Personal Knowledge System

A structured personal knowledge base using a modified Dewey Decimal system. Designed for use with Obsidian and Claude Code (or any AI assistant that can read local files).

Two zones: a library of universal reference material classified by Dewey Decimal, and work docs tied to current projects.

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Getting Started

1. Clone this repo (or download it as a .zip) and copy over /knowledge and _templates into your own Obsidian vault.
2. Open it as an Obsidian vault (or use any markdown editor)
3. Review knowledge/codes.md for the Dewey classification system
4. Drop content into knowledge/inbox/ and classify it later
5. Use _templates/library-article.md when ingesting articles (each article gets its own folder)
6. Use _templates/library-companion.md for companion files (transcripts, supplementary notes)
7. To automate ingestion with an AI assistant, see examples/workflows/ingest-articles.md and examples/workflows/tidy-knowledge.md

Structure

knowledge-demo/
├── _templates/              Obsidian templates (article, etc.)
├── knowledge/
│   ├── library/             Dewey-classified reference (frameworks, thinkers, theory)
│   │   ├── 000-computer-science-and-information/
│   │   ├── 100-philosophy-and-psychology/
│   │   │   └── 150-psychology/
│   │   │       └── example-cognitive-biases/   ← each article is a folder
│   │   │           ├── example-cognitive-biases.md
│   │   │           └── notes.md                ← companion file
│   │   ├── 200-religion/
│   │   ├── 300-social-sciences/
│   │   ├── 400-language/
│   │   ├── 500-science/
│   │   ├── 600-technology/
│   │   │   └── 658-general-management/
│   │   │       └── example-first-90-days/
│   │   │           └── example-first-90-days.md
│   │   ├── 700-arts-and-recreation/
│   │   ├── 800-literature/
│   │   └── 900-history-and-geography/
│   ├── work/                Project-specific docs (PRDs, research, runbooks)
│   ├── inbox/               Workbench — dump anything here, classify later
│   │   └── queue.md         URLs saved from the browser shortcut (see below)
│   ├── ideas/               Half-formed concepts (staging area)
│   ├── voice-samples/       Writing voice reference material
│   ├── archive/             Dead projects
│   ├── codes.md             Dewey code reference (authoritative)
│   └── README.md            Knowledge system guide
└── README.md                You are here

Key Concepts

Library (Dewey-classified)

Universal knowledge that outlives any single project. Articles, frameworks, thinker notes, theory.

• Range folders group by Dewey hundreds (e.g., 600-technology/)
• Category folders nest under ranges (e.g., 600-technology/658.8-marketing-management/)
• Article folders nest under categories — each article gets its own folder (article-slug/article-slug.md). Companion files (transcripts, PDFs, supplementary notes) go in the same folder with generic names (transcript.md, source.pdf).
• You can target a broad area by number: "look at the 100 section" covers all philosophy and psychology

Work

Project-specific docs organized by domain. Create subfolders as needed for your projects (PRDs, runbooks, research, reference).

Inbox

Drop anything here — links, voice transcripts, screenshots, brain dumps. Classify later, either manually or with an AI assistant.

Ideas

Half-formed concepts that aren't ready for the library or a task. Staging area for things that need more thought.

Workflows (optional)

If you use Claude Code or another AI assistant that can read local files, two workflows are included:

• examples/workflows/ingest-articles.md — turn one URL, a batch of URLs, or an index page into clean markdown filed under the right Dewey code. Triggered by phrases like "Ingest this article: " or a /ingest-articles slash command. Also handles cross-linking — when a new article is ingested, existing library entries that link to that URL are rewritten to point at the local file instead.
• examples/workflows/tidy-knowledge.md — process anything sitting in knowledge/inbox/ and file it into library/ or work/ based on the Dewey codes in knowledge/codes.md.

Both workflows are plain markdown — adapt or replace them to fit your assistant of choice.

Saving articles from your browser (optional)

If you want to get real real, you can save articles straight from your browser. They land in a queue (knowledge/inbox/) for the ingest workflow to process whenever you're ready.

Install the Save to Knowledge Library shortcut (macOS). You configure two things in it:

• Append Text to {folder} — point this at your knowledge/inbox/ folder
• File Path within the folder — the filename to append URLs to (e.g., queue.md)

Then add this bookmarklet to your browser's bookmarks bar:

javascript:void(window.open('shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=Save to Knowledge Library&input=text&text=%27+encodeURIComponent(location.href)))

Click it on any page to drop the URL into the queue.

If you use Safari, you can skip the bookmarklet and use Share > Shortcuts > Save to Knowledge Library instead.

Customization

• Edit knowledge/codes.md to add Dewey subcategories relevant to your work
• Add templates to _templates/ for your common document types
• Create domain folders under knowledge/work/ for your active projects
• Add writing samples to knowledge/voice-samples/ if you want AI to match your voice