Capability Report: Obsidian Knowledge Graph
Date: 2026-04-09 Author: Q (Quality System) Project: Unified Canonical Architecture (FR-6) Status: Operational
What Was Built
A standardized knowledge graph of 62 interlinked notes in /mnt/d/Obsidian/value-first/ representing the complete Value-First intellectual architecture. Scrivener transformed the vault from a loose collection of notes into a canonical reference surface by applying a consistent frontmatter schema across all 62 notes, preserving 496 wikilinks, and creating 4 new index notes to cover previously unrepresented entity domains.
What Problem It Solves
Before standardization, the Obsidian vault contained methodology notes with inconsistent or absent frontmatter. Notes had no machine-readable type classification, no Sanity IDs to bridge to CMS content, no file_path values to bridge to monorepo source files, and no view tags to map notes to the Four Unified Views. An agent or tool querying the vault could not programmatically determine what type of entity a note represented, which Sanity document it corresponded to, or which monorepo skill file it drew from.
The lack of standardization also meant the Obsidian vault was invisible to the canonical query layer. methodology-query.js and friend-query.js check for Obsidian presence as part of their cross-system alignment audits. Without standardized frontmatter, those audits could not detect drift between Obsidian notes and their counterparts in Sanity, the monorepo skills directory, or the Content Vault.
Standardized Frontmatter Schema
Every note in the vault now carries this frontmatter structure:
---
title: "Note Title"
type: entity_type # One of 15 entity types (see below)
canonical_id: null # Reserved for Content Vault ID
sanity_id: "slug" # Sanity document slug (or null)
aliases: [Alias1, Alias2] # Obsidian alias resolution
tags: [tag1, tag2] # Categorical tags
view: ucv|urv|ubc|ute|null # Unified View mapping
file_path: "relative/path" # Monorepo source file
---
Some entity types carry additional fields:
- Traps:
trap_number,violates(array of Core Beliefs violated) - People:
role(organizational title) - Methodology:
layer(framework hierarchy position: foundation, journey, visibility, structure)
Entity Type Distribution (15 Types Across 62 Notes)
| Type | Count | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| trap | 12 | Leads Trap, Advertising Trap, B2B Trap |
| value_path_stage | 8 | Audience, Researcher, Champion |
| person | 7 | Chris Carolan, V, Sage, Pax, Ryan Ginsberg |
| organization | 6 | Value-First Team, Collective, Academy |
| methodology | 6 | Value-First Framework, The Value Path, Five Core Beliefs |
| show | 5 | AI Daily, Office Hours, Tech Stack Reimagined |
| core_belief | 5 | Natural Value Flow, Empowerment, Wholeness |
| unified_view | 4 | UCV, URV, UBC, UTE |
| org | 3 | Customer Org, Operations Org, Finance Org |
| plans | 1 | Plans index |
| sessions | 1 | Sessions index |
| organizations | 1 | Organizations index |
| offering | 1 | AI-Native Shift |
| educational_content | 1 | Educational Content index |
| article | 1 | Value-First Delivery Manifesto |
Cross-System Bridging
Monorepo File Linking
53 of 62 notes have non-null file_path values pointing to their monorepo source. These links connect Obsidian notes to the actual skills, identity files, and data directories they describe:
- Methodology notes link to
skills/methodology/*.md - People notes link to identity prompt files (
/mnt/d/V/v-identity-prompt.md) orpeople/configs - Show notes link to Sanity schema locations
- Index notes link to their corresponding monorepo directories
Sanity CMS Linking
30 notes carry sanity_id values that match Sanity document slugs:
- All 12 traps (e.g.,
sanity_id: "leads-trap") - All 8 Value Path stages (e.g.,
sanity_id: "audience") - 5 shows (e.g.,
sanity_id: "office-hours") - 4 people (e.g.,
sanity_id: "chris-carolan") - 1 article (e.g.,
sanity_id: "value-first-delivery-manifesto-...")
Unified View Mapping
38 notes are mapped to one of the Four Unified Views through the view field:
| View | Notes Mapped |
|---|---|
| UCV (Unified Customer View) | 16 |
| UBC (Unified Business Context) | 10 |
| UTE (Unified Team Enablement) | 6 |
| URV (Unified Revenue View) | 6 |
| null (framework-level, spans views) | 24 |
Notes with view: null are framework-level entities (Five Core Beliefs, Value-First Framework, AI Leadership Team) that span multiple views rather than belonging to one.
