kickstart-backfill

Pre-fills an Obsidian vault with retroactive people, project, decision, and meeting notes from historical email and calendar data.

Updated May 22, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/fbureau/second-brain --skill kickstart-backfill-fbureau
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: kickstart-backfill
Source: https://github.com/fbureau/second-brain/tree/main/.claude/skills/kickstart-backfill
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/fbureau/second-brain --skill kickstart-backfill-fbureau

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Starting a personal knowledge vault from zero means weeks of empty notes before the system becomes useful. This Skill bootstraps the vault on Day 1 by reconstructing 1–6 months of work history from email, calendar, drive, and chat sources, so the second brain starts with an already-living knowledge base. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Stakeholder Mapping: Scans calendar events and email threads to identify top recurring contacts, then creates validated person notes with frontmatter and monthly aggregated timelines. - Project & Decision Detection: Detects candidate projects from recurring topics and historical decisions from keywords like "approved" or "we've decided", creating notes only after user validation. - Backfill Report: Generates a meta report documenting the window, sources, stats, and caveats so future sessions weight backfilled notes appropriately. - Use Case: On your first day with the system, ask to backfill the last 3 months; the Skill proposes a shortlist of ~15 stakeholders and 4 projects, you validate each phase, and it creates 30–60 high-quality notes marked as backfilled. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to kickstart the vault by backfilling the last 3 months from calendar and email in strategic mode.

Frequently Asked Questions about kickstart-backfill

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I backfill an Obsidian vault with historical data?▼

Invoke the skill by saying "kickstart" or "backfill the last 3 months". It scans your calendar and email in the chosen window, proposes validated shortlists of people and projects, and creates 30–60 notes marked as backfilled.

What data sources does the kickstart backfill scan?▼

It scans calendar events, email threads, drive folders, and chat channels depending on what you enable at preflight. The recommended starting combination is calendar plus email in strategic mode.

How long does the vault backfill take to run?▼

A standard run takes 30–60 minutes depending on the time window. A light mode finishes in about 15 minutes, while a heavy 6-month mode can take 60–90 minutes.

Can I run the kickstart backfill more than once?▼

It is designed as a single-use Day 1 skill and should never run as a scheduled task. A second run is acceptable only to ingest a missed period or extend retroactive coverage after several months.

Does the backfill infer personality or motivations for people notes?▼

No. It deliberately sticks to observable facts like role, team, and interaction frequency. Psychological inferences, working style, and motivations are explicitly excluded and left for real-time enrichment.

Why do backfilled notes have a special marker?▼

Each retroactive entry carries a "(Backfilled)" marker so future sessions know it is a post-hoc reconstruction, not a real-time observation. The guidance weights backfilled notes at roughly 30% of a real-time note's evidentiary value.