Ars Contexta

Ars Contexta is a Claude Code plugin that turns a setup conversation into a local Markdown knowledge system for your agent.

You describe what you want to track, remember, or think through. The plugin derives the folders, context files, processing skills, hooks, navigation maps, and note schema for that work. The result is a generated vault, not a template copied into this repo.

Contents

• Install
• Prerequisites
• What setup creates
• Setup flow
• Generated architecture
• Commands
• Processing pipeline
• Hooks
• Development

Install

Make sure the prerequisites are installed before you run setup.

Run these commands inside Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add datamole-ai-arscontexta/arscontexta
/plugin install arscontexta@datamole-ai-arscontexta

Restart Claude Code, then run:

/arscontexta:setup

Setup asks a short set of questions about your domain. It usually takes about 20 minutes because the plugin reads its references, derives your vocabulary, and writes the generated system.

After setup finishes:

1. Restart Claude Code again so generated hooks and skills load.
2. Open the generated folder as an Obsidian vault and leave Obsidian running before using /process.

Prerequisites

Install these before running /arscontexta:setup. Setup checks them before it writes files.

Dependency	Purpose
Claude Code	Plugin host
tree	Workspace tree injection
ripgrep (rg)	YAML queries and schema validation
uv	Vault-local Python tooling
qmd v2+	Semantic search
Obsidian CLI (obsidian)	Vault-native file, link, property, and graph facts

What setup creates

• A vault of plain Markdown files connected by wiki links.
• An inbox-to-notes processing pipeline.
• Vault-local tooling, copied as a uv Python project, with deterministic seed and validate commands.
• Hooks that inject session context and show maintenance signals.
• Maps of Content for hub, domain, and topic navigation.
• ops/schema.yaml, the schema contract for note properties.

The main choice is derivation instead of templating. Setup uses your vocabulary, maps it to the fixed architecture, then records why those choices were made.

Setup flow

/arscontexta:setup runs this process:

Phase	What happens
Detection	Checks Claude Code and required local tools
Understanding	Asks 2-4 conversation turns about your domain
Derivation	Maps your vocabulary to folders, note types, tags, and navigation
Proposal	Shows what will be generated before writing files
Generation	Writes the context file, folders, schema, skills, hooks, and hub MOC
Validation	Checks generated dependencies and deterministic runtime validation

Generated architecture

Every generated system separates content into three spaces:

Space	Purpose	Growth
self/	Agent identity, methodology, and goals	Slow, usually tens of files
notes/	The knowledge graph	Steady, often 10-50 files per week
ops/	Schema, derivation records, sessions, and coordination	Fluctuating

Names adapt to your domain. For example, notes/ might become reflections/, claims/, or decisions/. The separation stays the same.

Commands

Plugin-level

Command	What it does
/arscontexta:setup	Runs conversational setup and generates the full system

Generated after setup

Command	What it does
/process	Runs end-to-end source processing
/seed	Archives a source and creates initial pipeline state
/structure	Turns source material into finished notes
/capture	Preserves source material verbatim
/connect	Runs qmd discovery, gathers Obsidian graph facts, and updates MOCs
/verify	Checks Obsidian links and deterministic schema validation
/health	Runs Obsidian diagnostics plus validate --all

Processing pipeline

Phase	What happens	Command
Record	Capture source material into the inbox	User action
Reduce	Extract notes or preserve source text	/structure, /capture
Connect	Find links, update MOCs, and reconsider older notes	/connect
Verify	Check links and schema before the batch is committed	/verify

/process orchestrates the full pipeline and creates one git commit at the end of each successful batch.

Hooks

Hook	Event	What it does
Session orient	SessionStart	Injects the workspace tree, loads identity, and shows maintenance signals

Development

Clone this repo, then add and install the local marketplace inside Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add ~/path-to-arscontexta
/plugin install arscontexta@datamole-ai-arscontexta

Reinstall after each change:

/plugin uninstall arscontexta@datamole-ai-arscontexta
/plugin install arscontexta@datamole-ai-arscontexta