Wiki Rebuild — Archive, Rebuild, Restore

You are performing a destructive operation on the wiki. Always archive first, always confirm with the user before proceeding.

Before You Start

1. Resolve config — follow the Config Resolution Protocol in llm-wiki/SKILL.md (inline @name override → walk up CWD for .env → global config → prompt setup). This gives OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and optional QMD settings such as QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION
2. Read .manifest.json to understand current state
3. Confirm the user's intent. This skill supports three modes:
   • Archive only — snapshot current wiki, no rebuild
   • Archive + Rebuild — snapshot, then reprocess all sources from scratch
   • Restore — bring back a previous archive

The Archive System

Archives live at $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/_archives/. Each archive is a timestamped directory containing a full copy of the wiki state at that point.

$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/
├── _archives/
│   ├── 2026-04-01T10-30-00Z/
│   │   ├── archive-meta.json
│   │   ├── concepts/
│   │   ├── entities/
│   │   ├── skills/
│   │   ├── references/
│   │   ├── synthesis/
│   │   ├── journal/
│   │   ├── projects/
│   │   ├── index.md
│   │   ├── log.md
│   │   └── .manifest.json
│   └── 2026-03-15T08-00-00Z/
│       └── ...
├── concepts/          ← live wiki
├── entities/
└── ...

archive-meta.json

{
  "archived_at": "2026-04-06T10:30:00Z",
  "reason": "rebuild",
  "total_pages": 87,
  "total_sources": 42,
  "total_projects": 6,
  "vault_path": "$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH",
  "manifest_snapshot": ".manifest.json"
}

Mode 1: Archive Only

When the user wants to snapshot the current state without rebuilding.

Steps:

1. Create archive directory: _archives/YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM-SSZ/
2. Copy all category directories, index.md, log.md, .manifest.json, and projects/ into the archive
3. Write archive-meta.json with reason "snapshot"
4. Append to log.md:

   - [TIMESTAMP] ARCHIVE reason="snapshot" pages=87 destination="_archives/2026-04-06T10-30-00Z"
   

5. Optionally refresh QMD if log.md is indexed and QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION is configured (see "QMD Refresh After Live Wiki Changes").
6. Report: "Archived 87 pages. Current wiki is untouched."

Mode 2: Archive + Rebuild

When the user wants to start fresh. This is the full sequence:

Step 1: Archive current state

Same as Mode 1 above, but with reason "rebuild".

Step 2: Clear live wiki

Remove all content from the category directories (concepts/, entities/, skills/, etc.) and the projects/ directory. Keep:

• _archives/ (obviously)
• .obsidian/ (Obsidian config)
• .env (if present in vault)

Reset index.md to the empty template. Reset log.md with just the rebuild entry. Delete .manifest.json (it'll be recreated during ingest).

Step 3: Rebuild

Tell the user the vault is cleared and ready for a full re-ingest. They can now run:

1. wiki-status — to see all sources as "new"
2. claude-history-ingest — to reprocess Claude history
3. codex-history-ingest — to reprocess Codex session history
4. wiki-ingest — to reprocess documents and any other raw data

Each of these will rebuild the manifest as they go.

Important: Don't run the ingest yourself automatically. The user should choose what to re-ingest and in what order. Some sources may no longer be relevant.

Step 4: Log the rebuild

Append to log.md:

- [TIMESTAMP] REBUILD archived_to="_archives/2026-04-06T10-30-00Z" previous_pages=87

Refresh QMD after clearing and logging the live wiki (see "QMD Refresh After Live Wiki Changes"), then report that the vault is ready for selected re-ingest skills.

Mode 3: Restore from Archive

When the user wants to go back to a previous state.

Step 1: List available archives

Read _archives/ directory. For each archive, read archive-meta.json and present:

## Available Archives

| Date | Reason | Pages | Sources |

### Step 2: Confirm which archive to restore

Ask the user which archive they want. Warn them that restoring will overwrite the current live wiki.

### Step 3: Archive current state first

Before restoring, archive the current state (reason: `"pre-restore"`) so nothing is lost.

### Step 4: Restore

1. Clear the live wiki (same as Mode 2, Step 2)
2. Copy all content from the chosen archive back into the live wiki directories
3. Restore `index.md`, `log.md`, and `.manifest.json` from the archive
4. Append to `log.md`:

### Step 5: Report

Refresh QMD after restore (see "QMD Refresh After Live Wiki Changes"), then tell the user what was restored and suggest running `wiki-lint` to check for any issues with the restored state.

## QMD Refresh After Live Wiki Changes

QMD is a search index, not the source of truth. If QMD refresh fails, do not roll back archive, rebuild, or restore work; report the failure and leave the markdown vault intact.

**GUARD: If `$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION` is empty or unset, skip this step.**

When to run:

| Mode | Refresh QMD? | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Archive only | Optional | Live wiki content is unchanged except `log.md`; refresh if `log.md` is indexed and QMD is configured. |
| Archive + Rebuild | Required after clearing live wiki | QMD must forget deleted pages or it will return stale search results. Later ingest skills will refresh again as sources are reprocessed. |
| Restore | Required after restore | The live wiki was replaced with archive content, so QMD must match the restored state. |

This refresh currently requires the local QMD CLI. Use `$QMD_CLI` if set; otherwise use `qmd`. If the CLI is unavailable, report `QMD skipped: qmd CLI unavailable`.

For CLI refresh:

```bash
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} update

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} embed

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} ls "$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION"

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} get "qmd://$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION/<restored-page>.md" -l 5