PARA Vault Manager

[!IMPORTANT] Scope Directive This is the unified facade and orchestrator for PARA knowledge management. It routes vault operations through internal progressive workflows and references. It owns vault classification, document revision, navigation integrity, lifecycle archiving, and source record imports. It does NOT own standalone file system safety mechanics (delegated to manage-file-operations) or personal voice drafting (delegated to write-like-me).

The PARA Vault Lifecycle

PARA Vault Architecture
│
├── 1. Ingestion & Placement
│   ├── Inbox Filing & Classification ──> workflows/file.md
│   └── Source Records (Email/Calendar) ─> workflows/import-records.md
│
├── 2. Maintenance & Revisions
│   ├── Document Reconciliation ─────────> workflows/reconcile.md
│   └── Navigation, Indexes & MOCs ──────> workflows/navigate.md
│
└── 3. Lifecycle Transitions
    └── Project Archiving & Reactivation ─> workflows/archive.md

Triage Matrix: Selecting the Action Runbook

Match the user's intent to the appropriate workflow:

Core Guidelines & Invariants

1. Four-Category Evaluation Order: When classifying items, evaluate in strict order: Projects (active, finite) $\rightarrow$ Areas (ongoing standards) $\rightarrow$ Resources (reference topics) $\rightarrow$ Archives (inactive history).
2. Native Evidence Preservation: Never modify, rewrite, or delete native payloads (e.g. .eml, .ics, original attachments) during filing.
3. Protected Revisions: For substantive changes to established canonical notes, draft a proposal and preserve durable historical versions before applying changes.
4. Non-Destructive Movement: Always use manage-file-operations conventions when moving or renaming notes; verify destination existence and link integrity before removing the source.

Verification

Before reporting completion of any PARA vault task:

• Confirm all target notes conform to frontmatter schemas in references/frontmatter-schemas.md.
• Confirm related collection indexes and MOCs have been updated with valid relative links.
• Confirm original native evidence files remain bit-for-bit identical.
• For project state changes, verify lifecycle fields (status, completed, archived-from) are accurately recorded.