# Research Vault

A vault for structured research — investigation, analysis, and synthesis across topics.

## Workflow

1. **Discuss** research questions in Buzz channels — `#research`, `#general`, wherever the question arises.
2. **Declare** — when a research thread is worth keeping, @hermes-agent logs it here as a new topic directory.
3. **Investigate** — the agent populates `index.md` with findings and creates detail files as the research grows.
4. **Synthesize** — when research concludes, the `index.md` summary is finalized and status moves to `concluded`.

## Structure

Each research topic is a **directory** at the vault root with an `index.md` entry point:

```
<topic-slug>/
  index.md              ← frontmatter + summary + key findings (the entry point)
  sources.md            ← links, references, data sources
  analysis.md           ← deep analysis, findings
  methodology.md        ← how the research was conducted
  notes.md              ← working notes, raw observations
  summary.md            ← final synthesis (when concluded)
  next-steps.md         ← follow-up questions, gaps
```

- **Small topics**: just `index.md` alone in the directory.
- **Big topics**: split into detail files as they grow. Link them from `index.md` with path-qualified wikilinks (e.g. `[[topic-slug/sources|Sources]]`) to avoid ambiguous basenames across topics.
- Detail file names are up to you — `sources`, `analysis`, `methodology`, `notes`, `summary`, `next-steps` are common patterns.

### Frontmatter (in `index.md`)

```yaml
---
title: One-line summary
description: Short description for search results and link previews
status: exploring | active | concluded | shelved
category: market | technical | competitive | legal | scientific | exploratory
tags: []
draft: true
created: YYYY-MM-DD
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
origin: buzz://<channel-uuid>/<event-id>
---
```

- `description` — improves search results, link previews, RSS, and SEO when published via Quartz.
- `draft: true` — excludes the topic from the published site. Set `draft: false` when ready to publish.
- `created` / `updated` — Quartz recognizes these for date display and sorting.

### Categories

Categories are in frontmatter, not folders — every topic lives at the vault root.

| Category | Kind of research |
|----------|-----------------|
| `market` | Market analysis, sizing, trends |
| `technical` | Technology evaluation, architecture research, tool comparison |
| `competitive` | Competitor analysis, landscape mapping |
| `legal` | Regulatory, compliance, legal landscape |
| `scientific` | Literature review, paper analysis |
| `exploratory` | Open-ended investigation, "what is X" |

### Status Lifecycle

```
exploring → active → concluded
                 ↘ shelved
```

- `exploring` — just started, gathering sources, scoping the question
- `active` — ongoing research, regularly updated
- `concluded` — findings synthesized, research complete
- `shelved` — parked, may revisit

## Bases

Open `Research Base` (in `bases/research-base.base`) to see all topics as a filterable, sortable table — by status, category, tags, or date. Only `index.md` files appear; detail files are excluded via the `file.name == "index.md"` filter.

## Graph View

Wikilinks between detail files within a topic, and between topics, create a knowledge graph visible in Obsidian's graph view. Use path-qualified links (`[[topic-slug/sources|Sources]]`) to avoid ambiguous basenames. Tags make topics discoverable and filterable but do not themselves create graph edges — only links do.

Note: cross-vault wikilinks (e.g. to idea-dump entries) only work if both vaults are directories within the same Obsidian vault. If publishing via Quartz, links can only resolve within the same content tree — use public URLs for cross-site references.

## Publishing (Future)

The vault is structured for eventual publication as a public knowledge base:

- **Quartz** (recommended) — free static site generator for Obsidian vaults. Preserves wikilinks, backlinks, graph view, and full-text search. Self-hostable via NixOS.
- **Obsidian Publish** — paid, simplest, but not self-hosted.

The `index.md` + wikilink structure means the published site will render as a connected knowledge graph, not a flat list of documents. The `draft` frontmatter field controls which topics are published.