daily-update
ar9av/obsidian-wiki
Run daily wiki maintenance: check source freshness, update index, regenerate hot.md.
What is daily-update?
Executes a lightweight maintenance cycle for your Obsidian wiki, checking which sources need ingestion, reconciling the index with vault pages, and refreshing the hot.md summary. Use this when you want to sync everything at once or set up automated daily runs via cron.
- Check source freshness against file modification times and classify as fresh, stale, or missing
- Reconcile index.md with actual vault pages, adding or removing entries as needed
- Regenerate hot.md if older than 48 hours with a semantic snapshot of recent wiki content
- Write vault-scoped state files for terminal notifications and cron tracking
- Validate the maintenance cycle with impl-validator before logging results
- Log all changes to log.md with counts of fresh/stale/missing sources and index updates
How to install daily-update
npx skills add https://github.com/ar9av/obsidian-wiki --skill daily-update- Obsidian vault with .manifest.json tracking source ingestion times
- Config resolution via .env, ~/.obsidian-wiki/config, or interactive setup
- Bash shell (for launchd cron on macOS) or manual cron setup on other systems
How to use daily-update
- 1.Resolve config using the Config Resolution Protocol to get OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and OBSIDIAN_WIKI_REPO
- 2.Derive vault-scoped state directory using MD5 hash of vault path
- 3.Read .manifest.json and compare source mtimes against ingested_at timestamps
- 4.Enumerate vault pages with find and reconcile against index.md, updating if needed
- 5.Check hot.md frontmatter date; if >48h old, regenerate from 10 most recent pages
- 6.Write state files (.last_update, .pending_delta, .vault_path) to vault-scoped state dir
- 7.Spawn impl-validator to confirm index, hot.md, and state files are correct
- 8.Append results to log.md with source counts and index changes
Use cases
- Run `/daily-update` command to manually trigger a full wiki sync
- Set up launchd cron to run maintenance automatically at 9 AM each morning
- Install terminal notifications to alert when wiki sources are >20 hours stale
- Verify index consistency after bulk vault edits or imports
- Refresh hot.md context snapshot before starting a new session with the wiki
- Obsidian vault maintainers who ingest content from multiple sources
- Users managing wikis with automated daily workflows
- Anyone wanting terminal reminders when wiki sources need syncing
daily-update FAQ
Run the skill in setup mode by saying 'set up the daily cron' or 'install terminal notification'. It will install the launchd plist to ~/Library/LaunchAgents and optionally add wiki-notify.sh to your shell rc file. The cron runs at 9 AM daily.
State is stored in ~/.obsidian-wiki/state/<vault-id>/ where vault-id is an MD5 hash of the vault path. Each vault maintains independent state, so you can run daily-update on multiple vaults without conflicts.
Use /daily-update anytime you want an immediate sync—after bulk imports, before starting a session, or when you see a stale notification. The cron handles routine maintenance at 9 AM.
Missing sources are classified separately in the freshness check and reported in the daily log. You can then decide whether to re-ingest, remove from manifest, or restore the file.
It only updates index.md and hot.md based on vault state. It does not ingest or rewrite source files—that is handled by separate ingest skills. It also updates state files and logs, which are outside the vault.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from ar9av/obsidian-wiki.
name: daily-update description: > Run the daily wiki maintenance cycle: check all source freshness, update the index, and regenerate hot.md. Use this skill when the user says "/daily-update", "run the daily update", "update everything", "morning sync", "refresh the wiki index", or when triggered by the launchd cron at 9 AM. Also use to set up or verify the cron + terminal notification infrastructure for the first time ("set up the daily cron", "install the terminal notification", "how do I get the morning reminder?").
Daily Update — Wiki Maintenance Cycle
You run a lightweight maintenance pass over the wiki: check source freshness, refresh the index, update hot.md, and write the state file that the terminal notification reads.
Before You Start
- Resolve config — follow the Config Resolution Protocol in
llm-wiki/SKILL.md(inline@nameoverride → walk up CWD for.env→~/.obsidian-wiki/config→ prompt setup). This givesOBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATHandOBSIDIAN_WIKI_REPO. - Derive vault-scoped state dir — all runtime state is scoped to the resolved vault, not global:
VAULT_ID=$(echo "$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH" | md5sum 2>/dev/null | cut -c1-8 || md5 -q - <<< "$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH" | cut -c1-8) STATE_DIR="$HOME/.obsidian-wiki/state/$VAULT_ID" mkdir -p "$STATE_DIR" - Read
$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/.manifest.json.
Modes
Run Mode (default — triggered by cron or /daily-update)
Execute the maintenance cycle:
Step 1: Source freshness check
Compare each source in .manifest.json against its file's modification time. Classify as:
- Fresh —
mtime ≤ ingested_at - Stale —
mtime > ingested_at(new content exists, not yet ingested) - Missing — source file no longer exists
Step 2: Index refresh
Read $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/index.md. If any pages in the vault are missing from the index (or vice versa), update the index. Use find $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH -name "*.md" -not -path "*/_*" to enumerate vault pages, then reconcile against the index.
