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local-vault

Writing & research

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Updated 10-15 21:50

About this skill

local-vault

Turn a folder of raw files into a Markdown vault that an LLM can grep, and then answer questions over that vault responsibly.

Mental model: SOURCE = raw files (source of truth). VAULT = one .md per source file, carrying retrieval frontmatter (abstract / tags / synonyms) + a source backlink. The vault is the layer the LLM reads; the raw files are where the user goes to verify.

There are two distinct jobs — figure out which the user wants:

  • A. Convert / sync — they dropped files in and want them in the vault → run the pipeline (scripts/sync.py).
  • B. Retrieve / answer — they want answers from an existing vault → follow the Retrieval & feedback protocol below. Do not run the pipeline for this.

A. Convert / sync

One-time setup (do this for the user if not already done)

  1. Python deps (user-level, no venv): 
    python3 -m pip install --user requests python-dotenv pypdf pymupdf4llm openpyxl python-pptx
  2. pandoc (for docx/rtf/odt/epub): brew install pandoc (macOS) / distro pkg.
  3. ffmpeg (only for audio/video transcription): brew install ffmpeg (macOS) / distro pkg. The whisper engine is auto-selected by platform — mlx-whisper on Apple Silicon (GPU), faster-whisper elsewhere (cross-platform CPU/CUDA) — and auto-installed after the user consents at the first-run prompt (no manual pip needed). On that first run with audio/video present, the tool shows the model-size options (tiny ~75 MB / small ~480 MB / turbo ~1.6 GB / large-v3 ~3 GB) and lets the user pick or skip; the choice is saved to .env (KB_WHISPER_MODEL) so it never re-asks. Fully local — no token/quota; the model downloads once, then offline.
  4. claude CLI on PATH — the pipeline shells out to claude -p for frontmatter enrichment and PPT-image OCR. If absent, those steps are skipped (not fatal).
  5. Configure paths — two ways:
    • Guided (recommended for the user): just run python3 scripts/sync.py in a terminal. On first run (when paths aren't configured yet) it launches an interactive wizard: it asks for the raw-files folder + the vault folder (+ optional MinerU token), creates them, writes scripts/.env, and prints how to use the tool. Then they re-run to convert.
    • Manual: copy scripts/.env.example → scripts/.env and set KB_SOURCE_DIR (raw files) and KB_TARGET_DIR (the Markdown vault), both absolute. MINERU_TOKEN is optional (only for legacy .doc/.ppt, .html, scanned PDFs, images — get one at https://mineru.net).
    • When you (Claude) run the setup for the user, prefer the manual path: ask them for the two folders, then write scripts/.env directly (the wizard only fires on an interactive TTY, which a claude -p subprocess is not).

Run it

python3 scripts/sync.py

On macOS, the first run (wizard or any normal run) also drops a clickable sync.command into the knowledge-base root — the parent of the SOURCE folder, with the absolute path to sync.py baked in (tool and data live apart — under /plugin install the script sits in ~/.claude/plugins/cache/…, far from the data folders, so a relative launcher can't work). After that the daily loop is: drop files into SOURCE → double-click sync.command → read the .md in VAULT. The launcher is idempotent; a stale auto-generated copy left in the SOURCE folder by an older version is removed automatically (a user-written one is never touched). If a different sync.command already exists at the root, an interactive terminal prompts update / skip; non-interactively, our own out-of-date launcher self-heals silently while a user-customized one is left alone.

First terminal run with no config → the setup wizard (above). Once .env exists:

  • Incremental: only files in SOURCE without a matching .md in VAULT are processed. To force a re-convert, delete that .md first, then re-run.
  • No MinerU token needed for the local paths (xlsx/csv/docx/pptx/md/txt/code + digital PDF). Token is validated lazily, only when a file actually needs MinerU.
  • Orphan staging: if a source file is deleted, its tool-generated .md — together with its attachments/<stem>/ images — is moved to an orphaned/<date>/ folder (never hard-deleted — the user may have added notes), and the now-empty attachments/ is pruned. User-written .md (no converter marker) is never touched.

Routing (which tool per file type)

Type Tool Notes
.xlsx openpyxl dual-read per sheet: value grid (with A/B/C + row coords) + formulas list
.csv / .tsv csv → Markdown table truncates past CSV_MAX_ROWS
.pdf (digital) pymupdf4llm local, fast, no quota; if PYMUPDF4LLM_WRITE_IMAGES (default on), images ≥ PYMUPDF4LLM_IMAGE_SIZE_LIMIT (12% of page) → attachments/, then filtered by min-bytes + de-dup. If pymupdf4llm crashes (e.g. missing-font), a local plain-text pass is tried before MinerU
.pdf (scanned) MinerU vlm (fallback) triggered when chars/page is too low
.docx/.rtf/.odt/.epub pandoc images extracted to attachments/
.html/.htm pandoc (local) style/class/id attrs + layout div/section/span stripped first, so only content survives; tables kept lossless. No MinerU/token needed
.pptx python-pptx title/body/tables/charts/notes + images; smart OCR (see below)
.md/.markdown/.txt passthrough copied verbatim; only frontmatter added, body untouched
.json/.yaml/.py/… code passthrough wrapped in a fenced code block + frontmatter
audio .mp3/.m4a/.wav/… + video .mp4/.mov/.m4v whisper (local; engine auto-selected: mlx-whisper on Apple Silicon, else faster-whisper) speech-to-text, no token/quota; first run asks which model (shows sizes) + auto-installs the engine on consent (a model already cached on this machine is reused without re-asking); per-segment [mm:ss] timestamps + detected language; video = audio-track only (ffmpeg pulls it from the container). Needs ffmpeg; best on clear speech — songs/music transcribe poorly
legacy .doc/.ppt, images MinerU (cloud) local libs can't read these
anything else (numbers/pages/zip/…) skipped reported at the end with a fix hint — never silently dropped

