# OKF-compatible second-brain form

A cross-plugin convention for how each plugin stores the **user's own context** — their
personal/organizational "second brain" / LLM-wiki — as a portable, interoperable markdown
bundle, compatible with Google's Open Knowledge Format (OKF) v0.1.

> **Version 0.1 · 2026-06-29 · Cross-cutting catalog artifact, owned by no single plugin.**
> Reference design: linkedin-studio's `brain/`. Interop layer: Google OKF v0.1 (thin veneer).
> Change log + per-plugin rollout status + coordination protocol: `log.md` (same directory).

## 1. Purpose & scope

This convention exists for **interop**, not standard-adoption for its own sake. Three plugins in
this marketplace independently grew a user-owned "second brain" — a wiki of the user's personal and
organizational context the plugin retrieves from during chat and commands. This document defines the
**one shared on-disk form** so a single reader can traverse all three, and so a future shared
retrieval skill (if ever justified — §10) has one contract to build against.

- **In scope:** the user's own context/data — the per-user second brain (e.g. `~/.claude/<plugin>/...`).
- **Explicitly out of scope:** each plugin's **domain reference files** (skill `references/*`). Those
  stay native Claude Code skill-references (Anthropic-recommended progressive disclosure). The decisive
  test, which all three plugins reached independently: not "is it an LLM-wiki" (both are) but
  **"is there already a native, recommended mechanism?"** — for skill-refs YES (skills + references +
  grep), for the second brain NO (it lived in ad-hoc `org/*.md` with no retrieval mechanism). OKF fills
  a real gap **only** for the second brain.

## 2. The three consumers

| Plugin | Second-brain maturity | Role here |
|---|---|---|
| **linkedin-studio** | Provenance-weighted learning system (episodic/semantic split, evidence-threshold promotion, temporal validity). Most mature. | **Reference design.** Siblings rise toward it; it is not levelled down to bare OKF. |
| **okr** | Built: writer + checker (`okf-check.mjs`, `okf-index.mjs`) + retrieval skill `okr-second-brain-search`. | **Reference checker** (§7). |
| **ms-ai-architect** | Designed, not built. Targets the fuller OKF package + a retrieval skill. | Builds against this spec. |

Live rollout status (🔵/🟡/🟢 + commit-refs) lives in `log.md`, not here.

## 3. Minimal contract (normative)

A conforming **bundle** is a directory tree of markdown files, one concept per file. Concept ID =
file path minus `.md`.

- **MUST** — every concept file (every `.md` except `index.md`) carries a `type:` frontmatter key
  (free string, e.g. `Profile`, `Operations`, `JournalEntry`).
- **MUST** — every directory level has an `index.md` (directory enumeration, **no frontmatter**,
  carries progressive-disclosure prose).
- **MUST** — the bundle-root `index.md` carries an `okf_version` marker (the upstream OKF version the
  bundle targets, currently `0.1`). The value is the **upstream version alone**; a plugin's own layout
  revision belongs in the optional `okf_layout` marker (§12), never here. **Not yet enforced** — no
  checker validates the value's shape, so an emitter still carrying a layout string here conforms
  today. Enforcement waits until the emitters have migrated (`log.md`, STEG 4).
- **MUST (consumers)** — preserve unknown frontmatter keys, tolerate unknown `type` values, tolerate
  broken cross-links.

This is exactly okr's `okf-check.mjs` semantics, generalized (§7).

## 4. Recommended fields (warnings, not errors)

`title`, `description`, `resource` (canonical source URI), `tags`, `timestamp`. Supply where cheap.

- **Canonical name is `resource`** (the OKF spec's name) — **not** `source`.
- A field that would break a plugin's invariant may be omitted. Example: linkedin-studio omits
  `timestamp` (its serializer is pure/deterministic — a timestamp would break round-trip) and
  `resource` (an internal concept has no canonical URI), keeping `type`/`title`/`description`.

## 5. Extension keys — rich fields ride along

OKF's permissiveness is the whole point for us: conforming costs `type` + `index.md`, nothing more. A
plugin's richer schema survives untouched as **extension frontmatter keys** that consumers MUST
preserve. linkedin-studio's brain keeps `provenance`, `first_seen`, `last_seen`, `evidence_count`,
`status`, and its episodic/semantic split — all as extension keys. Its model-collapse guard
(`provenance=published` only) is unaffected. **Plugins rise toward the richest design; they are not
levelled down to bare OKF.**

## 6. Reserved files & cross-links

- `index.md` — directory enumeration, **no frontmatter**, progressive-disclosure prose. The
  bundle-root one carries `okf_version`.
- `log.md` — change log (optional per bundle; reserved name).
- Cross-links — plain markdown (bundle-relative `/...` or relative); relation type conveyed by prose.
  Consumers MUST tolerate broken links.