Step 3: hot.md update
Read hot.md. If it's >48h old based on its updated: frontmatter, regenerate it: read the 10 most recently modified wiki pages and write a fresh ~500-word semantic snapshot of what the wiki covers. This keeps the next session's context warm without a full vault crawl.
Step 4: Write state
Write to the vault-scoped $STATE_DIR derived in "Before You Start":
date +%s > "$STATE_DIR/.last_update"
echo "<stale_count>" > "$STATE_DIR/.pending_delta"
echo "$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH" > "$STATE_DIR/.vault_path"
Step 5: Spawn impl-validator
After the cycle, spawn impl-validator as a subagent:
impl-validator check:
goal: "Daily wiki maintenance — index reconciled, hot.md refreshed, state file written"
artifacts:
- $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/index.md
- $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/hot.md
- $STATE_DIR/.last_update
- $STATE_DIR/.pending_delta
checks:
- Does .last_update contain a recent Unix timestamp (within the last 60 seconds)?
- Does .pending_delta contain a non-negative integer?
- Does hot.md have an updated: frontmatter field set to today?
- Does index.md list at least as many pages as exist in the vault?
Apply any FAILs before logging.
Step 6: Log
Append to $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/log.md:
- [TIMESTAMP] DAILY-UPDATE fresh=N stale=N missing=N index_added=N hot_refreshed=true|false
Step 7: Report to user
## Daily Wiki Update
- Sources: N fresh · N stale · N missing
- Index: N pages (N added, N removed)
- hot.md: refreshed / up to date
Stale sources (run to sync):
/wiki-history-ingest claude — N sessions since last ingest
/wiki-history-ingest codex — N sessions since last ingest
Setup Mode (triggered by "set up the daily cron" or "install terminal notification")
Walk the user through first-time setup:
Step 1: Verify script exists
Check that $OBSIDIAN_WIKI_REPO/scripts/daily-update.sh exists and is executable. If not, point the user to it.
Step 2: Install launchd plist
# Replace placeholder in plist
sed "s|OBSIDIAN_WIKI_REPO|$OBSIDIAN_WIKI_REPO|g" \
"$OBSIDIAN_WIKI_REPO/scripts/com.obsidian-wiki.daily-update.plist" \
> "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.obsidian-wiki.daily-update.plist"
# Load it
launchctl load "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.obsidian-wiki.daily-update.plist"
Step 3: Install terminal notification (optional)
Ask the user: "Do you want a terminal reminder when your wiki is stale? (y/n)" — skip this step if they say no, or if the environment is headless/VPS.
If yes, detect the user's shell and target the right rc file:
SHELL_NAME=$(basename "$SHELL") # zsh, bash, fish, etc.
case "$SHELL_NAME" in
zsh) RC_FILE="$HOME/.zshrc" ;;
bash) RC_FILE="$HOME/.bashrc" ;;
*) echo "Shell '$SHELL_NAME' not auto-detected. Add the source line manually to your shell rc file." ; return ;;
esac
Check if wiki-notify.sh is already sourced in that rc file. If not, append:
echo "" >> "$RC_FILE"
echo "# obsidian-wiki terminal notification" >> "$RC_FILE"
echo "source $OBSIDIAN_WIKI_REPO/scripts/wiki-notify.sh" >> "$RC_FILE"
For Fish shell, source syntax is different — provide the manual instruction:
# Add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:
bass source $OBSIDIAN_WIKI_REPO/scripts/wiki-notify.sh
# (requires bass plugin, or copy the logic natively)
Step 4: Run the script once
bash "$OBSIDIAN_WIKI_REPO/scripts/daily-update.sh"
This initializes $STATE_DIR/.last_update so the terminal notification works immediately.
Step 5: Confirm
Tell the user:
- The cron runs daily at 9 AM (or on next login if missed)
- Terminal notifications appear when the wiki is >20 hours stale
- State is stored in
~/.obsidian-wiki/state/<vault-id>/— supports multiple vaults independently - They can run
/daily-updateanytime to force a sync - Logs go to
/tmp/obsidian-wiki-daily.log
QMD Refresh After Vault Writes
QMD is a search index, not the source of truth. If $QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION is empty or unset, skip this step. Run it only after this skill has written or rewritten vault markdown. If QMD refresh fails, do not roll back the vault changes; report the QMD status separately.
Use $QMD_CLI if set; otherwise use qmd.
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} update
If the output says vectors are needed or embeddings may be stale, run:
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} embed
Verify the collection with either:
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} ls "$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION"
or, when a specific page path is known:
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} get "qmd://$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION/<page>.md" -l 5
Record one of:
QMD refreshed: update + embed + verifiedQMD refreshed: update only + verifiedQMD skipped: QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION unsetQMD skipped: qmd CLI unavailableQMD failed: <short error summary>
Related skills
More from ar9av/obsidian-wiki and the wider catalog.

data-ingest
Ingest raw text data, chat exports, logs, and unstructured documents into your Obsidian wiki.

graph-colorize
Color-code Obsidian graph view nodes by tag, folder, or visibility.

hermes-history-ingest
Ingest Hermes agent history and memories into your Obsidian wiki for knowledge mining and synthesis.

impl-validator
Validate implementations against stated goals with structured pass/warn/fail verdicts.

ingest-url
Fetch and distill web pages into your Obsidian wiki, organized by project context.

llm-wiki
Foundational knowledge distillation pattern for building AI-powered Obsidian wikis based on Andrej Karpathy's architecture.