autograph — typed vault engine

One schema. One graph. Works on any vault.

Overview

No hardcoded domains, types, or paths. The agent discovers structure from data, builds a schema, then enforces it. All scripts share common.py. Zero external dependencies (stdlib only, API calls via urllib).

Quick Reference: 5 Workflows

| Workflow | When to use | Entry point | |----------|-------------|-------------| | BOOTSTRAP | New vault / after import / first setup | discover.py → enforce.py → graph.py health | | HEALTH | Daily maintenance / on request | graph.py health → fix → moc → decay | | CREATE | New knowledge card | Schema lookup → write file → link → touch | | SEARCH & LINK | Find info + strengthen connections | Hub → links → target; graph.py orphans → connect | | ORCHESTRATE | Automated multi-agent workflows (no API keys) | orchestrate.py health\|bootstrap |

Workflow 1: BOOTSTRAP (raw vault → structured graph)

When to use: New vault, bulk import, first setup. Run once, then switch to HEALTH.

Full guide: references/bootstrap-workflow.md

Summary (10 phases)

Discover: uv run scripts/discover.py <vault-dir> --verbose > /tmp/discovery.json
Generate schema: Script baseline (generate_schema.py) + agent swarm (swarm_prepare.py → Wave 1 haiku → swarm_reduce.py → Wave 2 sonnet). NEVER skip the swarm.
Review: Human approves schema. Never auto-apply.
Bootstrap + Enforce: engine.py init + enforce.py --apply
Link cleanup: link_cleanup.py --apply (before enrichment)
Tag enrich: enrich.py tags --apply (via OpenRouter API)
Deduplicate: dedup.py --apply (before link enrichment)
Link enrich: enrich.py swarm-links --apply (always swarm-links, never links)
MOC generation: moc.py generate
Verify: graph.py health + enforce.py → target 90+/100

Critical Rules

Always run Phase 2B (agent swarm). Script alone cannot classify unstructured content.
Always use swarm-links, not links (0.3% vs 81.6% match rate).
Always dry-run first — run without --apply before applying.
Dedup before link enrich — prevents links to merged/trashed files.

Workflow 2: HEALTH (daily graph maintenance)

When to use: Daily upkeep, after edits, or when health score drops. This is the most common workflow.

Decision Logic

1. Run `graph.py health <vault-dir>` → check score
2. If health < 90 → investigate:
   a. broken_links > 0  → `graph.py fix <vault-dir> --apply`
   b. orphans > 5       → connect orphans to hub files (see Workflow 4)
   c. desc_coverage < 70% → add descriptions to files missing them
3. Run `moc.py generate <vault-dir>` → regenerate indexes
4. Run `engine.py decay <vault-dir>` → recalculate relevance + tiers
5. Run `graph.py health <vault-dir>` → confirm improvement

Thresholds & Action Triggers

| Metric | Good | Action needed | |--------|------|---------------| | Health score | ≥90 | <90: investigate broken links, orphans | | Broken links | 0 | >0: graph.py fix --apply | | Orphan files | <5 | ≥5: connect to hubs (Workflow 4) | | Description coverage | ≥80% | <70%: add descriptions | | Stale cards (>90d) | <20% | >30%: engine.py creative to resurface |

Commands

uv run scripts/graph.py health <vault-dir>           # health check
uv run scripts/graph.py fix <vault-dir> --apply       # fix broken links
uv run scripts/moc.py generate <vault-dir>            # regenerate MOCs
uv run scripts/engine.py decay <vault-dir>            # decay cycle (Ebbinghaus)
uv run scripts/engine.py decay <vault-dir> --dry-run  # preview decay changes
uv run scripts/engine.py stats <vault-dir>            # tier distribution
uv run scripts/engine.py creative 5 <vault-dir>       # resurface forgotten cards

Workflow 3: CREATE (new card with immediate linking)

When to use: Creating any new vault card. Always link immediately — orphan cards are wasted knowledge.

Steps

Type: Pick from schema node_types

Path: Reverse-lookup domain_inference to find target folder:

# domain_inference maps path→domain. To find folder for domain "crm":
for path_prefix, domain in schema['domain_inference'].items():
    if domain == 'crm':
        target_folder = path_prefix  # e.g. "work/crm/"
        break

Frontmatter: Write description (search snippet, not title repeat), tags (2-5, lowercase, kebab-case), status from type's enum
LINKING PROTOCOL (mandatory): a. Add ## Related section with [[hub]] file of the domain
- Hub = _index.md or MEMORY.md of that domain b. Find 2-3 sibling cards of same type+domain → add [[links]]
- uv run scripts/graph.py backlinks <vault> <hub> → find siblings
- Or: read vault-graph.json → filter nodes by type+domain c. Run uv run scripts/engine.py touch <new-file>
Verify checklist:
- [ ] Hub linked?
- [ ] 2+ related cards found?
- [ ] description ≠ title repeat?
- [ ] tags: 2-5, lowercase, kebab-case?
- [ ] status ∈ schema enum?

