# Ki Repo Kb > Interact with a Knowledge Islands knowledge base: save AI outputs as notes, update existing notes, query the base, distil a conversation into notes, or write a session digest — and audit a base against the structure model, bring it into line, or scaffold a new one. Targets the Knowledge Islands structure (Calendar / Pillars / Resources / Streams, plus inbound `+` and outbound `-`), so it assumes the zone model rather than asking for it; only a few store-level bindings come from the host project. Triggers: "save to my notes", "save to the knowledge base", "add to the KB", "what do my notes say about", "search my notes", "update the note on", "capture this", "write a session digest", "audit my knowledge base", "is my base structured right", "set up a new knowledge base". For the `Streams` zone (proposals, the Enactment Process) use the `ki-repo-kb-streams` skill it delegates to; for general Markdown or TOML house style (not note content) use `ki-authoring`. - Skill: `knowledgeislands/ki-repo-kb` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 32 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add knowledgeislands/ki-repo-kb` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/knowledgeislands/ki-repo-kb/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: knowledgeislands (https://skillmd.com/u/knowledgeislands) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/knowledgeislands/ki-repo-kb --- # Knowledge Islands KB You are helping the user interact with a **Knowledge Islands** knowledge base - a markdown store organised to the Knowledge Islands structure. This skill carries the operating modes and the structure itself; only a handful of store-level details come from the host project. It assumes the zone model below and does not ask the project to redefine it. ## The Knowledge Islands structure A Knowledge Islands base is one markdown store with a fixed set of five zones, flanked by an inbound and an outbound staging area. The five zones — `Calendar/`, `Pillars/`, `Resources/`, `Streams/`, `Admin/` — each carry an index note of the same name; `+/` (inbound) and `-/` (outbound) are staging areas, not zones, and carry no such index. | Folder | Holds | | ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `+/` | Inbound staging - unfiled captures awaiting routing.† Exempt from most conventions. Not a zone. | | `Calendar/` | Time-stamped records: daily, meeting, session, weekly, monthly notes. | | `Pillars/` | Internal canonical knowledge - the base's primary subject matter. One folder per pillar.† | | `Resources/` | External reference material that exists independently of this base. | | `Streams/` | Work in motion — adapter-owned records and recurring-work templates. ※ | | `-/` | Outbound staging - produced artefacts (session digests, compiled outputs).‡ Not a zone. | | `Admin/` | Base-agnostic governance and operations. | † Any zone may be held under a different local folder name — a base mid-migration, or one that simply names a zone differently. That is declared as a **zone alias** in the base's config, not treated as a different zone - see [Project bindings](#project-bindings). ※ Migrates to `Pillars/` once settled. Its internal structure and process are owned by the `ki-repo-kb-streams` skill. † `+/_TRADES/` receives cross-repository briefs; their shared repository lifecycle belongs to `ki-repo`. ‡ `-/_TRADES/` holds cross-repository briefs; their shared repository lifecycle belongs to `ki-repo`. ### Admin/ subdivisions The `Admin/` zone carries two canonical subdivisions: | Folder | Holds | | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `Admin/Governance/` | Decisions, charters, conformance records, and structural agreements for the base. | | `Admin/Operations/` | Day-to-day operational artefacts: activities, runbooks, and operational logs. | Each subdivision carries an index note of the same name (`Governance.md`, `Operations.md`). The root `Admin/MEMORY.md` remains the memory-cascade anchor and is not replaced by these. Absence of either subdivision is a WARN (not FAIL) — a base may legitimately omit one if that concern is not yet active; presence without an index note is also a WARN. The specific artefact types under these subdivisions have separate owners. This skill delegates Activity notes to its declared `ki-repo-kb-activities` dependency and Live Artifact pairs to `ki-repo-kb-live-artifacts`; selecting `ki-repo-kb` therefore runs both first. Decision Records remain independently selected through `ki-decision-records`. Each focused skill defers the parent zone structure and KI-wide frontmatter standard back here. ### Charter and Conformance baseline When `Admin/Governance/` is present, two documents are expected there: | File | Holds | | --- | --- | | `Admin/Governance/Charter.md` | Scope, purpose, and