Orion vault — clean initial history

Knowledge vault (Orion/PARA) migrated from the pre-Orion 484vault on
2026-10-01. Deliberately orphaned: prior history contained a plaintext
password and stays local-only on branch archive/pre-boilerplate-history.
Secrets and live Hermes state are gitignored.

How this vault works.md

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+---
+type: reference
+title: "How this vault works"
+updated: 2026-10-01
+tags:
+  - reference
+---
+
+# How this vault works
+
+*The 60-second guide to the Orion setup in `Orion`. The full rulebook is [[AGENTS]] — this page is for the owner.*
+
+## The one-sentence version
+
+You drop things in `0. Inbox/`; the agent files them, tracks what you owe people, and keeps `wiki/hot.md` current — you just talk to it.
+
+## Every session
+
+1. **Start:** tell the agent to read `wiki/hot.md`. That's the whole status.
+2. **End:** say **`cascade`** — it rewrites hot.md, logs the session, and commits.
+
+## Things you say
+
+| Say | What happens |
+|---|---|
+| `new project: X` | Agent creates a workstream. **It will ask for a one-sentence "done when"** — no sentence, no project. |
+| `new area: X` | Creates an ongoing responsibility (never "done"), with a `knowledge/` folder. |
+| `ingest` | Files everything sitting in `0. Inbox/` into the right place. |
+| `status` | Reads every hub, answers in chat. |
+| `daily note` / `weekly sweep` | Closes today, writes tomorrow / lists everything tracked. |
+| `close workstream: PROD-4` | A finished project hands its deliverable to `2. Areas/Products/knowledge/`. |
+| `archive: X` / `resume X` | Retires or restores an Area. Reversible. |
+| `lint` | Health check: dead links, missing fields, overdue follow-ups. |
+| `log this: …` | Stamps a line onto today's note. |
+
+## Where things live
+
+- `0. Inbox/` — throw anything here; `ingest` sorts it later.
+- `1. Projects/` — finite work, under its Area. Current: `Products/` with PROD-1…8.
+- `2. Areas/` — ongoing: Products, Lab 484, Sapien, Boltcard, Home Personal. Each has a `knowledge/` — that's where durable notes belong.
+- `3. Resources/` — `People/`, `Threads/`, `Research/` (reusable knowledge), `Outbox/` (documents the agent generated for you).
+- `4. Decisions/` — append-only. Never edited, ever.
+- `5. Archive/` — finished work. Nothing is deleted, anywhere, ever.
+- `wiki/` — pure navigation. `hot.md` = now, `index.md` = inventory, `log.md` = what happened, `meta/open-questions.md` = things waiting on you.
+
+## The three rules that matter
+
+1. **Ledgers append, state replaces.** Decisions and the log never change; hubs and hot.md get rewritten to say what's true *now*.
+2. **Attribute, don't assert.** A fact from a document is written as "the proposal says X," not "X is true."
+3. **The agent repairs silently but never changes meaning without asking.** Dead link fixed? Silent. Wrong claim? It asks.
+
+## Your current setup notes
+
+- **Fenced** (agent must never read): `03-SKILLS/hermes-skills/` — live Hermes tooling, not knowledge.
+- **Secrets:** never in this vault. (`openrouter.ai keys.md` is git-excluded; keep it that way.)
+- **Git:** the vault commits per session after cascade; history is the audit trail. Backup tarball: `~/Orion-pre-orion-2026-10-01.tar.gz`.
+- **Hermes DR backups** now land in `2. Areas/Home Personal/knowledge/hermes/` (hourly sync script repointed here on 2026-10-01).
+- **5 open questions** need your answer — see `wiki/meta/open-questions.md`.