llm-wiki — nvk's take

A Claude Code plugin for building LLM-compiled knowledge bases. Ingest sources, compile interconnected markdown articles, query, lint, research, and generate outputs — all from Claude Code. Optionally view in Obsidian.

Inspired by Karpathy's LLM wiki concept and his idea file.

Install

Claude Code (native plugin):

/install-plugin github:nvk/llm-wiki

OpenAI Codex / Any LLM Agent (idea file):

# Copy AGENTS.md into your agent's context or project root
cp AGENTS.md ~/your-project/AGENTS.md

The AGENTS.md file contains the complete wiki protocol as a single portable document — works with any LLM agent that can read/write files and search the web.

New to a topic? Two commands. Each topic gets its own wiki — isolated indexes, focused queries, no cross-topic noise:

/wiki init nutrition
/wiki:research "gut microbiome and mental health" --sources 10 --wiki nutrition

The research command launches parallel agents to search the web, ingest the best sources, and compile them into interconnected articles. Drill into gaps with more /wiki:research, ask questions with /wiki:query, drop articles into the inbox anytime.

Quick Start

/wiki init nutrition                              # Create a topic wiki
/wiki:research "gut-brain axis" --wiki nutrition  # 5 parallel agents search, ingest, compile
/wiki:research "probiotics" --deep                # 8 agents, broader angles
/wiki:research "fasting" --retardmax              # 10 agents, max speed, ingest everything
/wiki:query "How does fiber affect mood?"         # Ask the wiki
/wiki:query "compare keto and mediterranean" --deep  # Deep cross-referenced answer
/wiki:ingest https://example.com/article          # Manually ingest a source
/wiki:ingest --inbox                              # Process files dropped in inbox/
/wiki:compile                                     # Compile any unprocessed sources
/wiki:output report --topic gut-brain             # Generate a report
/wiki:output slides --retardmax                   # Ship a rough slide deck NOW
/wiki:assess /path/to/my-app --wiki nutrition     # Gap analysis: repo vs wiki vs market
/wiki:lint --fix                                  # Clean up inconsistencies

Commands

All commands accept --wiki <name> to target a specific topic wiki and --local to target the project wiki.

How It Works

Architecture

~/wiki/                                 # Hub — lightweight, no content
├── wikis.json                          # Registry of all topic wikis
├── _index.md                           # Lists topic wikis with stats
├── log.md                              # Global activity log
└── topics/                             # Each topic is an isolated wiki
    ├── nutrition/                      # Example topic wiki
    │   ├── .obsidian/                  # Obsidian vault config
    │   ├── inbox/                      # Drop zone for this topic
    │   ├── raw/                        # Immutable sources
    │   ├── wiki/                       # Compiled articles
    │   │   ├── concepts/
    │   │   ├── topics/
    │   │   └── references/
    │   ├── output/                     # Generated artifacts
    │   ├── _index.md
    │   ├── config.md
    │   └── log.md
    ├── woodworking/                    # Another topic wiki
    └── ...

The hub is just a registry — no content directories, no .obsidian/. All content lives in topic sub-wikis with isolated indexes and articles. Queries stay focused. The multi-wiki peek finds overlap across topics when relevant.

The Flow

1. Research a topic — parallel agents search the web, ingest sources, and compile articles in one command
2. Ingest additional sources — URLs, files, text, tweets (via Grok MCP), or bulk via inbox
3. Compile raw sources into synthesized wiki articles with cross-references and confidence scores
4. Query the wiki — quick (indexes), standard (articles), or deep (everything)
5. Assess a repo against the wiki — gap analysis: what aligns, what's missing, what the market offers
6. Lint for consistency — broken links, missing indexes, orphan articles
7. Output artifacts — summaries, reports, slides — filed back into the wiki

Key Design

• One topic, one wiki — each research area gets its own sub-wiki with isolated indexes. No cross-topic noise.
• Parallel research agents — 5 standard, 8 deep, 10 retardmax. Each agent searches from a different angle.
• _index.md navigation — every directory has an index. Claude reads indexes first, never scans blindly.
• Articles are synthesized, not copied — they explain, contextualize, cross-reference.
• Raw is immutable — once ingested, sources are never modified.
• Multi-wiki aware — queries peek at sibling wiki indexes for overlap.
• Dual-linking — both [[wikilinks]] (Obsidian) and standard markdown links on every cross-reference. Works everywhere.
• Confidence scoring — articles rated high/medium/low based on source quality and corroboration.
• Structural guardian — auto-checks wiki integrity after operations, fixes trivial issues silently.
• Activity log — log.md tracks every operation, append-only, grep-friendly.
• Zero dependencies — runs entirely on Claude Code built-in tools.

Research Modes

Retardmax mode is inspired by Elisha Long's retardmaxxing philosophy — act first, think later. The antidote to analysis paralysis. Works for both /wiki:research and /wiki:output.

Linking: Works Everywhere

Every cross-reference in the wiki uses dual-link format:

[[gut-brain-axis|Gut-Brain Axis]] ([Gut-Brain Axis](../concepts/gut-brain-axis.md))

The wiki is not locked into any tool:

• Obsidian reads the [[wikilink]] — graph view, backlinks panel, quick-open
• Claude Code follows the standard (relative/path.md) link
• GitHub/any markdown viewer renders the standard link as clickable
• No viewer at all — plain markdown, readable in any text editor

Obsidian Integration

Each topic wiki has its own .obsidian/ config and can be opened as an independent vault:

open ~/wiki/topics/nutrition/     # Open in Obsidian — focused graph for one topic

The hub (~/wiki/) has no .obsidian/ to avoid nested vault confusion. If you want a cross-topic view, open ~/wiki/ manually and let Obsidian create its own config.

What works out of the box:

• .obsidian/ config created on init with sane defaults
• [[wikilinks]] power the graph view
• aliases in frontmatter enable search by alternate names
• tags in frontmatter are natively read
• inbox/ works as a drop zone in both Obsidian and the CLI

Claude Code is the compiler. Obsidian is an optional viewer.

Query Depths

Credits

• Andrej Karpathy — the LLM wiki concept and idea file
• Elisha Long — retardmaxxing philosophy (act first, think later)
• tobi/qmd — recommended local search engine for scaling beyond ~100 articles
• rvk7895/llm-knowledge-bases — prior art in Claude Code wiki plugins

License

MIT