README

Obsidian PARA Rules

Based on insights from 打造第二大脑实践手册 (PARA method) and actual usage analysis of the workspace.

Core Principle

PARA is designed to shorten the distance to action. The only place that demands precision is Projects. Everything else should remain informal.

Per-Folder Rules

00Inbox — 收件匣

Purpose: Temporary holding zone. Items stay here until you have time to sort them into the right PARA folder.

Rules:

• No frontmatter required
• One note per idea/link/clipping
• Title it with what it is (don’t overthink naming — the inbox is temporary)
• Clean inbox during weekly review — move items to Projects/Area/Resource/Archive, don’t leave them rotting here
• Multiple items in flight is normal, even encouraged. Don’t finish one before adding the next

When Hermes writes to Inbox:

• Add a source: line at the top if there’s a clear origin (session, web clip, conversation)
• No tags or frontmatter unless the item is obviously project-bound

---

01Projects — 专案

Purpose: Short-term tasks with a specific goal and a deadline or end state. This is the only folder that demands precision — because Projects consume your most precious resources: time and attention.

Rules:

1. Every project note MUST have a frontmatter block:

---
title: <项目名称>
status: active | paused | completed | cancelled
goal: "<一句话目标，用引号包裹>"
deadline: YYYY-MM-DD
tags: [project]
created: YYYY-MM-DD
---

2. Deadline is mandatory. If you don’t have a hard deadline, set a personal target date. A project without an end state is not a project — it belongs in Area or Resource.

3. Structure (suggested, not enforced — write what’s useful):

# {Title}

## Goal
{One-sentence goal. Required.}

## Current Status
{What's done, what's next}

## Deliverables / Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] ...
- [ ] ...

## Key Decisions
{Notable choices, why they were made}

## Related
- [[PARA/...]] — reference notes
- [[_outputs/...]] — generated artifacts

4. When Hermes creates a project note:
   • Always write the full frontmatter
   • Set a status: field — don’t default to “active” if it’s not yet started
   • If the user didn’t provide a deadline, ask or note “TBD”
   • Link back to related resources with wikilinks

Project lifecycle:

• active → currently being worked on
• paused → deferred, not cancelled
• completed → goal achieved
• cancelled → abandoned

---

02Area — 领域

Purpose: Long-term responsibilities you must maintain. No deadlines, just standards to uphold.

Rules:

• Lightweight YAML frontmatter (optional, add when it’s useful):

---
title: 领域名称
tags: [area, <topic>]
created: YYYY-MM-DD
---

• No deadline. No goal. This is not a project.
• Tag by topic. Use nested tags like area/agent for filtering.
• Content is freeform — whatever helps you uphold your standard in this area.
• Allowed to be messy. Area notes should accumulate organically as you encounter things worth keeping.
• source: line is optional — only include if the information came from a specific source.

Common content types:

• Notes from books/courses related to this area
• Principles and standards you want to maintain
• Reference snippets
• Lessons learned

---

03Resource — 资源

Purpose: Topics of interest or curiosity. The least action-oriented category — no limits on volume.

Rules:

• No frontmatter required
• Title descriptively
• Organize by subfolder per topic when volume grows (e.g., 03Resource/协作模式/, 03Resource/ML/)
• Key filter before saving: Not “Is this interesting?” but “Can this help me do something I couldn’t do before?”

When Hermes writes to Resource:

• Use a subfolder per topic if it doesn’t exist yet (e.g., 03Resource/协作模式/)
• Add a source: line at top if there’s a clear origin
• Cross-link to relevant projects or areas with wikilinks
• Don’t over-tag — one or two topic tags max

---

04Archive — 档案库

Purpose: Everything from other categories that’s no longer active. Never delete — archive.

Rules:

• Moving from Projects to Archive: change status: to archived and add archived: YYYY-MM-DD
• Moving from Area/Resource: keep original file, just move to 04Archive/ — no content changes needed
• Subfolder mirror: 04Archive/Projects/, 04Archive/Area/, 04Archive/Resource/
• Archival is not deletion. You can resurrect anything from Archive when circumstances change.

---

General Rules (All Folders)

1. Never create an empty folder. PARA says: “Only create folders when you have something to put in them.”
2. Use wikilinks ([[path|display]]) for cross-references.
3. One note per concept. Don’t split things across multiple files unnecessarily.
4. Avoid duplication. If a note already exists somewhere, link to it — don’t copy content.
5. Weekly review (5 minutes): Clear inbox, update project status, archive done items.

Sources

• 打造第二大脑实践手册 (Tiago Forte’s PARA method)
• Actual usage analysis of this Hermes workspace (2026-06-07)