Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx skills add tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit --skill askgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kitWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit/ask)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit/ask"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit/ask/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit/ask"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit/ask.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00063 | $0.00947 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00025 | $0.00379 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00013 | $0.00189 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00006 | $0.00095 |
Grade A, and why
ask scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 5d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
This is a copy
88% identical to init-project — 69 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 48 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
/ask — query the Second Brain
🧒 When reporting to a non-technical operator: end with a child-simple "In plain words" recap in their language.
Deterministic-first (the operator's token law): RAG retrieves the smallest relevant slice; synthesize ONLY that — never dump the corpus.
Wrong lane? /ask = semantic MEANING over the curated vault. For exact WORDS inside chats → /search; an exact PERSON name → /find; a CHAT by name → /chat (all 0 tokens, deterministic). Use those when the question isn't conceptual.
🖥️ Visual search (a live server — the operator works visually)
For interactive eyes-on search: python "$IMPORTS_ROOT/ask_server.py" (or start_ask.bat) → open http://127.0.0.1:8770. It loads e5 + reranker ONCE, after which each query takes ~3s. A search box + filter chips (my writing only / concepts / insights / leads / people / conversations / notes), cards with the rerank score, type, date and a ⏳ staleness flag. CPU by default (does not fight the GPU fleet, holds 0 VRAM); --gpu when the GPU is free. This is the GUI for the operator; --ask below is for me synthesizing an answer in chat.
Run (CLI — for synthesizing an answer in chat)
python "$IMPORTS_ROOT/brain_ask.py" "<question>"
Scope with filters (cheaper + sharper):
--anton(only the owner's own writing) ·--concepts(distilled "what I think about X") ·--insights--person <name>·--conv(conversations) ·--leads(CRM) Returns top-K chunks (chunked + tagged + edit-aware index); may flag⚠ STALEon volatile facts >90d.
Answer
- Synthesize the returned hits into a DIRECT answer; cite the note titles so the operator can open them.
- If a hit is
⚠ STALE, say so and offer to re-verify (per the epistemic-decay layer). - If retrieval is thin/irrelevant → say so, suggest a sharper query or a filter; do NOT pad with guesses.
- Keep it tight; end with 🧒 recap.
Note
The index is kept fresh by the reindex routine. If results feel stale right after a big import, mention a reindex may be due (brain_embed_update.py) — but don't reindex unprompted.
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 5d ago Changed 34f54c606145
- 18d ago Changed · -1 lines 9c9f9558f7ae
- 23d ago Changed · +7 lines · -50 tokens per session 6cbfe9e3561e
- 1mo ago Changed · -9 lines · +50 tokens per session cabd4a1ea5ac
- 1mo ago Changed · +1 lines · -14 tokens per session 70513115eb55
- 1mo ago First seen · 50 lines · 77 tokens per session scan A dd381ee70209
ask is a skill published in the GitHub repository tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit (12 stars, last pushed 3d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 63 tokens to every session and 947 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 88% identical to init-project, differing in 69 lines, and is treated as a copy.
Other skills, from other repositories
obsidian-bases
Explain, draft, and validate Obsidian Bases .base files with filters, formulas, properties, summaries, and table, card, list, or version-gated kanban views. Use for Obsidian Bases, database-like vault views, dynamic tables, reading lists, task trackers, filters, formulas, summaries, and .base file edits.
wiki-retrieve
Build and query a vault-local contextual BM25 retrieval index with optional multilingual Nomic cosine reranking; use for retrieve, hybrid retrieval, BM25, rerank, contextual retrieval, chunk search, vault search, semantic search, find relevant passages, or retrieval diagnostics. Derived caches stay under .vault-meta…
save
Save a user-selected answer, decision, insight, or session summary into an Obsidian vault as one reviewed transaction. Use only when the user explicitly asks to preserve specific conversation content, not when they supply a file or URL to ingest. Triggers: /save, save this, save that answer, file this conversation…
wiki-mode
Read or configure the vault filing methodology and suggest destinations for planned knowledge creation under Generic, LYT, PARA, or Zettelkasten. Use for wiki mode, methodology mode, what is my vault mode, set vault mode, switch to PARA, use LYT, Zettelkasten setup, change mode, configure mode, or methodology routing.…
wiki-fold
Create a bounded, extractive, structurally idempotent rollup of recent Obsidian wiki log entries, with dry-run preview by default and one optional transaction apply. Use for manual log compression without modifying child pages. Triggers: fold the log, run a fold, run wiki-fold, log rollup, roll up log entries, commit…
wiki-cli
Detect and use the official Obsidian command-line interface for read-only vault access; use for wiki-cli, Obsidian CLI, Obsidian read, Obsidian search, vault transport, which transport, transport detection, backlinks, tags, or Obsidian command line. Mutations always go through the claude-obsidian transaction core.