LLM Wiki for Codebases

Build a persistent, interlinked markdown wiki that captures the architecture, modules, patterns, and APIs of a codebase. The wiki lives in .llm-wiki/ at the project root. Humans curate and direct; the LLM handles all bookkeeping.

Based on Andrej Karpathy's LLM Wiki pattern: raw sources are "compiled" into a structured wiki that compounds over time.

Mode Detection

Determine the mode based on current state:

• No .llm-wiki/ directory exists -> Full Build mode
• .llm-wiki/ exists -> Update mode (diff and refresh)

Full Build Workflow

Phase 1: Reconnaissance

1. Read top-level files: README, package.json/Cargo.toml/go.mod/pyproject.toml/build.gradle etc.
2. Run find or Glob to map the directory tree (ignore node_modules, .git, vendor, dist, build, pycache, .venv)
3. Identify: language(s), framework(s), build system, entry point(s), test framework
4. Count files per directory to gauge module boundaries
5. Read CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / .cursor/rules if present - they contain valuable architectural context

Record findings in .llm-wiki/_schema.md (see references/wiki-schema.md for format).

Phase 2: Skeleton

Create the directory structure:

.llm-wiki/
  _schema.md          # Wiki conventions and project metadata
  _index.md           # Content-oriented catalog by category
  _log.md             # Chronological build/update log
  architecture/       # High-level design docs
  modules/            # Per-module deep dives
  concepts/           # Cross-cutting concepts (auth, caching, error handling...)
  apis/               # API surface docs (REST endpoints, CLI commands, exported functions)
  guides/             # How-to guides (setup, deployment, testing)

Phase 3: Core Articles

Write articles in priority order. See references/article-templates.md for templates.