Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)

A plain text system for managing your knowledge, projects, and ideas. This system helps you transform scattered thoughts into structured, actionable insights while maintaining flexibility and ease of use.

Features

• Atomic Note System: Capture and interlink ideas with ease
• Real-Time LLM Integration: Use AI to retrieve, expand, and synthesize insights
• Automation Toolbox: Scripts that handle grunt work so you can focus on creativity
• Chaos Buffer: Dump raw ideas without judgment and process them later
• Dynamic Organization: A system that evolves with you and adapts to your needs

Why Use This System?

Built around the principles of simplicity, scalability, and adaptability, this PKM system helps you:

• Turn random thoughts into actionable insights
• Surface connections between ideas you didn't know were there
• Maintain clarity even when life gets messy
• Work with AI to make your thinking sharper, faster, and smarter

Directory Structure

Here's how the PKM system organizes your knowledge:

/pkm
├── /00-Index       # Mission control: centralizes navigation, tags, and priorities
├── /01-Daily       # Daily logs and chaos dumping ground
├── /02-Notes       # Atomic notes for ideas, concepts, and questions
├── /03-Projects    # Active workspaces for deliverables
├── /04-Resources   # Reference materials, datasets, and external links
├── /05-Archive     # Graveyard for dormant notes and projects
└── /Scripts        # Automation scripts to keep the system humming

1. /00-Index: Mission Control

• Purpose: Centralize navigation, priorities, and metadata
• Key Files:
  • index.md: High-level overview of the system, updated dynamically
  • tags.md: Master list of tags and their meanings
  • related.md: Summarized relationships between key topics
  • stats.md: Optional system usage stats

2. /01-Daily: Capturing the Chaos

• Purpose: A safe space to dump ideas, notes, and random thoughts
• Key Files:
  • YYYY-MM-DD.md: Daily logs for thoughts, notes, and tasks
  • chaos-pit.md: A catch-all for unstructured ideas
  • review-template.md: A guide for processing daily/weekly logs

3. /02-Notes: The Knowledge Engine

• Purpose: Your atomic knowledge base, built for interconnection
• Structure:
  • /concepts: Individual ideas and insights
  • /questions: Open-ended thoughts and philosophical musings
• Features:
  • All notes include YAML metadata:

    title: "Example Note"
    tags: ["#topic", "#category"]
    created: "2025-01-27"
    updated: "2025-01-28"
    related: ["[[related-note.md]]"]

4. /03-Projects: Work in Progress

• Purpose: Actionable workspaces for projects and deliverables
• Structure:
  • One folder per project
  • Logs, drafts, and final deliverables
• Workflow:
  • Link project-related notes from /02-Notes
  • Archive dormant projects in /05-Archive/projects

5. /04-Resources: Your External Brain

• Purpose: Store reference materials, datasets, and external files
• Structure:
  • /papers: PDFs or research papers
  • /diagrams: Visual assets
  • /data: CSVs, spreadsheets, or other datasets

6. /05-Archive: The Knowledge Graveyard

• Purpose: Preserve inactive projects and notes without cluttering your workspace
• Structure:
  • /projects: Archived project folders
  • /notes: Archived atomic notes

7. /Scripts: Automation Toolbox

• Purpose: Keep the system running smoothly with automation
• Core Scripts:
  • archive_stale_notes.py: Archive unused content
  • generate_index.py: Update system indexes
  • tag_audit.py: Maintain tag consistency
  • chaos_extractor.py: Process unstructured thoughts
  • daily_review.py: Facilitate reviews
  • orphan_notes.py: Find disconnected notes
  • link_audit.py: Verify note connections
  • project_cleaner.py: Archive inactive projects
  • project_template_generator.py: Create new projects
  • generate_stats.py: System analytics
  • theme_clustering.py: Find note clusters

Daily Workflow

1. Morning:

   • Open today's daily log in /01-Daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md
   • Review yesterday's unfinished items
   • Process any items in chaos-pit.md

2. Throughout the Day:

   • Capture thoughts and ideas in chaos-pit.md
   • Create atomic notes in /02-Notes for important concepts
   • Link related notes using wiki-style links [[note-name]]

3. Evening Review:

   • Process remaining items in chaos-pit.md
   • Update project statuses
   • Run maintenance scripts as needed

4. Weekly Review:

   • Archive completed projects
   • Audit and clean tags
   • Generate fresh indexes
   • Review and cluster related notes

Tips for Success

1. Start Simple: Build as you go. Don't over-engineer before you start
2. Embrace Chaos: Use chaos-pit.md freely. Process it during reviews
3. Link Generously: Create connections between notes to build a knowledge graph
4. Prune Regularly: Archive or delete outdated content to maintain clarity

Setup

1. Install Python dependencies:

   cd Scripts
   pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Run the initial setup:

   python generate_index.py

Future Plans

• Enhanced LLM integration for smarter note processing
• Advanced visualization tools for note relationships
• Improved multimedia content handling
• Real-time collaboration features

License

This system is open source and free to adapt to your needs. Attribution is appreciated but not required.