Use My PKM

Work with the user's personal knowledge management vault.

Vault Location

Path: $MY_PKM_PATH (environment variable)

Set this variable to your vault location:

export MY_PKM_PATH=~/Vaults/my-pkm/my-pkm

IMPORTANT: Always use $MY_PKM_PATH in all commands, never hardcode the path.

Vault Structure

$MY_PKM_PATH/
├── 0-inbox/           # Temporary notes (organize later)
├── 1-notes/           # Organized notes (may have subdirs)
└── my-kanban.md       # Kanban board for task management

Note: We do NOT use PARA method. Simple structure: inbox + notes.

Kanban Board Format

The Kanban board is just a markdown file with special formatting for the obsidian-kanban plugin.

File: $MY_PKM_PATH/my-kanban.md

Structure

---
kanban-plugin: board
---

## Column Name

- [ ] Task item
- [ ] Task with link [[Note Name]]

%% kanban:settings

{"kanban-plugin":"board","list-collapse":[false,false,false,false,false]}

%%

Key Points

• •YAML frontmatter: kanban-plugin: board
• •Headers (##) = Columns
• •Checkboxes (- [ ]) = Cards/Tasks
• •Wiki-links ([[Note Name]]) = Link to notes in vault
• •Settings block at bottom (auto-generated by plugin)

Current Columns

• •Backlog
• •This-week
• •WIP
• •W8-for-feedback
• •Done

Critical PKM Rules

1. Concise Kanban Task Titles

ALWAYS extract concise, actionable titles from verbose input.

Examples:

Pattern:

• •Extract: Action + Object (e.g., "Transfer money", "Call John", "Review spec")
• •Omit: When, why, who said what, contextual details
• •These details go into the linked note

2. Always Link Tasks to Detailed Notes

Every task with context MUST link to a note with full details.

Format:

## WIP

- [ ] Concise task title [[Note-Name]]

Note Template:

# Note-Name

**Due:** [When]

**Context:**
- [Detail 1]
- [Detail 2]
- [Detail 3]

**Status:** [Pending/In Progress/Blocked/Done]

Example:

Boss says: "Transfer money to wife tomorrow at 3pm, she needs it for groceries and also to pay the utility bill"

Kanban:

## WIP

- [ ] Transfer money to wife [[Transfer-2026-01-24]]

Note: $MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/Transfer-2026-01-24.md

# Transfer-2026-01-24

**Due:** Tomorrow 3pm (2026-01-25 15:00)

**Context:**
- Wife needs money for groceries
- Also to pay utility bill

**Amount:** [To be confirmed]

**Status:** Pending

3. Auto-Organize Notes into Subdirectories

When 5+ notes on the same topic exist, create a subdirectory and move them.

Detection:

• •Monitor 1-notes/ directory
• •Group notes by topic (finance, work, personal, health, etc.)
• •When count >= 5, auto-organize

Steps:

1. •Detect topic from note titles/content
2. •Create subdirectory: $MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/[topic]/
3. •Move related notes into subdirectory
4. •Verify wiki-links still work (Obsidian finds notes by name regardless of path)
5. •Report organization to user

Example:

Before:

1-notes/
├── Transfer-2026-01-20.md
├── Budget-Review.md
├── Invoice-Payment.md
├── Expense-Report.md
├── Tax-Prep-2026.md
└── Meeting-Notes.md

After (5+ finance notes detected):

1-notes/
├── finance/
│   ├── Transfer-2026-01-20.md
│   ├── Budget-Review.md
│   ├── Invoice-Payment.md
│   ├── Expense-Report.md
│   └── Tax-Prep-2026.md
└── Meeting-Notes.md

Report: "I organized five finance notes into a finance subdirectory"

4. Preserve Kanban Format

NEVER modify:

• •YAML frontmatter: kanban-plugin: board
• •Settings block: %% kanban:settings ... %%

ALWAYS preserve:

• •Exact column names
• •Checkbox format: - [ ] (space between brackets for incomplete)
• •Wiki-link format: [[Note Name]] (no .md extension)

Common Operations

Read Kanban Board

cat "$MY_PKM_PATH/my-kanban.md"

Use cases:

• •User asks "What's on my plate?"
• •User says "Show me my tasks"
• •Before moving a task (need to find it first)

Add Task to Kanban

Step 1: Extract concise title from user input

Step 2: Determine column (Backlog, This-week, WIP, W8-for-feedback, Done)

Step 3: Add task with wiki-link:

## [Column Name]

- [ ] Concise task title [[Note-Name]]

Step 4: Create detailed note in 1-notes/ with full context

Step 5: Report completion to user

Move Task Between Columns

Step 1: Read Kanban to find task

Step 2: Remove from source column

Step 3: Add to destination column (preserve wiki-link)

Step 4: Report completion

Example:

# User says: "Move transfer money task to Done"
# 1. Read Kanban, find in WIP: - [ ] Transfer money to wife [[Transfer-2026-01-24]]
# 2. Remove from WIP
# 3. Add to Done (change to checked): - [x] Transfer money to wife [[Transfer-2026-01-24]]
# 4. Respond: "Moved transfer money to Done"

Create New Note

In inbox (temporary/quick capture):

echo "Content" > "$MY_PKM_PATH/0-inbox/Note Title.md"

In notes (organized):

echo "Content" > "$MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/Note Title.md"

Best practice:

• •Quick captures → inbox
• •Linked from Kanban → 1-notes/ (organized)

Move Note from Inbox to Notes

mv "$MY_PKM_PATH/0-inbox/Note.md" "$MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/Note.md"

List All Notes

find "$MY_PKM_PATH" -name "*.md" -not -path "*/.obsidian/*" -not -name "my-kanban.md"

Search Notes Content

grep -r "search term" "$MY_PKM_PATH" --include="*.md" --exclude-dir=".obsidian"

Check for Auto-Organization Opportunities

# List all notes in 1-notes/ (excluding subdirs)
find "$MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes" -maxdepth 1 -name "*.md" -type f

# Count notes by topic (manual detection)
# Look for patterns in filenames: Transfer-*, Budget-*, Invoice-*, etc.

Working with Wiki-Links

Wiki-links ([[Note Name]]) in Obsidian reference the note by name, not path.

