Andrej Karpathy's LLM Wiki inspired checklist

LLM Wiki Checklist.md

LLM Wiki Checklist

An actionable checklist for setting up and maintaining a personal knowledge base where an LLM incrementally builds and updates a persistent wiki from raw sources.

Goal

• Decide the domain for this wiki.
• Define the scope clearly enough that the LLM knows what belongs in the wiki and what does not.
• Decide whether the wiki is primarily for personal use, research, books, team knowledge, or another use case.
• Choose the LLM agent you want to collaborate with.
• Decide where you will browse the wiki while the LLM edits it.

Core Model

• Treat raw sources as immutable source-of-truth documents.
• Treat the wiki as an LLM-maintained layer that sits between you and the raw sources.
• Treat the schema file as the operating manual that tells the LLM how to maintain the wiki.
• Commit to the idea that valuable synthesis should be stored in the wiki rather than lost in chat history.
• Decide how much of the maintenance work the LLM should own versus how much you want to review manually.

Architecture

• Create or choose a directory for raw sources.
• Create or choose a directory for the wiki pages.
• Create a schema file for your agent, such as AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md.
• Document the relationship between raw sources, wiki pages, and schema instructions.
• Decide how the LLM should name, organize, and cross-link pages.

Wiki Structure

• Define the main page types you want in the wiki.
• Decide whether you want source summary pages.
• Decide whether you want entity pages.
• Decide whether you want concept pages.
• Decide whether you want overview or synthesis pages.
• Decide whether you want comparison pages for recurring questions.
• Decide whether you want consistent frontmatter or metadata on pages.
• Decide what categories should appear in index.md.

Schema Rules

• Tell the LLM how to ingest a new source.
• Tell the LLM how to answer questions from the wiki.
• Tell the LLM how to log changes in log.md.
• Tell the LLM how to update index.md.
• Tell the LLM how to handle contradictions between old and new information.
• Tell the LLM how to create and maintain cross-references.
• Tell the LLM when to create a new page versus update an existing one.
• Tell the LLM what citation style to use.
• Tell the LLM what kinds of outputs can be filed back into the wiki.
• Tell the LLM how to run periodic lint or health-check passes.

Ingest Workflow

• Add a new source to the raw collection.
• Ask the LLM to read the source.
• Review the source's key takeaways with the LLM if you want a supervised workflow.
• Create or update a source summary page.
• Update relevant entity pages.
• Update relevant concept pages.
• Update synthesis or overview pages when the new source changes the big picture.
• Flag contradictions, uncertainty, or superseded claims.
• Update index.md.
• Append an ingest entry to log.md.
• Decide whether you want to ingest sources one at a time or in batches.

Query Workflow

• Ask questions against the wiki instead of against only the raw sources.
• Have the LLM consult index.md first to find likely relevant pages.
• Have the LLM read the specific pages needed for the answer.
• Require citations back to wiki pages and, when needed, raw sources.
• Decide which query outputs should become new wiki pages.
• Save valuable analyses, comparisons, or synthesized answers back into the wiki.
• Update index.md and log.md when a query creates durable new knowledge.

Lint Workflow

• Run periodic health checks on the wiki.
• Check for contradictions between pages.
• Check for stale claims that newer sources may have superseded.
• Check for orphan pages with no meaningful links.
• Check for important recurring concepts that still lack their own page.
• Check for missing cross-references.
• Check for obvious data gaps or unanswered questions.
• Ask the LLM to suggest new sources or follow-up questions.
• Append a lint entry to log.md.

Index And Log

• Create index.md as a content-oriented catalog of the wiki.
• Give each index entry a link and a one-line summary.
• Optionally include metadata like dates, tags, or source counts in the index.
• Organize the index by meaningful categories.
• Create log.md as an append-only chronological record.
• Use a consistent heading format for log entries so they are easy to parse.
• Log ingests.
• Log queries that created durable artifacts.
• Log lint passes and maintenance work.

Optional Tooling

• Start with plain markdown files and simple file-based workflows.
• Decide whether the wiki is still small enough for index.md-driven navigation.
• Add search tooling only when scale makes it necessary.
• Evaluate tools like qmd if you want local markdown search with ranking.
• Consider building small helper scripts only when a real workflow bottleneck appears.
• Keep optional tooling modular so the wiki still works without it.

Obsidian Workflow

• Decide whether Obsidian will be your primary interface for browsing the wiki.
• Use Obsidian Web Clipper if you want fast article-to-markdown capture.
• Decide whether to download images locally for clipped sources.
• Configure a fixed attachment folder if you want reliable local image storage.
• Decide whether the LLM should inspect images separately from the source markdown when needed.
• Use graph view to inspect connectivity and identify hubs or orphans.
• Consider Marp if you want the LLM to generate slide decks from wiki content.
• Consider Dataview if you want structured metadata queries over the wiki.

Maintenance Habits

• Keep raw sources unchanged after import.
• Let the LLM do the repetitive bookkeeping work.
• Review the wiki often enough to catch drift in structure or emphasis.
• Refine the schema over time as you learn what works.
• Keep the wiki in git if you want version history and easier experimentation.
• Prefer persistent notes over ephemeral chat answers when the output has lasting value.

Human Responsibilities

• Curate good sources.
• Direct the analysis.
• Ask strong questions.
• Review important updates.
• Adjust the schema when the workflow needs improvement.

LLM Responsibilities

• Summarize new sources.
• Update existing pages consistently.
• Create new pages when needed.
• Maintain cross-references.
• Surface contradictions and uncertainty.
• Keep indexes and logs current.
• Help identify gaps, follow-up questions, and next sources to explore.

Customization Decisions

• Decide how much structure you want versus how lightweight the wiki should remain.
• Decide whether you need image handling.
• Decide whether you need frontmatter and metadata conventions.
• Decide whether you need search infrastructure.
• Decide whether you want non-markdown outputs such as charts, canvases, or slide decks.
• Decide which parts of this pattern are useful for your domain and ignore the rest.

Definition Of Done

• You can add a source and the LLM updates the wiki without ad hoc instructions.
• You can ask a question and get an answer grounded in the maintained wiki.
• The wiki captures durable insights instead of losing them in chat.
• index.md helps both you and the LLM navigate the knowledge base.
• log.md gives a usable timeline of changes.
• The schema is clear enough that future sessions can continue the workflow consistently.