syncing-knowledge-garden - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: syncing-knowledge-garden description: Syncs the sb-knowledge-base Obsidian vault to the knowledge-garden Quartz site. Use after reorganizing content in Obsidian or when the vault has been updated and the Quartz site needs to match.

Syncing Knowledge Base to Knowledge Garden

Overview

This skill synchronizes content from sb-knowledge-base (Obsidian vault) to knowledge-garden (Quartz static site). The vault is the source of truth—all content reorganization should happen in Obsidian first, then sync to Quartz.

IMPORTANT: Only files with publish: true in their frontmatter are synced. Files without this field or with publish: false are excluded from the knowledge garden.

Note: The knowledge-garden target structure may need updates to match the new vault organization. Coordinate with the KG repository maintainers before running sync operations.

When to Use

After reorganizing content in Obsidian
After adding or editing published content in the vault
When preparing to test a Quartz build with updated content
When type definitions have been updated in tools/types/

Repository Structure

sb-knowledge-base (source):

sb-knowledge-base/
├── docs/                    ← Working documents by group
│   ├── aifs/
│   ├── dao-primitives/
│   ├── rpp/
│   └── ...
├── data/                    ← Structured records by type
│   ├── concepts/            ← Lexicon entries
│   ├── links/               ← External resources
│   ├── resources/
│   │   ├── patterns/
│   │   ├── practices/
│   │   ├── primitives/
│   │   ├── protocols/
│   │   └── playbooks/
│   ├── stories/
│   │   ├── articles/
│   │   └── studies/
│   ├── questions/
│   ├── people/
│   ├── groups/
│   ├── projects/
│   ├── places/
│   └── gatherings/
└── tools/
    └── types/               ← FileClass definitions

knowledge-garden (target):

knowledge-garden/
├── content/
│   ├── docs/                ← Sync from docs/
│   ├── data/                ← Sync from data/
│   │   ├── concepts/
│   │   ├── links/
│   │   ├── resources/
│   │   ├── stories/
│   │   └── ...
│   └── types/               ← Sync from tools/types
├── quartz/
└── quartz.config.ts

Workflow

1. Locate Repositories

Find where both repos are cloned on your machine. Common locations:

# Find sb-knowledge-base
find ~ -type d -name "sb-knowledge-base" 2>/dev/null | head -5

# Find knowledge-garden
find ~ -type d -name "knowledge-garden" 2>/dev/null | head -5

Set variables for your paths:

KB_REPO="/path/to/sb-knowledge-base"
KG_REPO="/path/to/knowledge-garden"

2. Verify Clean State

Both repos should have no uncommitted changes before syncing:

cd "$KB_REPO" && git status
cd "$KG_REPO" && git status

3. Sync Content

Sync all content directories:

# Sync docs (working documents)
rm -rf "$KG_REPO/content/docs"/*
cp -r "$KB_REPO/docs"/* "$KG_REPO/content/docs"/

# Sync data (structured records)
rm -rf "$KG_REPO/content/data"/*
cp -r "$KB_REPO/data"/* "$KG_REPO/content/data"/

# Sync types (from tools/types only)
rm -rf "$KG_REPO/content/types"/*
cp -r "$KB_REPO/tools/types"/* "$KG_REPO/content/types"/

4. Verify Sync

# Compare file counts for each content area
echo "=== Docs ==="
echo "Source:" && find "$KB_REPO/docs" -name "*.md" | wc -l
echo "Target:" && find "$KG_REPO/content/docs" -name "*.md" | wc -l

echo "=== Data ==="
echo "Source:" && find "$KB_REPO/data" -name "*.md" | wc -l
echo "Target:" && find "$KG_REPO/content/data" -name "*.md" | wc -l

echo "=== Types ==="
echo "Source:" && find "$KB_REPO/tools/types" -name "*.md" | wc -l
echo "Target:" && find "$KG_REPO/content/types" -name "*.md" | wc -l

5. Test Build

cd "$KG_REPO"
npx quartz build

Quick Sync Commands

For teammates who have both repos in the same parent directory:

# From parent directory containing both repos
# Sync all content
rm -rf knowledge-garden/content/docs/* && cp -r sb-knowledge-base/docs/* knowledge-garden/content/docs/ && \
rm -rf knowledge-garden/content/data/* && cp -r sb-knowledge-base/data/* knowledge-garden/content/data/ && \
rm -rf knowledge-garden/content/types/* && cp -r sb-knowledge-base/tools/types/* knowledge-garden/content/types/

Or use the provided script:

# From sb-knowledge-base root
./tools/workflows/syncing-content/sync-to-garden.sh

Validation Checklist

sb-knowledge-base is on correct branch
knowledge-garden is on correct branch
Both repos have clean git status
File counts match after sync
npx quartz build succeeds
Spot-check a few pages in dev server

Troubleshooting

Build fails with type errors

The Quartz type definitions may not match the new content structure. Check content/types/ and quartz/types/typeRegistry.ts.

Missing files after sync

Ensure you used cp -r (recursive) and included the trailing /* to copy contents, not the folder itself.

Links broken on site

Content should be reorganized IN Obsidian first (which auto-updates links), then synced. If you moved files outside Obsidian, links won't be updated.

Notes

Source of truth: sb-knowledge-base (the Obsidian vault)
Never edit content directly in knowledge-garden—it will be overwritten on next sync
Always reorganize content in Obsidian to preserve internal links