Templates: references/card-templates.md

Workflow 4: SEARCH & LINK (find + strengthen connections)

When to use: Looking up information in the vault, or strengthening weak areas of the graph.

Navigation (Hub → Links → Target)

Determine domain from the topic (work, personal, research, etc. — whatever your schema defines)
Start at hub: _index.md or MEMORY.md of that domain
Follow links — max 2 hops from hub to target
Fallback: uv run scripts/graph.py backlinks <vault> <target> for reverse links

Orphan Rescue

uv run scripts/graph.py orphans <vault-dir>        # find orphans
# For each orphan: connect to nearest hub or sibling card

Link Strengthening

# Files with <2 links → enrich
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-... uv run scripts/enrich.py swarm-links <vault-dir> --apply
uv run scripts/graph.py health <vault-dir>          # verify improvement

Workflow 5: ORCHESTRATE (automated multi-agent workflows)

When to use: Instead of running scripts manually. No API keys — the Claude Code agent does all judgment directly.

Phase 0: Script sequencing

python3 scripts/orchestrate.py health <vault-dir>      # automated health workflow
python3 scripts/orchestrate.py bootstrap <vault-dir>    # full bootstrap (one command)

health runs: graph check > fix broken links > link cleanup > MOC > decay > verify. bootstrap runs: enforce > cleanup > tags > dedup > swarm-links > MOC > verify.

Phases 1-3: Agent judgment (no API keys)

The agent (you) does the judgment directly — read prepared data, decide, write results.

# Phase 1: prep dedup clusters for YOUR review
python3 scripts/orchestrate.py dedup-prepare <vault-dir>
# -> writes .graph/dedup-review-input.json
# -> YOU read clusters, mark approved=true, then: dedup.py --apply-manifest

# Phase 2: prep domain catalogs for YOUR link suggestions
python3 scripts/orchestrate.py link-prepare <vault-dir>
# -> writes .graph/link-review-input.json
# -> YOU read catalogs, suggest links per domain, write batch results

# Phase 3: prep graph data for YOUR semantic analysis
python3 scripts/orchestrate.py graph-prepare <vault-dir>
# -> writes .graph/graph-analysis-input.json
# -> YOU analyze contradictions, missing links, stale hubs, write findings

For Phases 1-3: run the prep command, read the output JSON, do the analysis yourself (you ARE the LLM), write results back. Use Agent tool for parallel domain work in Phase 2.

Decay Engine (Ebbinghaus)

The decay system models memory with three key mechanisms:

1. Access count (spacing effect)

Each touch increments access_count in frontmatter. More retrievals = slower forgetting:

strength = 1 + ln(access_count)
effective_rate = base_rate / strength
relevance = max(floor, 1.0 - effective_rate * days_since_access)

Example: a card touched 5 times has strength = 1 + ln(5) ≈ 2.6, decaying ~2.6x slower than a card touched once.

2. Domain-specific rates

Different content types decay at different rates. Configure in schema decay.domain_rates:

| Type | Rate | Half-life (~) | Rationale | |------|------|---------------|-----------| | contact | 0.005 | 100 days | People don't become irrelevant quickly | | crm | 0.008 | 62 days | Deals have medium lifecycle | | learning | 0.010 | 50 days | Knowledge fades moderately | | project | 0.012 | 42 days | Projects have defined timelines | | daily | 0.020 | 25 days | Daily notes lose relevance fast | | (default) | 0.015 | 33 days | Fallback for unlisted types |

3. Graduated recall

Touch promotes one tier at a time, not a direct jump to active:

archive → cold → warm → active

Each promotion sets last_accessed to a midpoint date, so without re-touch the card naturally drifts back.