PPT smart OCR

Images embedded in slides are OCR'd via claude -p (its Read tool reads the image), but to avoid spawning one slow claude per decorative logo: de-duplicates identical images (OCR once), skips images below OCR_MIN_IMAGE_BYTES, and runs unique content images concurrently (OCR_MAX_WORKERS). Native PowerPoint chart objects are read directly (categories + series values → a table). Set OCR_PPTX_IMAGES = False to turn OCR off entirely (images are still extracted + referenced).

Frontmatter written to every .md

---
source: "[[…/<file>.<ext>]]"   # backlink to the raw file
source_type: pdf | xlsx | docx | pptx | md | …
converted_by: pymupdf4llm | pandoc | python-pptx | excel-openpyxl | csv | passthrough | whisper | "MinerU vlm" | …
# enrich (best-effort via claude -p, may be missing on failure):
abstract: |
  3-sentence summary.
auto_tags: [..]
synonyms: [English + 中文 同义词]   # so any phrasing greps the right doc
key_data: ["important numbers/facts"]
---

Tuning (scripts/config.py)

PYMUPDF4LLM_MIN_CHARS_PER_PAGE (scanned-PDF threshold) · PYMUPDF4LLM_WRITE_IMAGES (digital-PDF image extraction on/off; .env: KB_PDF_NO_IMAGES=1 to disable) · PYMUPDF4LLM_IMAGE_SIZE_LIMIT (extraction floor as fraction of page area; default 0.12) · PYMUPDF4LLM_IMAGE_MIN_BYTES (drop images smaller than this; default 6000) · OCR_PPTX_IMAGES / OCR_MIN_IMAGE_BYTES / OCR_MAX_WORKERS (PPT image OCR) · EXCEL_MAX_CELLS_PER_SHEET · CSV_MAX_ROWS · ENRICH_FRONTMATTER.

B. Retrieval & feedback protocol (answering over the vault)

When the user asks you to answer from / compare across their vault, read the vault directly (grep + read .md). While doing so, self-monitor and surface problems — don't just answer.

Startup vault health check (first vault question of a session)

find "$KB_TARGET_DIR" -name "*.md" -not -path "*/.obsidian/*" | wc -l   # file count

Set a rough scale and only mention it if there's a problem: small (<100 files) agentic grep is plenty · medium (100–500) watch keyword hit counts · large (500–2000) suggest a semantic-search layer (e.g. Smart Connections) · huge (>2000) recommend a real RAG layer.

Self-checks after a complex query (warn only when triggered)

Signal Tell the user
one grep hits >30 files keyword too broad — give a narrower one, or add semantic search
read 5+ files, still no answer maybe a synonym gap, or it's genuinely not in the vault — list what you read
same topic asked repeatedly offer to build an index/MOC for it
"which chapter covers X" needs full read-through offer to enrich an outline for that doc
a doc is missing abstract its enrich likely failed — offer to redo it
question needs exact numbers/formulas remind them to click the source backlink and verify against the original

Topic queries → MOC entry order + evolution

A MOC (Map of Content) is the user's entry note for a theme — frontmatter type: moc, living in <vault>/索引/ (or index/).

  1. For a cross-document topic question, first check for a relevant MOC; if one exists, read it first and use it as the answer skeleton.
  2. If none and the user keeps asking about this theme, offer to create a minimal MOC (frontmatter + a ## related files list — nothing more).
  3. The MOC's structure should grow from real usage, never be pre-designed. When you notice a pattern (a sub-topic asked a lot, a recurring judgment, an open question), propose sedimenting it — the user decides, you draft.

Frequency limits (avoid nagging): at most one MOC-evolution proposal per session; skip if this MOC was proposed-on <7 days ago; require a real multi-signal pattern, not one offhand question; keep proposals to a single > 💡 … blockquote.

Do not

  • Don't append a "tips" wall to every answer — only speak up when a signal fires.
  • Don't run the conversion pipeline just to answer a question.
  • Don't batch-edit the vault's .md files (user notes and tool output coexist).
  • Don't invent content because grep missed — "it's not in the vault" beats a guess.
  • Don't copy source text into a MOC — wiki-link + one-line annotation only.

Notes

  • The pipeline does not depend on a running Claude session — it's a CLI; it only shells out to claude -p for the optional enrich/OCR steps.
  • It never rewrites document bodies — all automation is frontmatter-only, so there's zero content-loss risk from the tool itself.
  • Canonical, test-covered source lives in the author's dev project; the scripts/ here are a packaged snapshot.