Codex Conventions

Rules for naming, tagging, frontmatter, and organization. Follow these consistently and your AI will understand your vault without explanation.

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File Naming

• Lowercase with hyphens: weekly-review.md, home-internet-setup.md
• No spaces in filenames — Obsidian shows the display title separately
• Date-stamped logs: YYYY-MM-DD.md format for daily notes and journals

Frontmatter (YAML)

Every file should open with frontmatter between --- markers:

---
id: {domain-code}-{YYYYMMDD}-{slug}
title: "Human-Readable Title"
type: note | decision | sop | project | person | review | doctrine | reference | log
status: active | draft | archived | deprecated
created: YYYY-MM-DD
modified: YYYY-MM-DD
owner: {your-name}
tags: [domain/ui, type/note, status/active]
related: ["[[Other Note]]"]
ai_summary: "One-line summary ≤20 words — what is this file?"
---

Required Fields

Field	Why
title	Human-readable name
type	What kind of document (see types below)
created	Creation date
tags	At least one tag
ai_summary	Critical — agents read this to decide if they need to open the full file. Without it, they open everything.

ai_summary — The Most Important Field

This is the hook agents use for progressive disclosure. Keep it under 20 words. Be specific:

# Bad
ai_summary: "Notes"
 
# Good
ai_summary: "Morning routine checklist: 6am wake, workout, journaling, review Todoist"

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Document Types

Type	Use For
note	General knowledge, observations, ideas
decision	Choices made — with context and rationale
sop	Step-by-step procedures to follow
project	Tracked initiative with goals and milestones
person	Contact/relationship profile
review	Weekly, monthly, or quarterly reflection
doctrine	Core principles and frameworks
reference	External facts, specs, API docs
log	Time-stamped entries (daily, session)

---

Tagging System

Tags use a namespace/value pattern:

Namespace	Examples	Purpose
domain/	domain/ui, domain/hp, domain/ge	Which quadrant
type/	type/sop, type/decision, type/project	Document type
status/	status/active, status/draft, status/archived	Lifecycle state
cadence/	cadence/daily, cadence/weekly	Review frequency

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Folder Rules

• Never create top-level folders — All notes go inside the 4 quadrants
• Inbox first when unsure — Drop uncertain items in 06 Inbox (Queue)/
• Numbered domains — Don’t rename or renumber existing domain folders
• Subfolders are fine — Create subfolders within domains as needed

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ID Format

{quadrant-code}-{domain-number}-{YYYYMMDDHHMMSS}

Examples:

• ui-02-20260318143022 — UI quadrant, domain 02, timestamped
• hp-29-20260318-morning-routine — HP quadrant, domain 29, descriptive slug
• ge-75-brand-architecture — GE quadrant, domain 75

IDs are optional but recommended for notes that other notes will link to.