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My Obsidian import did not look right

KB-1 should earn trust beside Obsidian before it replaces anything. Keep the original Obsidian vault intact, import or copy into KB-1, and verify the result before connecting agents to the imported vault.

The safe migration path is copy, not move. A KB-1 import should not destroy or rewrite the original Obsidian folder.

Before copying, check for:

  • Symlinks, which can point outside the vault.
  • A non-empty target folder, which can hide merge mistakes.
  • Volatile Obsidian workspace files such as .obsidian/workspace*.
  • Plugin folders or generated files you do not want agents to read.
  • Large attachments that may take longer to index or sync.

The daemon discovers vaults under:

$KB1_HOME/vaults/

Each vault folder should include an identity file:

$KB1_HOME/vaults/<vault-id>/.kb1/vault.json

Then verify discovery:

Terminal window
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:7382/api/vaults

If the vault id is missing, confirm the folder is under the active KB1_HOME, not a different daemon state directory.

Check whether the source contains symlinks or files excluded during copy. A safe copy commonly excludes .git and .obsidian/workspace*, but it should not drop ordinary Markdown files or attachments.

If the target already existed and was not empty, create a new empty target and copy again. Do not try to debug a merged folder until you have a clean copy to compare against.

KB-1 supports Markdown-first vault content, but Obsidian plugins can create behavior that is not just Markdown. Review these areas manually:

  • Wiki links and aliases.
  • Embedded images and attachments.
  • Frontmatter fields used by plugins.
  • Canvas, Dataview, Tasks, or other plugin-specific files.
  • Files hidden by Obsidian settings but visible on disk.

If the text is present but behavior differs, treat it as a compatibility gap, not data loss.

  1. Open the imported vault in KB-1.
  2. Compare a few important notes against Obsidian.
  3. Confirm attachments and links resolve well enough for the workflow.
  4. Flush the vault once:
Terminal window
curl -fsS -X POST http://127.0.0.1:7382/api/vaults/<vault-id>/ops/flush
  1. Configure agents only after the imported copy looks right.