tpierrain/kenjaku/switch

/switch — Change or create the active universe (opt-in, no reindex)

Brain-side skill. A universe (ADR 0034) is a soft, engine-enforced retrieval scope over

the one shared vault: while a universe is active, search_vault returns that universe's notes

plus your cross-cutting (default) notes, and nothing from the others, unless you explicitly

ask for "all universes". It is a relevance feature, never an isolation wall (a bug, Obsidian,

git or grep can cross it, and for a private brain that is fine).

⚠️ This is a thin conversational driver. All the real, testable logic lives in the

deterministic core scripts/set-active-universe.mjs + scripts/lib/universes.mjs (ADR 0009).

This skill only reads the current state, runs that core, and reports — it holds no logic and

makes no scope decision of its own (the engine reads the active pointer itself, per search).

When to use it

Load this whenever the user wants to change context or manage universes, in plain language, any language:

• "switch to the acme universe" · "passe sur l'univers acme" · "change de contexte"
• "create a universe Blue Team" · "crée un univers Blue Team" · "add a new context"
• "which universe am I in?" · "dans quel univers je suis ?" · "liste mes univers"

🧭 Progressive disclosure. Below two universes there is nothing to manage: a brain with a

single (default) universe behaves exactly as today. Do not volunteer universes to a

single-universe user. But if they explicitly ask to create one, this skill is the way in.

Golden rules

• No writes to notes, no reindex. Switching only re-points the active-universe pointer under

<brain>/.vault-rag/. The engine reads it live on the next search. Never offer a reindex here.

• The core is the single surface. Natural language ("create a universe X") and /switch X

route to the same script, so there is never a diverging path (ADR 0009).

• Creating a universe is create-and-switch (git switch -c ergonomics): register the name and

make it active in one move. The name is normalized to a safe kebab slug (e.g. "Blue Team" → blue-team); the reserved name default cannot be created.

Procedure

Fast path — /switch <name> or "switch to <name>"

Run, from the brain folder:

node scripts/set-active-universe.mjs "<name>"

• exit 0 → relay the confirmation ("switched to '<name>'") and remind, in one line, that

searches now stay in that universe plus your cross-cutting notes (say "search all universes" to span them).

• exit 1, "unknown universe" → the name is not registered. Show the available: list the core

printed, and offer to create it (create-and-switch) or pick an existing one. Do not create silently.

No-argument menu — /switch alone

1. Read the state (no writes):

``bash node scripts/set-active-universe.mjs current # the active universe node scripts/set-active-universe.mjs list # all universes, * marks the active one ``

1. Present the menu in chat: remind the current universe, list the available ones, and offer

• switch to one of them → fast path above,
• ➕ create a new universe (create-and-switch) → create below,
• ✖️ cancel (stay put) → do nothing.

Create a new universe — "create a universe <name>"

Run:

node scripts/set-active-universe.mjs create "<name>"

• exit 0 → relay the core's message verbatim (in the user's language). When this create is the

one that crosses the brain from one to two universes, the core already appends the one-time onboarding line ("You now have two universes. Searches stay in the active one plus your cross-cutting notes; say 'search all universes' to span them. New notes will file under vault/<slug>/."). You do not decide when to show it and never count universes yourself (ADR 0009): the deterministic core (openedGate) owns that call, you only surface what it prints.

• exit 1 → relay the reason as-is (reserved = default is not creatable; empty = the name

had no usable characters), and ask for another name.

What it does NOT do

• It does not move or re-stamp existing notes (that is /import --universe at import time, or a

future one-shot re-stamp). Switching is only about where new work and default searches point.

• It does not delete a universe. A created universe is a self-contained vault/<slug>/ subtree,

so a future "delete this universe" stays a trivial rm -rf + prune + reindex — not built here.