Learning Vault

Learning Vault Generator

Create a fully structured Obsidian vault for any learning goal — certification exams, courses, skill acquisition, or research programs.

Trigger Phrases

• "create a learning vault for X"
• "build a study vault"
• "set up a certification vault"
• "learning vault for [topic]"
• "/learning-vault"

Interactive Setup

Ask the user these questions (use AskUserQuestion):

1. Subject & Goal

• What is the learning goal? (certification, course, skill, research)
• What is the subject? (e.g., "AWS Solutions Architect", "Rust programming", "Machine Learning")
• Is there a specific exam or assessment? If yes, get: format, passing score, domains/topics, timeline

2. Structure

• How many main topics/domains? (auto-detect from curriculum if URL provided)
• Are there courses to track? (get URLs, lesson counts)
• Are there scenarios/practice areas?

3. Self-Assessment

• For each domain/topic, ask: "How confident are you?" (expert/strong/moderate/needs-work/no-experience)
• This drives the study priority ordering

4. Configuration

• Vault location (default: ~/Brains/{subject-slug}/)
• Daily notes? (yes/no)
• Dataview plugin assumed? (yes — required for queries)

Vault Architecture

Based on the genome vault pattern at ~/Brains/genome/:

{vault}/
├── Dashboard.md              — central hub with dataview queries
├── MoC - Courses.md          — course progress tracker
├── MoC - Domains.md          — domain/topic overview
├── MoC - Concepts.md         — key concepts by domain
├── MoC - Scenarios.md        — practice scenarios (if applicable)
├── Action Items.md           — dataview task aggregator
├── Question Index.md         — navigate by question type
├── Key Pitfalls.md           — common mistakes to avoid
├── Exam Cheat Sheet.md       — last-minute review card
├── Courses/                  — one note per course
│   └── {Course Name}.md
├── Domains/                  — one note per domain/topic
│   └── {Domain Name}.md
├── Concepts/                 — atomic knowledge units
│   └── {Concept Name}.md
├── Scenarios/                — practice scenarios
│   └── {Scenario Name}.md
├── Lessons/                  — individual lesson notes
│   └── Lesson - {Name}.md
├── Resources/                — links, study plans
│   ├── Official Links.md
│   └── Study Plan.md
├── Templates/                — note templates
│   ├── _Course.md
│   ├── _Lesson.md
│   ├── _Concept.md
│   ├── _Scenario.md
│   └── _Domain.md
└── .obsidian/
    ├── app.json
    ├── community-plugins.json
    └── plugins/
        └── dataview/
            ├── main.js          — copy from reference vault
            ├── manifest.json
            ├── styles.css
            └── data.json        — enable DataviewJS, inline queries, HTML

Dataview Plugin Setup

The vault MUST include a working Dataview plugin — not just config, but the actual plugin binary. During generation:

• Copy the bundled plugin from this skill's directory:

   SKILL_DIR="$(dirname "$0")"  # or resolve from ~/.claude/skills/learning-vault/
   mkdir -p {vault}/.obsidian/plugins/dataview
   cp ~/.claude/skills/learning-vault/dataview-plugin/* {vault}/.obsidian/plugins/dataview/

The dataview-plugin/ directory inside this skill contains: main.js, manifest.json, styles.css, data.json — a complete, pre-configured Dataview plugin.

• Register in community-plugins.json: ["dataview"]

No manual plugin installation needed — Dataview works on first vault open.

Frontmatter Schema

All Notes

type: course | domain | concept | scenario | lesson | resource | moc | meta | dashboard
created_date: 'YYYY-MM-DD'
tags: []

Course

status: not-started | in-progress | completed
priority: 1-5
lessons_total: 0
lessons_done: 0
exam_weight: ""
difficulty: easy | moderate | hard
domains: []  # wikilinks

Concept

domain: "[[Domain Name]]"
status: not-started | in-progress | completed
confidence: low | medium | high
importance: critical | high | medium | low

Scenario

number: 1-N
domains: []  # wikilinks
difficulty: easy | moderate | hard

Lesson

course: "[[Course Name]]"
section: ""
status: not-started | in-progress | completed
concepts: []  # wikilinks

Generation Rules

• Every concept note gets a - [ ] #review Can I explain this without notes? task
• Every scenario note gets a - [ ] #practice Build a mini-project for this scenario task
• Every lesson note gets a - [ ] #review Review this lesson before exam task
• Wikilinks everywhere — concepts link to domains, scenarios link to concepts, courses link to both
• Question Index maps common questions to concept notes (like genome vault's "search by concern, not gene")
• Key Pitfalls lists wrong answers the exam loves to test (attractive distractors)
• Study Plan generates phases based on: easy stuff first → gaps second → big course → practice → review

Dataview Queries Used

The vault uses these Dataview query patterns:

• TABLE from folders with filters on status, priority, confidence
• TASK aggregation from all notes with tag filters (#review, #practice)
• GROUP BY for domain-level summaries
• SORT by priority, weight, confidence level
• LIST for filtered views (not-started, in-progress, completed)

Self-Assessment → Priority Mapping

| Self-Assessment | Confidence | Study Priority |

|---|---|---|

| no-experience | low | 1 (study first) |

| needs-work | low | 2 |

| moderate | medium | 3 |

| strong | medium-high | 4 (review only) |

| expert | high | 5 (quick check) |

Higher exam weight × lower confidence = higher study priority.

Study Plan Generation

Phases are generated based on:

• Quick wins: courses with few lessons + high confidence → build momentum
• Gap-filling: domains with low confidence + high exam weight
• The big course: the largest course by lesson count
• Practice: scenarios, hands-on projects
• Final review: cheat sheet, pitfalls, low-confidence concepts

Example Usage

User: "Create a learning vault for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam"

→ Ask: domains, courses (e.g., Udemy course URL), timeline, self-assessment

→ Generate: vault at ~/Brains/aws-saa/ with domains (Compute, Storage, Networking, Security, etc.), concepts per domain, practice scenarios, course tracking, dataview-powered progress dashboard

Reference Implementation

The CCAF vault at ~/Brains/ccaf/ is the canonical example:

• 88 files, 462 wikilinks
• 5 domains, 31 concepts, 8 scenarios, 7 courses, 21 lessons
• Full dataview integration
• Multiple navigation paths: by domain, by concept, by scenario, by question type