## 7. Reference checker

okr's `scripts/okf-check.mjs` is the de-facto reference implementation of the minimal contract (§3):
only `type` required (missing → fail + names the files), recommended fields → warnings, root
`index.md` `okf_version` echoed for human comparison (no network — hooks are offline). ~91 lines, zero
npm dependencies, only couples to a ~55-line `frontmatter.mjs`. The shared spec **generalizes okr's
semantics; it does not reinvent them.** Reading okr's code is fine; **writing okr is a separate go.**

A **shared checker now lives here:** `catalog/scripts/okf-check.mjs` (+ vendored
`okf-frontmatter.mjs`), originally lifted from okr's reference impl at `c06e4d7` (2026-06-29),
output in English, zero deps, self-contained. It is the **canonical cross-plugin acceptance gate**
for this convention's §3 minimal contract. Run it per bundle root:

```
node catalog/scripts/okf-check.mjs <bundle-root>
```

**The two checkers provably diverge on the same input — and that divergence is now a running, tested
signal rather than a latent risk.** The catalog copy was lifted from okr once (`c06e4d7`); okr began
hardening its checker the next day (`3b45be7`, 2026-06-30: an `innboks/`+dot-dir walk ignore
`okf-check.mjs:37-38`, and a scoped `checkBundle(root, { strictIngest, files })` signature `:73`) and
added BOM/CRLF normalization weeks later (`482effb`, 2026-07-17; `lib/frontmatter.mjs:23`), while this
copy stayed frozen at the lift. A **running parity gate** now measures exactly this: `scripts/check-okf-parity.mjs`
compares the implementations **per file** (concept-set membership + type verdict, over default
read-mode) across a committed spec-adversarial corpus (`test/okf-parity-corpus/`) that carries
**red-proof** fixtures — inputs the gate MUST go red on, proving it is not green-on-everything. Honest
scope: only two implementations expose a runnable per-file checker today (catalog + okr), so the gate
runs **2-way** now and is architected n-way — llm-ingestion-okf's Python checker (fase 2) and its future
Node port slot in behind an availability guard when they legitimately exist. The gate does **not** claim
the two checkers are identical (they are not); it makes their divergence a monitored red/green fact and
pins a shared latent gap (both still descend into `node_modules`). Treat the catalog checker as its
**own** implementation of the §3 floor whose drift against okr is now watched, not a verified twin. A scaffolded linkedin-studio `brain/`
validates clean under this gate ("OK: valid OKF bundle", exit 0). Each plugin may keep its own dev-loop
check (linkedin-studio's TypeScript impl under `scripts/brain/` stays for its own suite); the catalog
`.mjs` is the shared gate for this convention's §3 floor. The only Stage-3 remainder is *reconciling*
the two language implementations into one — deferred until measured need, and **not** required for the
gate to function.

## 8. Deliberately NOT mandated

- **Auto-classify / convert** of arbitrary documents into the bundle — OKF provides nothing for it; a
  manual inbox/drop-zone seam suffices; build only on demonstrated need.
- **Retrieval mechanism** — native Grep/Glob/Read (skill instruction "search the wiki first, open only
  what's relevant") vs. a dedicated fileskb MCP server. All three plugins lean **native** (Claude
  Code's Grep/Glob/Read already cover OKF's list/search/read). Per-plugin choice; a "build both,
  measure" candidate.
- **Degree of OKF formalism** — full v0.1 conformance vs. this "OKF-compatible form." Plugins sit at
  different points (ms-ai-architect targets the fuller package; linkedin-studio emits the minimal form
  + extension keys; okr has writer + checker). **The minimal contract (§3) is the floor all meet;**
  going further is per-plugin and never required by this spec.