• •Link works regardless of folder: [[My Note]] finds 1-notes/My Note.md or 1-notes/finance/My Note.md
• •Use exact note name without .md extension
• •Links are case-sensitive
• •Advantage: Notes can be moved into subdirectories without breaking links

Best Practices

1. •Use environment variable - Always use $MY_PKM_PATH, never hardcode paths
2. •Preserve frontmatter - Keep kanban-plugin: board in my-kanban.md
3. •Preserve settings block - Don't modify the %% kanban:settings section
4. •Wiki-links for connections - Use [[Note Name]] to link related notes
5. •Inbox for quick capture - Put temporary/unorganized notes in 0-inbox/
6. •Notes for organized content - Move curated notes to 1-notes/
7. •Concise Kanban titles - Extract key action, put details in linked note
8. •Auto-organize proactively - Create subdirectories when notes accumulate

Example Workflows

Workflow 1: Add Task with Context (DETAILED)

User says: "Add to WIP: transfer money to wife tomorrow at 3pm, she needs it for groceries and utility bill"

Your steps:

1. •

   Extract concise title: "Transfer money to wife"

2. •

   Create note: $MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/Transfer-2026-01-24.md

   markdown

   # Transfer-2026-01-24
   
   **Due:** Tomorrow 3pm (2026-01-25 15:00)
   
   **Context:**
   - Wife needs money for groceries
   - Also to pay utility bill
   
   **Status:** Pending
   

3. •

   Read Kanban:

   bash

   cat "$MY_PKM_PATH/my-kanban.md"
   

4. •

   Add to WIP column: Find ## WIP section, add:

   markdown

   - [ ] Transfer money to wife [[Transfer-2026-01-24]]
   

5. •

   Save Kanban (preserve YAML and settings block)

6. •

   Respond: "Added to WIP: Transfer money to wife. Created note with details."

Workflow 2: Move Task

User says: "Move the transfer money task to Done"

Your steps:

1. •

   Read Kanban:

   bash

   cat "$MY_PKM_PATH/my-kanban.md"
   

2. •

   Find task in WIP:

   markdown

   ## WIP
   
   - [ ] Transfer money to wife [[Transfer-2026-01-24]]
   

3. •

   Remove from WIP

4. •

   Add to Done (mark as completed):

   markdown

   ## Done
   
   - [x] Transfer money to wife [[Transfer-2026-01-24]]
   

5. •

   Save Kanban

6. •

   Respond: "Moved transfer money to Done"

Workflow 3: Quick Inbox Capture

User says: "Quick note: John mentioned the Q4 review is next Thursday"

Your steps:

1. •

   Create in inbox:

   bash

   echo "John mentioned the Q4 review is next Thursday" > "$MY_PKM_PATH/0-inbox/Q4-Review-$(date +%Y%m%d).md"
   

2. •

   Respond: "Saved note to inbox"

Workflow 4: Auto-Organize Notes

You notice: 6 finance-related notes in 1-notes/:

• •Transfer-2026-01-20.md
• •Budget-Review.md
• •Invoice-Payment.md
• •Expense-Report.md
• •Tax-Prep-2026.md
• •Credit-Card-Statement.md

Your steps:

1. •

   Create subdirectory:

   bash

   mkdir -p "$MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/finance"
   

2. •

   Move notes:

   bash

   mv "$MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/Transfer-2026-01-20.md" "$MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/finance/"
   mv "$MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/Budget-Review.md" "$MY_PKM_PATH/1-notes/finance/"
   # ... move all 6 notes
   

3. •

   Verify wiki-links still work (Obsidian finds by name, not path)

4. •

   Respond: "I organized six finance notes into a finance subdirectory"

Workflow 5: What's on my plate?

User says: "What do I need to do today?"

Your steps:

1. •

   Read Kanban:

   bash

   cat "$MY_PKM_PATH/my-kanban.md"
   

2. •

   Extract tasks from This-week and WIP columns

3. •

   Count tasks: 3 found

4. •

   Respond naturally: "You have three tasks today: Transfer money to wife, Call John about project, and Review feature spec"

Disambiguation: PKM Backlog vs Project Backlog

Problem: Multiple "backlogs" exist:

• •PKM Kanban Backlog column
• •Project backlogs (e.g., Jarvis project backlog, trading-bot backlog)

Solution: Default to PKM + Context Clues

Default Rule:

• •"Add to backlog" → PKM Kanban Backlog column (most common)

Context Clues for Project Backlog:

• •Explicitly mentions project name: "Add to jarvis backlog", "Add to trading-bot backlog"
• •Clearly technical: "Add to backlog: implement voice feedback", "Add to backlog: fix database migration"
• •Keywords: "feature", "bug", "refactor", "implement", "deploy"

When Ambiguous:

• •Ask for clarification: "Do you want this in your personal backlog or the [project] backlog?"

Examples:

Notes

• •This vault uses Obsidian with the obsidian-kanban plugin
• •The vault is synced across computers (Obsidian Sync or similar)
• •Changes made via CLI will reflect in Obsidian UI immediately
• •Always use $MY_PKM_PATH environment variable for paths
• •Set MY_PKM_PATH in your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.)
• •Concise task titles + detailed notes = clean Kanban board
• •Auto-organize when notes accumulate (5+ threshold)