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Getting started

This guide takes a new Second Brain from an empty template to its first captured material, cited answer, and health check.

Second Brain is agent-agnostic. The steps are the same whether you use Cline, Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Google Antigravity, Cursor, or another agent that can follow repository instructions and Agent Skills.

What you need

  • A supported AI coding agent with access to the vault folder.
  • Python 3 for the integrity and commit-safety checks. The scripts use only the standard library.
  • Chrome or Chromium only if you want automated PDF export from HTML reports.
  • A private place to store the vault. A private Git repository is useful for history and recovery, but is not required.

1. Create a private vault

Use GitHub's Use this template action to create a new private repository, then clone that private copy:

git clone git@github.com:YOUR_ACCOUNT/YOUR_PRIVATE_VAULT.git my-second-brain
cd my-second-brain

Confirm the destination is private before adding any real work or people data. You can keep the public template as an upstream remote if you want to bring future improvements into your private vault deliberately.

The template begins with an empty inbox/, an empty library/, and the indexes and templates needed to grow the memory/ layer safely.

2. Open the folder with your agent

Open the repository root, not an individual subfolder. The agent discovers the root guidance in AGENTS.md through the adapter supported by its harness. That file routes it to the canonical rules in rules/shared/ and the task-specific skills in skills/shared/.

You should not need a harness-specific command. Describe the outcome in plain language, or explicitly name a skill:

Give me a daily brief from this vault.

Use the vault-inbox skill to process everything waiting in the inbox.

3. Capture the first material

Put a note, document, transcript, screenshot, or export into inbox/. Then ask:

Process my inbox.

The agent will:

  1. Preserve the original under library/YYYY/ with a dated filename.
  2. Create dated synthesis under the relevant area of memory/.
  3. Update the appropriate leaf indexes and library catalogue.
  4. Append the operation to memory/log.md.
  5. Reindex the vault search service and run the health check.

The original is evidentiary material. The agent may move and rename it during filing, but must never edit, reformat, convert, or delete it.

4. Capture something from conversation

You do not need a source file for every useful fact. Tell the agent:

Remember that the platform migration decision is due on 15 August 2026.

The vault-remember procedure files the dated fact in memory/, updates navigation, and records the capture in the log. Relative dates such as "tomorrow" are converted to absolute dates when filed.

5. Ask a question

Try a question that the captured material can answer:

What do we know about the platform migration? Cite the source.

The agent searches the vault index before opening files, cites the relevant line ranges, and separates recorded evidence from its own inference. If the vault does not contain the answer, it should say so rather than filling the gap.

6. Check the vault

Run the local health check:

python3 scripts/health.py

It checks navigation counts and links, filing placement, inbox backlog, oversized indexes, overdue commitments, stale dossiers, and unresolved markers.

You can also ask:

Run a vault check-up and fix any documentation drift you find.

The agent will use the vault-checkup procedure for the mechanical checks and the judgement calls a script cannot make.

Next steps

  • Read the user guide for common workflows and prompts.
  • Use the technical project-management guide to initialise a project, map systems/infrastructure and UI/UX, govern requirements/designs, assess releases, and close with evidence.
  • Read architecture to understand the storage model and portable agent adapters.
  • Review the report design kits before building recurring documents or decks.