Wiki Rebuild — Archive, Rebuild, Restore

You are performing a destructive operation on the wiki. Always archive first, always confirm with the user before proceeding.

Before You Start

1. Resolve config — follow the Config Resolution Protocol in llm-wiki/SKILL.md (inline @name override → walk up CWD for .env → ~/.obsidian-wiki/config → prompt setup). This gives OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and optional QMD settings such as QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION
2. Read .manifest.json to understand current state
3. Confirm the user's intent. This skill supports three modes:
   • Archive only — snapshot current wiki, no rebuild
   • Archive + Rebuild — snapshot, then reprocess all sources from scratch
   • Restore — bring back a previous archive

The Archive System

Archives live at $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/_archives/. Each archive is a timestamped directory containing a full copy of the wiki state at that point.

$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/
├── _archives/
│   ├── 2026-04-01T10-30-00Z/
│   │   ├── archive-meta.json
│   │   ├── concepts/
│   │   ├── entities/
│   │   ├── skills/
│   │   ├── references/
│   │   ├── synthesis/
│   │   ├── journal/
│   │   ├── projects/
│   │   ├── index.md
│   │   ├── log.md
│   │   └── .manifest.json
│   └── 2026-03-15T08-00-00Z/
│       └── ...
├── concepts/          ← live wiki
├── entities/
└── ...

archive-meta.json

{
  "archived_at": "2026-04-06T10:30:00Z",
  "reason": "rebuild",
  "total_pages": 87,
  "total_sources": 42,
  "total_projects": 6,
  "vault_path": "/Users/name/Knowledge",
  "manifest_snapshot": ".manifest.json"
}

Mode 1: Archive Only

When the user wants to snapshot the current state without rebuilding.

Steps:

1. Create archive directory: _archives/YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM-SSZ/
2. Copy all category directories, index.md, log.md, .manifest.json, and projects/ into the archive
3. Write archive-meta.json with reason "snapshot"
4. Append to log.md:

   - [TIMESTAMP] ARCHIVE reason="snapshot" pages=87 destination="_archives/2026-04-06T10-30-00Z"
   

5. Optionally refresh QMD if log.md is indexed and QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION is configured (see "QMD Refresh After Live Wiki Changes").
6. Report: "Archived 87 pages. Current wiki is untouched."

Mode 2: Archive + Rebuild

When the user wants to start fresh. This is the full sequence:

Step 1: Archive current state

Same as Mode 1 above, but with reason "rebuild".

Step 2: Clear live wiki

Remove all content from the category directories (concepts/, entities/, skills/, etc.) and the projects/ directory. Keep:

• _archives/ (obviously)
• .obsidian/ (Obsidian config)
• .env (if present in vault)

Reset index.md to the empty template. Reset log.md with just the rebuild entry. Delete .manifest.json (it'll be recreated during ingest).

Step 3: Rebuild

Tell the user the vault is cleared and ready for a full re-ingest. They can now run:

1. wiki-status — to see all sources as "new"
2. claude-history-ingest — to reprocess Claude history
3. codex-history-ingest — to reprocess Codex session history
4. wiki-ingest — to reprocess documents and any other raw data

Each of these will rebuild the manifest as they go.

Important: Don't run the ingest yourself automatically. The user should choose what to re-ingest and in what order. Some sources may no longer be relevant.

Step 4: Log the rebuild

Append to log.md:

- [TIMESTAMP] REBUILD archived_to="_archives/2026-04-06T10-30-00Z" previous_pages=87

Refresh QMD after clearing and logging the live wiki (see "QMD Refresh After Live Wiki Changes"), then report that the vault is ready for selected re-ingest skills.

Mode 3: Restore from Archive

When the user wants to go back to a previous state.

Step 1: List available archives

Read _archives/ directory. For each archive, read archive-meta.json and present:

## Available Archives

| Date | Reason | Pages | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-06 10:30 | rebuild | 87 | 42 |
| 2026-03-15 08:00 | snapshot | 65 | 31 |

Step 2: Confirm which archive to restore

Ask the user which archive they want. Warn them that restoring will overwrite the current live wiki.

Step 3: Archive current state first

Before restoring, archive the current state (reason: "pre-restore") so nothing is lost.

Step 4: Restore

1. Clear the live wiki (same as Mode 2, Step 2)
2. Copy all content from the chosen archive back into the live wiki directories
3. Restore index.md, log.md, and .manifest.json from the archive
4. Append to log.md:

   - [TIMESTAMP] RESTORE from="_archives/2026-03-15T08-00-00Z" pages_restored=65
   

Step 5: Report

Refresh QMD after restore (see "QMD Refresh After Live Wiki Changes"), then tell the user what was restored and suggest running wiki-lint to check for any issues with the restored state.

QMD Refresh After Live Wiki Changes

QMD is a search index, not the source of truth. If QMD refresh fails, do not roll back archive, rebuild, or restore work; report the failure and leave the markdown vault intact.

GUARD: If $QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION is empty or unset, skip this step.

When to run:

This refresh currently requires the local QMD CLI. Use $QMD_CLI if set; otherwise use qmd. If the CLI is unavailable, report QMD skipped: qmd CLI unavailable.

For CLI refresh:

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} update

If the output says new hashes need vectors, or if restore replaced live pages and embeddings may be stale, run:

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} embed

Verify the wiki collection reflects the operation:

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} ls "$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION"

For restore, also verify one restored page if the archive has a known page path:

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} get "qmd://$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION/<restored-page>.md" -l 5

Record QMD refresh in the final report as one of:

• QMD refreshed: update + embed + verified
• QMD refreshed: update only + verified
• QMD skipped: QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION unset
• QMD skipped: archive-only live content unchanged
• QMD skipped: qmd CLI unavailable
• QMD failed: <short error summary>

Safety Rules

1. Always archive before destructive operations. No exceptions.
2. Always confirm with the user before clearing the live wiki.
3. Never delete archives unless the user explicitly asks. Archives are cheap insurance.
4. The .obsidian/ directory is sacred. Never touch it during archive/rebuild/restore — it contains the user's Obsidian settings, plugins, and themes.
5. If something goes wrong mid-rebuild, the archive is there. Tell the user they can restore.