Vault Config & Intent Schemas

Config Fields — Clarification Session Questions

Fields below template_skip_patterns are asked during vault-clarification Step 6 (first session only) when empty. The question column shows what to ask the speaker.

Full Config Schema

The exclusion value below is one illustrative valid customization, not the canonical owner default.

{
  "config": {
    "schema_version": 2,
    "vault_root": "~/.claude/rhetoric-knowledge-vault",
    "vault_storage_path": "/native/absolute/database-parent (optional; null/absent uses that parent)",
    "pptx_source_dir": "/path/to/Presentations",
    "python_path": "/path/to/python3",
    "template_skip_patterns": ["template"],
    "pptx_directory_exclusions": ["example-tool-cache"],
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_handle": "",
    "speaker_website": "",

    "shownotes": {
      "enabled": true,
      "source": {
        "type": "local_jekyll",
        "path_or_url": "/path/to/shownotes-site-root",
        "talks_subdir": "_talks"
      },
      "url": {
        "base": "https://speaking.example.com",
        "template": "/{slug}/"
      },
      "thumbnail_path_template": "assets/images/thumbnails/{slug}-thumbnail.png",
      "slug_convention": {
        "template": "{venue-compact}{yy}-{short-id}",
        "examples": []
      },
      "ssg_template_pointer": "{source.path_or_url}/_layouts/default.html"
    },

    "template_pptx_path": "",
    "presentation_file_convention": "{pptx_source_dir}/{conference}/{year}/{talk-slug}/",
    "clarification_sessions_completed": 0
  }
}

PPTX directory exclusions

Config schema v2 requires pptx_directory_exclusions: a bounded, unique array of literal directory-name components. Matching is case-insensitive and exact at any descendant depth. Values are not paths, substrings, globs, or regular expressions; /, \\, control characters, pattern metacharacters, case-insensitive duplicates, . and .. are invalid. The code-owned owner default is intentionally not reproduced here; use the vault-ingress PPTX scan contract. Do not broaden the code-owned default to plausible authored-content directory names without an explicit speaker-specific customization.

Dual readers accept config schema v1 only as read-only compatibility and owner-migration state; it is never current or writable. It cannot authorize PPTX catalog coverage or an absence conclusion because no current directory-exclusion policy is established until migration succeeds. The vault-ingress migration stamps schema v2 and supplies the canonical defaults when the list is absent. A valid custom list already present on a schema-v1 record is preserved exactly. A root-schema-v1/config-schema-v1 vault receives only this config upgrade; the root and every unrelated record remain unchanged. Future or malformed config generations fail closed. Consumers never synthesize defaults or rewrite config themselves.

Trusted vault storage root

vault_storage_path is an optional assertion about the vault that contains tracking-database.json; it is not a redirect. Absent or JSON null uses the database parent. Every other present value must be a host-native absolute path lexically equal to that parent. Readers do not expand ~, rebase relative, drive-relative (C:vault), or current-drive-rooted (\vault) values, translate foreign path flavors, collapse dot segments, or resolve symlinks to manufacture equality. Empty/blank and invalid locator forms fail closed before evidence freshness or profile cohort construction.

Profile readers never repair this field. Use vault-ingress's expectation-bound owner mutation and rerun preflight before regenerating a profile; the concrete dry-run/apply/re-read sequence is documented in source-identity-preflight.md.

Shownotes Config — Field Reference

shownotes.enabled — false means no shownotes site; skip Step 6.1 entirely, the QR target must be a custom_url if enabled at all.

shownotes.source.type — one of:

shownotes.source.path_or_url — local filesystem path when type starts with local_, HTTPS URL when type is remote_url, null otherwise.

shownotes.source.talks_subdir — subdirectory under the site root where talk entries live. Common values: _talks (Jekyll collections), content/talks (Hugo), src/content/talks (Astro). null for remote_url / none.

shownotes.url.base — deployed site base URL (no trailing slash).

shownotes.url.template — path component appended to url.base to form the live URL. Template variables:

Presets for common SSGs (starting points — verify against the actual deployed URLs before shipping):

• Jekyll _talks collection (default permalink): /talks/{slug}/
• Jekyll with date permalink: /{yyyy}/{mm}/{dd}/{slug}/
• Hugo default content section: /{talks_subdir}/{slug}/
• Eleventy (permalink is per-file): use the most common pattern from your entries; if each file overrides it, set url.template to null and let the slug-convention step read the literal URL from per-file permalink:
• Flat speaker-site with slug convention: /{slug}/

shownotes.thumbnail_path_template — filesystem path (relative to source.path_or_url) where the SSG template expects the talk thumbnail image. The exact convention is encoded in the SSG template file (e.g., Jekyll _layouts/default.html og:image tag) — see ssg_template_pointer. The default for Jekyll-based shownotes in this toolkit is:

assets/images/thumbnails/{slug}-thumbnail.png

Both the nested thumbnails/ subdirectory AND the -thumbnail suffix are mandatory for this convention — flat paths fall back to placeholder-thumbnail.svg on the live site with no warning.

shownotes.slug_convention.template — pattern used to generate new talk slugs. Template variables are derived from talk metadata (venue, date, title). See the phase1-intent.md reference for derivation rules.

shownotes.slug_convention.examples — array of recent slugs that match the current convention; used by presentation-creator Phase 1 to validate against drift (older analyses often encode retired conventions).

shownotes.ssg_template_pointer — path to the SSG template file that encodes the URL and thumbnail-path conventions. Stored so the convention can be re-derived after a site redesign without spelunking through the template tree.

Migration from Legacy Fields

Vaults created before this schema had config.talks_source_dir and config.shownotes_url_pattern as flat fields. Vault-profile regeneration maps them as follows:

If a vault presents only the legacy fields, readers build the shownotes block in memory. vault-ingress owns persistence of the current config shape. Do not leave both shapes populated — one source of truth.

Confirmed Intents Schema

Stored in the confirmed_intents array of the tracking database. Populated during clarification sessions when the speaker confirms a pattern is intentional.

{
  "confirmed_intents": [{
    "schema_version": 1,
    "pattern": "delayed_self_introduction",
    "intent": "deliberate",
    "rule": "Use two-phase intro: brief bio at slide 3, full re-intro mid-talk",
    "note": "Speaker confirmed this is an intentional rhetorical device",
    "confirmed_date": "2026-08-01",
    "source_talk": "2026-08-01-example.md"
  }]
}

Required fields are exact integer schema_version: 1, pattern, intent, rule, and note. The owner also accepts the clarification provenance fields confirmed_date, one of source_talk / legacy talk / source_talks, and retrofit_targets. The plural fields are non-empty unique string arrays. Existing speaker-owned non-empty intent labels remain readable; the three labels in the example are the recommended vocabulary. Unknown fields are not part of the record.