronological
• Add <!-- YYYY-MM-DD --> date comments for recent additions
• Cross-link between pages like [this](people.md)

Step 3: Generate (On demand)

When asked a question or when preparing for meetings:

Write to: agents/<name>/outputs/YYYY-MM-DD.md

# Outputs — YYYY-MM-DD

## Pre-meeting: [Meeting Name]
- Context: [from wiki/people.md]
- Recent history: [from raw/]
- Talking points: [from wiki/insights.md]

## Answer: [Question]
- [Answer with citations from wiki/]

Step 4: Curate (Weekly)

Once per week, review and prune:

1. Read all raw/ files older than 7 days
2. Extract anything not yet in wiki/ — add it
3. Archive processed raw files (move to raw/archive/)
4. Review index.md — is it current?
5. Review outputs/ — any answers worth keeping in wiki/?
6. Commit: agent-name: weekly curation — compiled N raw files, updated M wiki pages

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Commit Conventions

clu/raw: add 2026-04-08 capture
clu/wiki: update projects.md — added membrane-2
clu/outputs: add pre-meeting brief for board call
clu: weekly curation — compiled 5 raw files
shared: update glossary — added MCP

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Integration with AGENTS.md

Your agent's local workspace AGENTS.md should reference this workflow:

## Daily Knowledge Base

- Raw captures: `agents-kb/agents/<name>/raw/YYYY-MM-DD.md`
- Compiled wiki: `agents-kb/agents/<name>/wiki/`
- Generated outputs: `agents-kb/agents/<name>/outputs/`
- Shared knowledge: `agents-kb/shared/`

Run second-brain workflow on every heartbeat.

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The Two Memory Layers

This pattern implements the dual-layer memory that makes agent knowledge compound:

Layer	Location	What	How Often
Daily logs	raw/YYYY-MM-DD.md	Everything that happened today	Every session
Curated memory	wiki/*.md	Distilled, organized knowledge	Updated after each raw write
Shared memory	shared/*.md	Cross-agent knowledge	Updated when relevant

The key insight: most people skip the wiki layer. That's the whole advantage. Raw logs accumulate noise. Wiki distills signal.

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Self-Improvement Loop

Once per week, after curation:

1. Review your own wiki/ — are there gaps?
2. Check shared/ — is your knowledge consistent with other agents?
3. Identify improvements — what would make your next week more effective?
4. Update context.md — add new preferences, patterns, lessons learned
5. Update your SKILL.md or workspace files if needed

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Quick Start

# Clone the repo
gh repo clone twilson63/agents-kb
cd agents-kb

# Create your agent's directory (if new)
mkdir -p agents/<your-name>/{raw,wiki,outputs,notes}

# Copy template
cp agents/_template/index.md agents/<your-name>/index.md
cp agents/_template/context.md agents/<your-name>/context.md

# Start capturing
echo "# Raw — $(date +%Y-%m-%d)\n\n## Observations\n" > agents/<your-name>/raw/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md

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Sources

• Karpathy's LLM Knowledge Base Gist
• Ryan Sarver's Chief of Staff on OpenClaw
• Corey Ganim's 80/20 Breakdown
• Nick Spisak's Tutorial