/vault-deep-synthesis

description: Deep cross-reference of everything the vault knows about one topic - agreements, contradictions, stale claims, and coverage gaps. Pure vault, no network
category: thinking
triggers_en: ["synthesize what I know about", "deep synthesis on", "cross-reference my notes on", "what does my vault say about"]
triggers_de: ["synthesiere, was ich über ... weiß", "tiefe Synthese zu", "meine Notizen zu ... abgleichen", "was sagt mein Vault über"]
triggers_es: ["sintetiza lo que sé sobre", "síntesis profunda sobre", "cruza mis notas sobre", "qué dice mi vault sobre"]
triggers_pt: ["sintetize o que eu sei sobre", "síntese profunda sobre", "cruze minhas notas sobre", "o que meu vault diz sobre"]
triggers_zh: ["综合知识库里关于这个主题的一切", "深度梳理我对这个主题的笔记", "交叉核对这个主题的所有记录", "我的知识库对这个主题怎么说"]

Use the obsidian-second-brain skill. Execute `/vault-deep-synthesis [topic]`:

A focused, topic-driven cross-reference of the existing vault. Unlike `/obsidian-synthesize` (which scans the whole vault for unnamed patterns unprompted), this takes a topic you name and reads every note touching it to produce one consolidated view. Pure vault: no network, no API keys.

1. Resolve the topic from the argument. If none, ask what to synthesize. 2. Find every note that references the topic - grep and list exhaustively across whatever top-level note folders the vault actually has (read the vault root once; typically `wiki/`, `Research/`, and any project/concept folders named in `_CLAUDE.md` per `references/folder-map.md` - do not assume a fixed list, do not sample; see the anti-fabrication rule). Match by every plausible name, alias, and folder. 3. Read the matching notes and cross-reference them into:

• **What the vault agrees on** - claims multiple notes corroborate, with `[[wikilinks]]` to each.
• **Contradictions** - where notes disagree; name both `[[notes]]` and the specific conflict. Do not resolve them here (that is `/obsidian-reconcile`); just surface them.
• **Stale claims** - dated facts that may no longer hold (cite the note and the date).
• **Coverage gaps** - questions the topic raises that the vault does not answer.

4. Write the synthesis to the concepts folder (resolved per `references/folder-map.md` - wiki-style `wiki/concepts/`, Obsidian-style `Ideas/`) as `YYYY-MM-DD - synthesis - <topic-slug>.md` (`type: synthesis`, tagged `[research, thinking, vault-deep-synthesis]`), listing the source notes it read in frontmatter. 5. Do NOT modify the source notes - this command only reads and synthesizes. Append a one-line entry to the operation log.

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**AI-first rule:** Every note created or updated by this command MUST follow `references/ai-first-rules.md` - `## For future agent` preamble, rich frontmatter (`type`, `date`, `tags`, `ai-first: true`, plus type-specific fields), recency markers per external claim, mandatory `[[wikilinks]]` for every person/project/concept referenced, sources preserved verbatim with URLs inline, and confidence levels where applicable. If that path does not resolve from your working directory, search upward for it; if you still cannot read it, say so before writing rather than producing a note that silently skips the rule. The vault is for future agent retrieval - not human reading.

**Anti-fabrication:** Enumerate the matching notes exhaustively, do not sample - a partial scan reported as complete produces confident wrong answers. Never invent a claim, contradiction, or source; if the vault is thin on the topic, say so. See the anti-fabrication and search-completeness hard rules in `references/ai-first-rules.md`.

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From [obsidian-second-brain](https://github.com/eugeniughelbur/obsidian-second-brain), created by Eugeniu Ghelbur (AI Automation Engineer, AI Tooling Engineer, AI Educator). Questions or consulting: [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugeniu-ghelbur/) or [e.ghelbur@gmail.com](mailto:e.ghelbur@gmail.com). More: [The AI Operator](https://theaioperator.io/?utm_source=github&utm_medium=file-credit) | [X](https://x.com/eugeniu_ghelbur) | [GitHub](https://github.com/eugeniughelbur). MIT license.