owner of the base. Created on EDUCATE; kept current by the base's owner. | | `Admin/Governance/Conformance.md` | The active skill set governing this base, with adoption dates. Updated when skills change. | Both are checked by the mechanical audit and created as stubs by EDUCATE and CONFORM. Absence is a WARN (not FAIL) — a base that has no `Governance/` folder yet is not penalised for missing them. **Pillars** are the second-level unit of organisation: each whole knowledge base is an "island"; within it, a Pillar is a major strand of its subject matter (a case, a client, a domain, a theme). A base may use one Pillar or many. ### Linking within a base Notes inside a base link to one another and to their zone index notes with Obsidian `[[wikilinks]]`, not relative markdown paths — the five index-carrying zones are `[[Calendar]]`, `[[Pillars]]`, `[[Resources]]`, `[[Streams]]`, and `[[Admin]]`. Body links use the shortest unique path (bare filename if unique, the minimum disambiguating prefix otherwise); a `## Contents` list uses the full path with an alias (`[[Full/Path/Note|Note Name]]`). This governs **note content inside a base** — it is independent of, and does not conflict with, the relative-markdown-link convention these skill files themselves use (see ki-agentic-harness `docs/installation.md`, "Linking inside skills"). ### Routing test Produced outputs (session digests, compiled artefacts, handoffs) **bypass this test** — they always go to `-/` (see [Mode DIGEST](references/mode-digest.md)). For all other notes, most-specific match wins: 1. Time-bound record -> `Calendar/`. 2. Active, in-progress work -> `Streams/` (the `ki-repo-kb-streams` skill owns sub-routing within the zone and its adapter-owned lifecycle). 3. Canonical internal knowledge -> `Pillars//`. 4. External reference (would exist without this base) -> `Resources/`. 5. Unsure -> `+/.md` at the most specific applicable level. ### Memory cascade Root index `Admin/MEMORY.md` lists the active Pillars. Where the base is Pillar-scoped, scope a session to one Pillar and load `Pillars/<Pillar>/MEMORY.md` (and any per-Pillar profile index) before substantive work. Treat other Pillars as off-limits unless the user switches. ## Note templates The skill ships zone-scoped starter templates under `assets/templates/<zone>/`. EDUCATE copies the relevant stubs when scaffolding a new base. QUERY can list available templates when the user asks (`?templates`). A base may override or extend these by declaring a `[skills.ki-repo-kb.templates]` table in its `.ki.toml` — keys are zone names, values are paths relative to the base. | Zone | Template | Use for | | ------------ | -------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | | `Admin/` | [activity.md](assets/templates/admin/activity.md) | New activity note (see `ki-repo-kb-activities`). | | `Calendar/` | [session.md](assets/templates/calendar/session.md) | Session notes. | | `Pillars/` | [note.md](assets/templates/pillars/note.md) | Canonical internal knowledge notes. | | `Resources/` | [source.md](assets/templates/resources/source.md) | External reference entries. | Templates are stubs — headings, frontmatter keys, and inline `<!-- prompts -->`. They do not carry content; the skill fills in what the user provides during SAVE / EXTRACT / EDUCATE. ## Project bindings Almost everything is fixed by the structure above. Only these come from the host project - take the narrative bindings from the auto-loaded `CLAUDE.md`, then the root memory index. **Declarative overrides** (the zone alias and the lists below) are read from the base's `.ki.toml` `[skills.ki-repo-kb]` table instead — see the `ki-repo` skill for the shared-file contract; validate your own table (warn on an unrecognised key) and never read another skill's. A base never ships a `<base>-kb` skill: what it needs differently is declared here (data) or in its `CLAUDE.md` (prose), never forked into a coupled skill. - **Notes store** — canonical alias and location of the notes store. _Default:_ the connected base; refer to it as "the base". - **Sources store** — whether a paired sources store exists, and how note extracts mirror its paths. _Default:_ none. - **Scope usage** — whether the base is Pillar-scoped (declare an active Pillar) or single-Pillar / flat. _Default:_ Pillar-scoped. - **Zone names** — the canonical folder per zone, overridable per base. A `[skills.ki-repo-kb.zones]` sub-table maps any canonical zone or staging area to this base's local folder name (e.g. `Pillars = "<local folder>"`); resolve every zone reference through it. Useful for a base mid-migration (drop the entry once the folder is renamed) or one that simply names a zone differently. _Default:_ the canonical names (`Calendar` / `Pillars` / `Resources` / `Streams` / `Admin`, plus the `+` / `-` staging