Hive Superbrain

The Hive Superbrain is the shared memory behind HivemindOS. Every agent you allow can recall your decisions, read your sources, use the same skills, and use providers you already set up, so you stop repeating yourself in every chat.

It is built on a normal Obsidian vault. You can open, edit, back up, and sync it with tools you already trust.

More than memory

One brain for every way you work

Chats inside HivemindOS get relevant memory automatically before the agent starts. Raw runtime CLIs such as Codex, Claude Code, Hermes, or Gemini can use the same brain through the hive-brain command, which still works when the app is closed. Claude Code also gets the same recall through a prompt hook that setup installs.

The same brain also connects to projects, the Work Board, your machines, and handoffs, so work can move between agents without losing context. An instruction you give now always wins over an older memory.

The setup-once layer

Shared Env stores credentials and runtime settings outside the vault.

• Add a provider key once instead of pasting it into every agent, project, and machine.
• The vault keeps only key names and set/missing status, so agents know what is ready without seeing values.
• A project can override the shared value for one job.
• With Hivemind Sync on, additions and removals reach your trusted machines. Offline peers can catch up later, and a removed key does not come back from an old machine.
• Each machine’s access can be set to Allow, Ask, or Deny.

See Shared Env.

How the Superbrain compounds

1. Capture. Drop in files, attach sources in chat, or save notes. Finished conversations can be saved to the vault too.
2. Recall. Each request checks reviewed memory first, then the rest of the vault, then compiled topic pages. It never loads the whole vault into a prompt.
3. Refine. New memories wait for Brain Review. Corrections become the current version and keep the history.
4. Reuse. Reviewed knowledge can become a shared skill, a topic page, or a project decision for the next agent.
5. Coordinate. Projects, schedules, the Work Board, and machine handoffs all draw on the same brain.

Built to move, split, and recover

• Readable files: knowledge stays as ordinary Markdown, not locked in a hosted database.
• Workspaces: each client, team, or experiment can have its own vault, keys, and skills.
• Portable subsets: export selected memories as an encrypted, expiring capsule, or use OKF export to share an open bundle with outside tools.
• Recoverable search: generated search data is checked and can always be rebuilt from your notes.
• Safe repair: health checks report problems, and the vault doctor changes nothing until you approve a fix.

What stays under your control

• Your vault is the editable source of truth.
• Nothing becomes durable memory until it passes Brain Review.
• Imported files are treated as sources, not as instructions.
• Secret values never go in notes; the vault holds names and status only.
• Optional search and graph services are helpers. They never replace your vault.

More guides

• Vault map: what each folder is for.
• Memory and knowledge: what agents remember and how to correct it.
• Adding knowledge: capture, topics, and conversation learning.
• Documents and Brain Drop: supported file types and limits.
• Shared skills and packaged skills.
• Shared Env, workspaces, and sync and repair.
• Brain on phone and desktop.
• Memory benchmarks.

flowchart TD
  User["User and agents"] --> Managed["HivemindOS-managed chats"]
  User --> RawAgents["Raw runtime CLIs"]
  Managed --> ContextIndex["Context and capability index"]
  Managed --> BrainMemory["Shared Brain Memory"]
  RawAgents --> HiveBrain["hive-brain CLI"]
  RawAgents --> ClaudeHook["Claude prompt hook"]
  HiveBrain --> BrainMemory
  ClaudeHook --> HiveBrain
  Drop["Brain Drop, chat attachments, and notes"] --> Vault["User-owned Obsidian vault"]
  BrainMemory --> Typed["Reviewed Agent Memory"]
  BrainMemory --> VaultSearch["Full-vault search"]
  Vault --> VaultSearch
  Vault --> Conversations["Conversation notes"]
  Vault --> Compiled["Compiled Knowledge and graph"]
  Vault --> Skills["Shared skill shelf"]
  Vault --> SecureRefs["Names-only secure references"]
  SharedEnv["Shared Env values outside the vault"] --> RuntimeProviders["Permitted runtimes and agents"]
  SecureRefs -. key name and status .-> SharedEnv
  Skills --> RuntimeProviders
  ContextIndex --> RuntimeProviders
  Vault --> QueenBee["Queen Bee, Work Board, and fleet coordination"]
  QueenBee --> Transfers["Verified machine handoffs"]
  Vault --> Capsules["Scoped capsules and OKF export"]
  Vault --> Generations["Verified index generations and recovery"]
  Vault --> QMD["QMD markdown search"]
  Vault --> Neo4j["Neo4j derived graph"]

pnpm vault:doctor
pnpm vault:doctor -- --fix