## 9. Verified premise corrections (dead-ends — do not plan against these)

Ground-truth-checked against the live `GoogleCloudPlatform/knowledge-catalog` repo (research agent,
2026-06-26, file+URL log retained). These overturn earlier framing in the per-plugin design notes:

1. **`mdcode` / `kcmd` is NOT an OKF tool.** It is a Google Cloud **Dataplex** git-sync tool whose
   on-disk markdown carries a *different* frontmatter schema (`id`/`resource.name`/`createTime`/`links`)
   than OKF (`type`/`title`/`description`/`tags`/`timestamp`). Do **not** plan to emit or sync OKF
   bundles via mdcode. (Corrects the "metadata as code" pattern listed in ms-ai-architect's ecosystem
   digest.)
2. **No reusable OKF *ingest* code exists.** The repo's `reference_agent` is a BigQuery+web → OKF
   producer, Gemini/GCP-bound; it reads a BQ dataset + seed URLs, not a document folder. The GCP-free
   reusable parts are the **SPEC**, the **emit/serialize/validate** core, and the **`index.md`
   synthesis** — *patterns*, not a drop-in library. Classify/convert of arbitrary docs is 100%
   build-yourself.
3. **"OKF has no ingest" is true of the *format*, not the *repo*.** And the per-plugin design notes
   never actually asked for auto-classification — all three frame the work as *OKF as the storage form
   for a user-owned wiki* + a *retrieval skill* + a *maintenance mechanism*, with ingest being light
   ("onboarding writes OKF-conformant").

## 10. Staged plan

- **Stage 1 — Shared form (this document).** Cheap, delivers interop alone. Each plugin's user-data
  conforms; one reader traverses all three. **This alone meets the interop goal.**
- **Stage 2 — Measure divergence.** Do the per-plugin retrieval paths diverge enough to hurt? Only a
  *measured* "yes" justifies Stage 3 (operator anti-pattern: ambitious initiatives where a config tweak
  suffices).
- **Stage 3 — Conditional shared skill.** If justified: extract/generalize okr's working retrieval
  skill into one home (§11), with a discovery convention for where each plugin's brain lives. **Do not
  build before Stage 2 says so.**

## 11. Homes

- **This spec** — catalog/marketplace level (here), owned by no single plugin.
- **A future shared skill** (Stage 3 only) — a standalone marketplace plugin (own repo, release-tagged,
  catalog-pinned), installable alongside the others, serving the user's own context directly. Rejected
  alternatives: duplicate-per-plugin (drift risk); user-level `~/.claude/skills/` (unversioned, outside
  the catalog).

## 12. Versioning

Markers are kept deliberately separate. A single field must not carry two unrelated concerns — the
upstream OKF version *and* a plugin's own layout revision — so those are two distinct markers:

- **`okf_version`** — a marker line in each bundle-root `index.md` (§6); the upstream Google OKF version
  the bundle targets (currently `0.1`). **Required (§3).** Its value set is owned by Google, so the field
  has exactly one meaning and stays single-valued — the bundle-root marker (§6) relies on that. When
  Google bumps OKF, each plugin re-checks conformance.
- **`okf_layout`** — an *optional* marker line alongside it; a plugin's own layout-revision snapshot
  (e.g. `kb-layout-2026-06`). Its value set is owned by the emitting plugin — not by OKF, not by this
  convention. It is **not** a version marker, never triggers a cross-plugin re-check, and a consumer that
  doesn't recognize it ignores it. This is where a plugin stamps its own layout revision, keeping
  `okf_version` reserved for the upstream version alone.
- **This convention's version** (top of this file) — bumped when the shared *form* (the §3 floor)
  changes. `log.md` records bumps of the two versions (`okf_version` and this one); each triggers a
  per-plugin re-check. Hooks are offline (no auto-poll); version drift is caught by human review + the
  `okf_version` echo in `okf-check`.

## 13. Success criterion

Measured against **user value** (does the plugin retrieve the right personal/org context in chat and
commands?) + **maintenance reliability** — **not** against formal OKF conformance for its own sake.
(Operator, inherited identically by all three tracks.)

## 14. References

- **OKF SPEC v0.1:** `github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/knowledge-catalog/blob/main/okf/SPEC.md`
  (12 June 2026, "a starting point, not a finished standard").
- **Per-plugin design notes:** linkedin-studio `docs/okf-convergence-brief.md`; okr
  `docs/okf-second-brain-note-2026-06.md`; ms-ai-architect `docs/okf-second-brain-brief-2026-06.md`.
- **Shared checker (the cross-plugin gate):** `catalog/scripts/okf-check.mjs` (+ `okf-frontmatter.mjs`,
  `okf-check.test.mjs`) — lifted from okr's reference impl `okr/scripts/okf-check.mjs`
  (+ `okf-index.mjs`, `lib/frontmatter.mjs`).
- **Reference design:** linkedin-studio `docs/second-brain/architecture.md`; engine `scripts/brain/`.
- **Coordination + rollout status:** `log.md` (this directory).