📇 Update Vault Index Skill

Automatically sync .claude/vault_index.md with your actual MOCs/, Projects/, and Reading/ directories.

PURPOSE

The vault index is the entry point to your research graph (per CLAUDE.md rules). It must stay current to reflect:

•All MOCs (research areas)
•All projects categorized by status (Seed/Idea/Active/Writing/Finished)
•Quick access to recent papers

WORKFLOW

1. Scan vault structure

Scan directories:

•MOCs/ → extract all MOC file names
•Projects/ → extract all project file names + status field
•Reading/ → optional: list recent papers (last 5-10)

Extract metadata:

•For each project: read YAML frontmatter to get status field
•For each MOC: extract 1-line description if present

2. Categorize projects

Group projects by status (maintain this order):

•Seed: status = seed (early-stage ideas generated by Claude)
•Idea: status = idea (refined projects approved by human)
•Active: status = active (actively working on it)
•Writing: status = writing (writing paper and finishing project)
•Finished: status = finished (completed)

Sort alphabetically within each group.

3. Build index sections

Structure (preserve exactly):

code

# Vault Index

## Research Areas (MOCs)
- [[MOC Name]] - brief description (1 line)
- ...

## Seed Projects
- [[Project Name]] - brief description (1 line)
- ...

## Idea Projects
- [[Project Name]] - brief description (1 line)
- ...

## Active Projects
- [[Project Name]] - brief description (1 line)
- ...

## Writing Projects
- [[Project Name]] - brief description (1 line)
- ...

## Finished Projects
- [[Project Name]] - brief description (1 line)
- ...

Get descriptions from:

•MOC files: first non-heading paragraph or subtitle
•Project files: "Seed Idea" or "Current Working Idea" field
•Keep descriptions to 1 line max

4. Generate minimal descriptions

Rules:

•Extract from actual file content (don't invent)
•Max 1 line (70 chars)
•Use present tense
•Keep factual, avoid marketing language

Example:

code

- [[Persona Fingerprinting to Prevent Emergent Misalignment]] -
  Preserve identity fingerprint during finetuning to prevent misalignment

5. Update vault_index.md

•Replace entire file (sections only, no other changes)
•Preserve markdown formatting
•Verify all wiki links use exact file names
•Verify no broken links

6. Verify output

✅ All MOCs present with descriptions ✅ All seed projects listed (status: seed) ✅ All idea projects listed (status: idea) ✅ All active projects listed (status: active) ✅ All writing projects listed (status: writing) ✅ All finished projects listed (status: finished) ✅ Projects in correct order (Seed → Idea → Active → Writing → Finished) ✅ Alphabetical within each section ✅ Wiki links match exact file names in [[brackets]] ✅ No orphan files referenced

TOKEN EFFICIENCY

Optimizations:

•Read only YAML frontmatter + 1-2 lines per file
•Use grep to extract status field: status:\s*
•Single pass through each directory
•No deep content analysis
•Use file listing instead of reading metadata separately

Fast execution:

•~50-100 tokens for full vault with 20+ projects

OUTPUT RULES

•Minimal, structural updates only
•One-line descriptions max
•Bullet format only
•No prose explanation needed in output
•Example: "Index updated: 4 MOCs, 5 seed, 0 idea, 1 active, 0 writing, 0 finished"

SELF-CHECK

✅ Did I read all MOCs, projects from actual directories? ✅ Did I extract status field from each project file? ✅ Did I categorize correctly (Seed/Idea/Active/Writing/Finished)? ✅ Did I maintain correct section order (Seed → Idea → Active → Writing → Finished)? ✅ Did I use exact file names in [[wiki links]]? ✅ Did I get descriptions from actual file content? ✅ Did I keep descriptions to 1 line max? ✅ Did I verify no broken links in output? ✅ Did I preserve vault_index.md structure exactly?