Wikilink Network
The vault contains 496 wikilinks connecting notes to each other. The graph structure reflects the methodology hierarchy:
- Value-First Framework is the hub, linking outward to all four layers (Core Beliefs, Value Path, Unified Views, Three-Org Model)
- The Value Path links to all 8 stage notes, which cross-reference shows, traps, and people
- 12 Complexity Traps cross-reference Core Beliefs they violate and Value Path stages they threaten
- Four Unified Views link to the organizational structures that implement them
- People link to organizations, shows, and the leadership structure
Four New Index Notes
Scrivener created 4 index notes to cover entity domains that had no Obsidian representation:
| Note | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
Plans.md |
plans | Index of project plans, PRDs, planning frameworks |
Organizations.md |
organizations | Index of 18 active clients and VF ecosystem entities |
Sessions.md |
sessions | Index of session intelligence sources and processing pipeline |
Educational Content.md |
educational_content | Index of courses, lessons, playbooks, assessments |
Each index note documents where data lives across systems (filesystem, HubSpot, Sanity, Content Vault, Upstash) and links to the agents and methodology concepts that connect to the domain.
How to Verify It Works
# Confirm 62 notes exist
find /mnt/d/Obsidian/value-first/ -name "*.md" -type f | wc -l
# Expected: 62
# Confirm all notes have standardized frontmatter
cd /mnt/d/Obsidian/value-first && grep -rl '^type:' . | wc -l
# Expected: 62
# Count wikilinks
cd /mnt/d/Obsidian/value-first && grep -rho '\[\[[^]]*\]\]' . | wc -l
# Expected: ~496
# Count notes with Sanity IDs
cd /mnt/d/Obsidian/value-first && grep -rh 'sanity_id:' . | grep -v 'null' | wc -l
# Expected: 30
# Count notes with monorepo file_path
cd /mnt/d/Obsidian/value-first && grep -rh 'file_path:' . | grep -v 'null' | wc -l
# Expected: 53
# Count notes mapped to Unified Views
cd /mnt/d/Obsidian/value-first && grep -rh 'view:' . | grep -v 'null' | wc -l
# Expected: 38
# Check entity type distribution
cd /mnt/d/Obsidian/value-first && grep -rh '^type:' . | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn
# Verify cross-system alignment via canonical query
node /mnt/d/Projects/value-first-operations/scripts/canonical/methodology-query.js --audit
# Obsidian column should show checkmarks for all methodology entities
What This Enables
Cross-system drift detection. The canonical query tools (
methodology-query.js,friend-query.js) already check for Obsidian presence in their--auditoutput. Standardized frontmatter withsanity_idvalues enables precise matching -- not filename heuristics -- between Obsidian notes and Sanity documents.Programmatic vault queries. Any agent can parse the YAML frontmatter to find all notes of a given type, all notes mapped to a specific Unified View, or all notes linked to a specific monorepo skill file. This turns the vault from a visual browsing tool into a queryable knowledge surface.
Graph visualization fidelity. With consistent entity types and view mappings, Obsidian's graph view can be filtered and colored by Unified View, entity type, or framework layer. The vault becomes a navigable map of the complete intellectual architecture.
Foundation for Content Vault population. The
canonical_idfield (currently null across all notes) is reserved for the Content Vault record ID. When the Vault'smethodologytable rows are linked to Obsidian notes, bidirectional navigation between the Vault and the knowledge graph becomes possible.Onboarding acceleration. A new contributor or AI agent encountering the Value-First methodology for the first time can open the vault, start at Value-First Framework, and navigate through 496 wikilinks across every concept, stage, trap, belief, view, person, show, and organizational structure. The standardized frontmatter tells them where each concept lives in the codebase.
Ownership
- Vault location:
/mnt/d/Obsidian/value-first/(62 notes across 10 directories) - Standardization agent: Scrivener
- Content authority: V (methodology architecture), Sage (people and relationship notes)
- Quality authority: Q (frontmatter schema compliance, cross-system alignment)
- Canonical query integration:
methodology-query.js --audit(Obsidian column)