Backward compatibility

Files without access_count → default=1 → 1+ln(1)=1.0 → rate unchanged
Files without type → default rate applies
Existing calls calc_relevance(days, schema) → work unchanged (new params optional)

Maintenance Commands

uv run scripts/moc.py generate <vault-dir>                                       # MOC generation
uv run scripts/engine.py decay <vault-dir>                                       # decay cycle
uv run scripts/engine.py touch <vault-dir>/path/card.md                          # touch (graduated)
uv run scripts/engine.py creative 5 <vault-dir>                                  # creative recall
uv run scripts/engine.py stats <vault-dir>                                       # stats
uv run scripts/graph.py backlinks <vault-dir> path/to/card                       # backlinks
uv run scripts/graph.py orphans <vault-dir>                                      # orphans
uv run scripts/graph.py fix <vault-dir> --apply                                  # fix links
uv run scripts/daily.py extract <memory-dir> <vault-dir>                         # entity extraction
uv run scripts/engine.py init <vault-dir> --dry-run                              # bootstrap bare files
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-... uv run scripts/enrich.py swarm-links <vault-dir> --apply  # link enrichment
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-... uv run scripts/enrich.py tags <vault-dir> --apply         # tag enrichment
uv run scripts/link_cleanup.py <vault-dir> --apply                               # link cleanup

Scripts

| Script | Purpose | |--------|---------| | common.py | Shared: parse FM, walk, domain, decay (Ebbinghaus), wikilinks | | discover.py | Workflow 1: scan vault, output enum candidates | | generate_schema.py | Workflow 1: turn discovery JSON into draft schema | | swarm_prepare.py | Workflow 1: bin-pack vault into agent batches | | swarm_reduce.py | Workflow 1: consolidate + validate schema | | enforce.py | Workflow 1: validate + autofix against schema | | link_cleanup.py | Workflow 1/4: remove phantom wikilinks from ## Related | | enrich.py | Workflow 1/4: tags + swarm-links (catalog-oriented link enrichment) | | dedup.py | Workflow 1: safe merge + .trash/ | | graph.py | Workflow 2/4: health score, link repair, backlinks, orphans | | moc.py | Workflow 2: MOC generation per domain | | orchestrate.py | Workflow 5: multi-agent orchestration (health, bootstrap, dedup-review, link-enrich, graph-analyze) | | engine.py | Workflow 2/3: decay (Ebbinghaus), touch (graduated), creative, stats, init | | daily.py | Entity extraction from memory files | | test_autograph.py | Self-contained tests (~193 cases, temp fixtures) |

Files

| File | In package? | Purpose | |------|------------|---------| | schema.example.json | Yes | Template — copy and customize (includes domain_rates) | | schema.json | No | Your vault's schema (generated) | | schema.local.json | No | Local override (gitignored) | | references/ | Yes | Bootstrap workflow, schema docs, card templates, linking protocol |

Common Mistakes

| Mistake | Fix | |---------|-----| | Skipping agent swarm in Phase 2 | CRITICAL: always run Step 2B. Script alone cannot classify unstructured content. No exceptions. | | Using deprecated links subcommand | links was removed (0.3% match rate). Only swarm-links is available — 81.6% match rate. | | Creating cards without linking | Always follow Workflow 3 — link to hub + 2 siblings immediately. Orphan cards are wasted knowledge. | | Touching archive cards to active directly | Use graduated recall — touch promotes one tier at a time (archive→cold→warm→active). | | Sending full vault to one agent | Use swarm_prepare.py — bin-packs into ~50K token batches. | | Running Wave 2 without Wave 1 | swarm_reduce.py prepare needs JSONL in .graph/swarm/classifications/. | | Using schema.example.json directly | Run discover → generate your own schema.json | | Description = title repeat | Write specific search snippet | | Status not in enum | Check schema's node_types | | Skip dry run | Always run without --apply first | | Running link enrich before dedup | Creates links to files that get merged/trashed. Dedup first. | | Missing OPENROUTER_API_KEY | enrich.py reads from OPENROUTER_API_KEY env var. | | Only running swarm-links once | Run again with --force to enrich ALL files. |

Default Models

| Command | Default model | Override | |---------|--------------|----------| | tags | google/gemini-3-flash-preview | --model flag | | swarm-links | google/gemini-2.0-flash-001 | --model flag |

Both are production-tested. Do not change defaults without benchmarking.

Troubleshooting

Error: Schema not found → Create schema.json from discover output, or pass path: enforce.py vault/ my-schema.json

Score drops after enforce → New files without frontmatter. Run engine.py init vault/

Dedup picks wrong canonical → Content richness wins. Enrich the right file first, re-run.

Low match rate on swarm-links (<60%) → Check if LLM returns paths instead of stems. Try --force for second pass.

swarm-links shows 0 matched for some batches → Usually network errors. Results are cached — rerun and only failed batches retry.