areas). - **Required frontmatter** — the keys every note carrying frontmatter must include. Declare them with `required_frontmatter = ["tags", "status", "author"]` under `[skills.ki-repo-kb]` to have the checker enforce their presence mechanically (extra keys stay free; keys are always `snake_case`). _Default:_ none declared — required frontmatter stays a judgment call resolved from the host `CLAUDE.md`. - **Writing standards** — language variant, citation format, structural norms. _Default:_ British English; cite source paths; concise prose. - **Domain pre-flight** — any extra reads before drafting (profiles, domain context). Declare them as `preflight = ["<path-or-glob>", …]` under `[skills.ki-repo-kb]` — a list of note paths/globs to read before drafting, which the checker validates _down_. _Default:_ none beyond the memory cascade. ## Step 1 - Load context 1. The host `CLAUDE.md` (auto-loaded) is the authority on the bindings above; follow it. Read the root `Admin/MEMORY.md` for active Pillars. 2. If the base is Pillar-scoped, declare or confirm the active Pillar, then load `Pillars/<Pillar>/MEMORY.md` and any profile index. Confirm: "Session scoped to [Pillar]." If the user switches Pillar mid-session, re-scope before proceeding. 3. Pre-flight before writing anything substantive: scope cascade loaded; if the work engages a named person/entity with a profile note, read it first; run any domain pre-flight declared in `.ki.toml` (`preflight`) or the host `CLAUDE.md`. ## Operating modes Step 2 - determine the mode and load its procedure. Invoked as `help` / `-h` / `?`, it explains itself and stops — the generated HELP block (name, purpose, invocation, modes, off-ramps), taking no action. With no mode it does the same, then, in an interactive session only, offers the mode choice via `AskUserQuestion`, prompting for any `argument-hint` target the chosen mode shows. The shared model above — the five zones, the routing test, the **memory cascade**, the project bindings, and Step 1 — is what every mode needs and stays loaded; each mode's _procedure_ lives in its own on-demand file, so read only the one the request selects. Like every governance skill it carries the universal four **AUDIT · CONFORM · EDUCATE · REFRESH** (EDUCATE scaffolds a base); its base-specific modes are the session-level **IMPROVE** (continuous improvement) and the note-ops **DIGEST · EXTRACT · QUERY · SAVE · UPDATE**. Modes are named and alphabetical. | Mode | Fires on | Read before acting | | ------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | AUDIT | "audit my knowledge base / is it structured right" | [mode-audit.md](references/mode-audit.md) | | CONFORM | "bring my base into line / fix the structure" | [mode-conform.md](references/mode-conform.md) | | DIGEST | "write a session digest" | [mode-digest.md](references/mode-digest.md) | | EXTRACT | "distil this conversation into notes" | [mode-extract.md](references/mode-extract.md) | | IMPROVE | continuous-improvement sweep (at session end) | [mode-improve.md](references/mode-improve.md) | | EDUCATE | "set up a new knowledge base" | [mode-educate.md](references/mode-educate.md) | | QUERY | "what do my notes say / search my notes" | [mode-query.md](references/mode-query.md) | | REFRESH | "is the KB skill still current" (on its declared cadence) | [mode-refresh.md](references/mode-refresh.md) | | SAVE | "save to my notes / capture this" | [mode-save.md](references/mode-save.md) | | UPDATE | "update the note on X" | [mode-update.md](references/mode-update.md) | The memory cascade and the canonical-zone Enactment gate are part of the shared model above — they apply on every fire, before any mode procedure loads. ## Notes - This skill assumes the Knowledge Islands structure. If a base does not follow it, or a binding cannot be resolved and no default fits, ask the user rather than guess. - A base supplies its specifics by **declaration**, not a coupled skill: structured data (zone aliases, required frontmatter, pre-flight reads) in its `.ki.toml` `[skills.ki-repo-kb]` table, narrative bindings (store alias, scope, writing standards) in its `CLAUDE.md`. There is no `<base>-kb` extension skill; relationships to sibling skills are composition (e.g. the `Streams` zone delegates to `ki-repo-kb-streams`). Normative detail: [the Knowledge Islands knowledge-base standard](references/standards-knowledge-base.md). Checkable criteria: [the generated rubric](references/rubric.md), enforced mechanically by `ki repo audit --skill ki-repo-kb`. After changing the catalogue under `scripts/rubric/items/`, regenerate the published catalogue with `ki dev skill rubric ki-repo-kb --write`. KI-wide frontmatter standard (universal fields and the `note_type` taxonomy): [the frontmatter standard](references/standards-frontmatter.md).