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Use a knowledge base ​

A knowledge base is a team-owned folder registered in Anima. Agents can read and write its files; humans can inspect, correct, version, and back them up with ordinary filesystem tools.

Use it for durable shared context such as decisions, research, specifications, operating notes, and the roster of who owns what. Keep private working memory in an agent home instead. The canonical distinction is in Concepts.

Register a folder ​

Select the team that should own the knowledge base, then click + beside Knowledge Base in the dashboard navigation.

Choose an existing folder under your home directory or create a folder in the picker. Anima records the folder path and gives it a sidebar label. Renaming the label does not rename or move the folder.

Removing a knowledge base from the sidebar only unregisters it. The folder and every file inside it remain on disk.

Give the folder a useful shape ​

Agents follow the structure they find. Seed a small structure before the folder grows:

text
README.md
decisions/
product/
research/
operations/
team.md

Use README.md as the front door: explain what belongs here, where each topic lives, and which files are authoritative. A short team.md can name human and agent roles so handoffs come from a governed file rather than a guess.

Prefer one durable topic per file. Record conclusions and the evidence behind them, not complete chat transcripts.

Read it in the dashboard ​

Open a knowledge base from the navigation.

On mobile, the file list is the first screen. Folder rows show the newest modification time among their descendants, so a changed file also updates its parent folders. Open a file to move into the reader.

On desktop, the tree and reader share the screen. At the knowledge-base root:

  • a top-level README.md becomes the default document
  • returning to the root in the same browser tab resumes the last open file
  • the filter narrows the file tree without changing the folder on disk

For Markdown files:

  • Preview renders the document in a reading column.
  • Code shows the source and supports line links such as #L24.
  • Heading links open the exact section and stay in sync as you read.
  • Relative file links navigate inside the knowledge base.
  • On this page appears for longer documents when the reader is wide enough.

The overflow menu can copy the path, open the raw file, or download the selected knowledge-base file. These actions operate on the registered folder; Anima does not create a second copy.

Make the location durable ​

Agents reach a knowledge base through its filesystem path. When assigning work, name the folder and the intended document:

Record the final decision and its evidence in ~/anima-team/product/decisions/.

If an agent will use the folder repeatedly, ask it to record the path in its durable memory or working conventions. Registering a folder in the dashboard does not automatically add its meaning to every agent prompt.

Use agents to maintain it ​

Useful requests are concrete:

  • Summarize the decision from this thread in decisions/ and link the source artifact.
  • Compare the implementation with the current specification and correct stale claims.
  • Add this research result to the index without duplicating an existing source of truth.
  • Review every open item in operations/ and mark only the ones proven closed.

The agent should update the owning file, not create a second summary elsewhere. If two pages claim the same fact, choose one owner and turn the other into a pointer.

Govern it with Git ​

Anima does not version knowledge-base files. Put the folder in Git when history and review matter. Git then provides diffs, authorship, rollback, branches, and pull requests without a separate Anima storage model.

The practical working agreement is:

  1. Agents author and update files as part of the work.
  2. Reviewers verify important claims against their source.
  3. Humans own publication, access, and irreversible decisions.
  4. Stale or incorrect material is corrected in place.

A Git repository is a governance mechanism, not an access-control boundary. Files remain readable to host processes and agents that can reach the path. See Security and data.

Next steps ​