/vault-maintenance Skill

Run quarterly vault maintenance checks to keep the knowledge base healthy. Orchestrates multiple quality checks using parallel sub-agents.

Usage

/vault-maintenance              # Run all checks
/vault-maintenance --report     # Generate report only, no fixes
/vault-maintenance weblinks     # Run specific check only

Maintenance Checks

Check	Purpose	Frequency
weblinks	Verify external URLs are still active	Quarterly
orphans	Find notes with no backlinks	Quarterly
broken-links	Find broken [[wiki-links]]	Quarterly
archive-candidates	Identify notes ready for archiving	Quarterly
frontmatter	Validate frontmatter consistency	Quarterly

Instructions

1. Announce Maintenance Mode

## Vault Maintenance - 2026-01-10

Running quarterly health checks...

2. Launch Parallel Sub-Agents

Use Task tool to spawn multiple agents in parallel with model: "haiku" for efficiency:

[Task 1: Check Weblinks] (Haiku)
[Task 2: Find Orphans] (Haiku)
[Task 3: Check Broken Links] (Haiku)
[Task 4: Find Archive Candidates] (Haiku)
[Task 5: Validate Frontmatter] (Haiku)

3. Check Descriptions

Weblinks Check

See: .claude/skills/check-weblinks/SKILL.md

• Test all URLs for 404/redirects
• Flag dead links for review
• Update lastChecked in frontmatter

Orphans Check

See: .claude/skills/orphans/SKILL.md

Find notes with no incoming links:

# For each note, check if any other note links to it
grep -l "[[Note Name]]" *.md

Orphaned notes may indicate:

• Forgotten content
• Notes that should be linked from MOCs
• Candidates for deletion

Exceptions (not orphans):

• MOC files (they link out, not in)
• Daily notes (accessed by date)
• Dashboard

Broken Links Check

See: .claude/skills/broken-links/SKILL.md

Find [[wiki-links]] that point to non-existent notes:

# Extract all [[links]] and check if target exists
grep -o '\[\[[^]]*\]\]' *.md | sort -u

Broken links may indicate:

• Renamed files
• Deleted files
• Typos in link text

Archive Candidates Check

Find notes ready for archiving based on rules:

Type	Rule	Action
Project	status: completed AND modified > 6 months ago	Archive candidate
Task	completed: true AND modified > 3 months ago	Archive candidate
Person	Has leftOrganisation AND > 3 months ago	Archive candidate

Frontmatter Validation

Check all notes have valid frontmatter:

• Has type field
• Has title field
• Has created date
• Type-specific required fields present
• No deprecated field names

4. Aggregate Results

Collect results from all sub-agents and compile:

## Vault Maintenance Report - 2026-01-10

### Summary
| Check | Issues | Action Required |
|-------|--------|-----------------|
| Weblinks | 3 dead, 4 redirected | 3 reviews |
| Orphans | 12 found | 12 reviews |
| Broken Links | 2 found | 2 fixes |
| Archive Candidates | 8 projects, 45 tasks | 53 archives |
| Frontmatter | 5 missing fields | 5 fixes |

### Total Actions
- **Reviews needed**: 15
- **Auto-fixable**: 50
- **Manual fixes**: 7

Run `/vault-maintenance --fix` to apply auto-fixes.

5. Detailed Findings

Weblinks

| File | Status | Action |
|------|--------|--------|
| Weblink - Old Docs.md | 404 | Archive |
| Weblink - Moved Page.md | 301 → new-url | Update URL |

Orphans

| File | Type | Suggestion |
|------|------|------------|
| Page - Random Notes.md | Page | Link from relevant MOC or delete |
| AtomicNote - Old Idea.md | AtomicNote | Review relevance |

Broken Links

| File | Broken Link | Suggestion |
|------|-------------|------------|
| Project - Alpha.md | [[John Smithh]] | Did you mean [[John Smith]]? |
| Meeting - 2025-01-05.md | [[Deleted Project]] | Remove link |

Archive Candidates

| File | Type | Last Modified | Action |
|------|------|---------------|--------|
| Project - Legacy.md | Project | 2025-03-15 | Archive |
| Task - Old Thing.md | Task | 2025-08-01 | Archive |

Frontmatter Issues

| File | Issue |
|------|-------|
| Page - Quick Note.md | Missing `type` field |
| Meeting - Untitled.md | Missing `title` field |

6. Apply Fixes (if --fix)

Auto-fixes:

• Update lastChecked on weblinks
• Add missing created dates (from file creation date)
• Archive candidates (with confirmation)

Manual review required:

• Orphaned notes (may be intentional)
• Broken links (need correct target)
• Dead weblinks (decide: update, archive, or delete)

Scheduling

Run quarterly:

• Q1: First week of January
• Q2: First week of April
• Q3: First week of July
• Q4: First week of October

Add to calendar or daily note reminder.

Example Session

User: /vault-maintenance

Claude:
## Vault Maintenance - Q1 2026

Launching health checks in parallel...

[5 sub-agents running]

### Results

| Check | Issues |
|-------|--------|
| Weblinks | 3 dead, 4 redirected |
| Orphans | 12 notes |
| Broken Links | 2 found |
| Archive Candidates | 53 notes |
| Frontmatter | 5 issues |

### Priority Actions

1. **Fix 2 broken links** (quick wins)
   - Project - Alpha.md: [[John Smithh]] → [[John Smith]]
   - Meeting - 2025-01-05.md: Remove [[Deleted Project]]

2. **Archive 53 old notes** (batch operation)
   - 8 completed projects (> 6 months)
   - 45 completed tasks (> 3 months)

3. **Review 12 orphaned notes**
   - May need linking or deletion

4. **Review 3 dead weblinks**
   - 1 unreferenced (archive)
   - 2 referenced (update or remove from sources)

Run `/vault-maintenance --fix` to apply auto-fixes.

Related Skills

• /check-weblinks - Weblink health check
• /orphans - Find orphaned notes
• /broken-links - Find broken wiki-links
• /archive - Archive individual notes
• /archive batch tasks - Batch archive old tasks