Every guide to building a second brain starts by asking you to design the folder structure. That's the step that stops people, and it's the step you should skip.
Start with 2 files. Let the model build the rest.
why plain files and not a doc
Your AI can read a folder of plain text on your computer. That's the whole reason.
- no export, no copy-paste, no "let me give you some context first"
- you own the files, and every one of them opens in a text editor if the app disappears tomorrow
- any model can read them: whatever you use now, and whatever you switch to next year
Obsidian is free and it is a folder of markdown files. Don't overthink the app.
file 1: who you are
Everything a stranger would need to know that you exist.
- your name, your handle, where you are
- every link you have: site, socials, blog, newsletter, shop, music, portfolio, the old one you still send people to
- what you're known for
- what you're building right now
No formatting rules. A list of URLs and a few lines about yourself in a plain note. It can split into an identity file and a links file later; on day 1 it is one note.
file 2: what you do
The stuff you type into a chat window before you can even ask your question.
- your job, in your words
- the projects you have open right now
- your opinions, the takes you'd defend out loud
- how you like things done: tone, format, what you hate
- the tools you already pay for
Write it in first person, exactly how you talk. Lowercase if you're lowercase. This is the file that makes a model sound like it knows you instead of sounding like a press release.
Write it as a rant, not a resume. The resume version is the one that produces generic output.
then hand it over
Open your AI and say:
let's set up an obsidian vault. here are my first 2 files.
organize everything you know about me into folders,
subfolders and root files that make sense.
It already knows things. Every chat you've had, every correction you made, every project you complained about. All of that has been sitting in memory doing nothing for you. This is what turns it into a filing cabinet.
Expect 6 or 7 folders back, not 39. Rename the ones that are wrong, keep the rest, and let them fill.
the one line that grows it
Drop this into whatever your AI reads first:
be sure to document everything we do together within
appropriate files and folders in the vault.
Then tell every AI you use to familiarize itself with the vault.
What that buys you:
- you finish a build with one model, it writes up what you did
- you open a different one next week, it reads that file, it knows what happened
- you open a model you have never used, zero history, zero memory, and it is caught up in one read
Your AIs don't talk to each other. The vault is how they hand off.
the file that tells them how to behave
One more file, and it is the one worth rewriting most: an onboarding note for your agents. How to act, before you ask for anything.
Cover 5 things:
- output format. Bullets, one idea per line, no walls of text.
- verbosity. Short and actionable, lead with the answer.
- what to read first. The identity file, then the folder index.
- standing routines. The things you want done without asking, like checking your inbox before it talks to you each morning.
- what never to do. Your banned words and habits live here.
Every model reads that file before it reads anything else. That is the file that stops you repeating yourself.
The honest reason it exists: correcting the same 3 things every session gets old. Most of a good vault is built out of impatience.
what one of these looks like after a while
A worked example, counted 2026-09-04, so it is not theory:
- 1,547 files
- 39 folders at the root, one per lane of a life and a business
- 225 README files, one inside each folder, so a model reads the index instead of opening 40 notes to find one thing
- 8 files at the root, including the behavior file every agent reads first
Every file does a job or it is a set of instructions the agents run. Nothing sits there for decoration.
None of it was designed. It grew out of one rule and a lot of sessions, from 2 files.
what to skip
- don't build the folder structure first. You will build folders for a life you are not living yet
- don't install 12 plugins. You need zero to start
- don't make it pretty. Nobody sees it but you and your models
- don't write file 2 as a resume. Write it as a rant
do this tonight
Open a new note. Title it your name. Paste your links and write 4 lines about yourself.
That is the whole first step. Your AI does the folder part 🧡
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AI Workflows for Creators
want the vault built out properly, the behavior file written and every model you use reading from the same place? That's the AI Workflows for Creators call.
