Vault Sync Systems — Obsidian KB Automation

Documentation of the automated pipelines that push data from the Baseworks websites into the Obsidian knowledge base vault. These systems run without manual intervention and keep KB content current.

---

Architecture Overview

The general pattern for all vault sync systems:

1. WordPress plugin (mu-plugin) — installed on the relevant site, exposes a WP-CLI command that reads Formidable Forms entries and generates Obsidian-compatible markdown files
2. Shell script on the VPS — runs on a cron schedule, SSHes to the web server, executes the WP-CLI command, rsyncs the output to the vault, commits and pushes to GitHub if anything changed
3. Vault — receives the files automatically; all machines pull the latest on session start

All vault paths are relative to the knowledge base root (/srv/baseworks/knowledge-base/ on the VPS, ~/Obsidian/baseworks-kb-shared-brain/ on local machines).

---

System 1 — Event Participation Questionnaire Sync

Status: Live

What it does

Exports participant questionnaire responses from Formidable Forms into structured markdown files in the vault, one file per respondent.

Components

Component	Location	Details
mu-plugin	baseworks.com	wp-content/mu-plugins/bw-questionnaire-export-cli.php — also in changelog repo at sites/baseworks.com/mu-plugins/bw-questionnaire-export-cli.php
Formidable form	baseworks.com — Form ID 40	Event Participation Questionnaire — 17 fields covering physical background, goals, conditions
Profile tab	practice.baseworks.com — Form ID 74	bw-profile-background-tab.php renders the questionnaire at /members/me/background/
Vault output path	02-areas/method-admin/audience/event-participants/	One .md file per respondent, named firstname-lastname-YYMMDD.md
VPS cron script	/home/patrick/scripts/questionnaire-export.sh	Log: /home/patrick/scripts/questionnaire-export.log
Schedule	Every 4 hours (6× daily)	Cron: 0 4,8,12,16,20,0 * * *

WP-CLI command

wp bw-export questionnaire              # normal run (skips unchanged entries)
wp bw-export questionnaire --dry-run    # preview without writing
wp bw-export questionnaire --force      # overwrite all existing files
wp bw-export questionnaire --entry-user=<id>  # single user

File format

---
type: event-participant
respondent: Full Name
event: Spring 2026 Study Group Montreal
date: YYYY-MM-DD
sex: …
age: …
athletic-level: …
athletic-level-label: …
occupation-interests: …
active-in: …
backgrounds: …
mindfulness-practices: …
reported-issues: …
conditions: …
utm-source: …
---

How it connects to the rest of the KB

• Each participant file links back to their study group entry
• The index.md in event-participants/ is updated automatically when new entries are added
• Used by Claude when drafting participant-facing communications or generating session context

Known issues / pending items

• Admin exclusion on the questionnaire prompt banner (bw-questionnaire-prompt.php) is currently disabled for testing — needs to be re-enabled before next cohort
• [bw_dashboard_teaser] shortcode placement on the practice.baseworks.com dashboard is pending (Patrick’s task)

---

System 2 — Segment Feedback Sync

Status: Not yet built — manual CSV import only

See Segment Feedback Automation Plan for the development plan.

Current state

Segment feedback is imported manually via CSV export from Formidable Forms and a Python script. Instructions: CSV Import Instructions.

Vault path: 02-areas/method-admin/audience/segment-feedback/

---

System 3 — Forum Content Sync (BuddyBoss → Vault)

Status: Live (deployed 2026-04-07)

What it does

Pulls forums, topics (with inline replies), groups, and activity feed posts from practice.baseworks.com via BuddyBoss REST API and writes them as structured markdown into the vault.

Architecture note

Direct HTTP API calls to practice.baseworks.com are blocked by Cloudflare bot challenge from the VPS. This system works around that by SSHing to baseworks-web and using wp eval to dispatch REST requests internally via PHP — no external HTTP calls needed.

Components

Component	Location	Details
Python sync script	/home/patrick/scripts/forum-content-sync.py	Also in vault at scripts/forum-content-sync.py
Shell wrapper	/home/patrick/scripts/forum-content-sync.sh	Lockfile, git pull, run Python, git commit/push
Schedule	Every 2 hours at :30	Cron: 30 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23 * * *
Log	/home/patrick/scripts/forum-content-sync.log
Vault output paths	02-areas/practice-platform/community-forums-groups/	forums/, topics/, groups/, activity/ subdirectories
State file	_sync-state.json (gitignored)	Tracks last-sync timestamps per content type
API auth	Application Password for user patrick (ID 8)	Name: vault-forum-sync

BuddyBoss API endpoints used

Endpoint	Purpose
/buddyboss/v1/forums	Forum entities
/buddyboss/v1/topics	Discussion topics
/buddyboss/v1/reply	Replies (fetched per-topic, inline in topic files)
/buddyboss/v1/groups	Group metadata
/buddyboss/v1/activity	Activity feed posts (monthly digests)

Incremental sync strategy

• Topics: Compares reply-count in frontmatter vs API — only re-fetches topics with new replies
• Forums/Groups: Full fetch every run (few entities), writes only if content hash changed
• Activity: Fetches all, filters content-bearing types client-side, generates monthly digests

Volume (as of 2026-04-07)

5 groups, 5 forums (one per group), 32 topics, 28 replies, 7 activity items

Full design document

See Forum Content Ingestion Plan for frontmatter schemas, body formats, and future phases.

---

Related

• Practice Site Platform Infrastructure
• Custom Code Overview
• Event Participants
• Segment Feedback
• Baseworks Changelog Repo