Show HN: Domvault – self-hostable second brain with consent-based note sharing

Developer Dom Sadarangani released Domvault, an open-source, self-hostable second brain tool that integrates with Obsidian and Claude AI to create a self-improving knowledge graph. The tool features a consent-based publishing layer called Constellation that allows users to selectively share notes into a shared, attributed knowledge network. Domvault is licensed under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0, prohibiting commercial use without permission.

A Markdown-native knowledge engine Obsidian + Claude with a repeatable ingestion pipeline, a self-synthesis loop that generates new connections while you sleep, and an opt-inpublishing layer that lets brains share knowledge into a shared galaxy —Constellation. Domvault is the engine , not the content . You bring your own notes; the repo ships the structure, the workflows, the scripts, and the agent instructions that make a plain folder of Markdown behave like a living, self-improving graph. Most "second brain" templates are just empty folders. Domvault adds three things on top: An agent contract CLAUDE.md — so Claude Code, web, or Cowork knows your conventions, origin-tracking scheme, and the exact repeatable workflows for ingesting screenshots, chats, and research. A self-synthesis loop — a scheduled job that generates cheap "sparks" half-ideas linking two notes and promotes the best into full "neuron" synthesis notes. Your graph compounds without you touching it. Constellation opt-in — you explicitly choose which notes/frameworks to publish. Published nodes form a shared, credited knowledge graph that others can browse and pull. This is the consensual substrate for a future marketplace — never a backdoor into anyone's private vault. 🌌 Universe → the whole Constellation network all public knowledge ✨ Galaxy → a topic cluster or an org e.g. "AI Engineering", "Acme Inc" ☀️ Solar system → one person's brain their published nodes only 🪐 Planet → a single published note / framework 🌙 Moon → a version or fork of a note Everything inside a solar system is owned and gated by its owner . A planet only appears in the Universe if its owner published it. Pulling someone's planet into your own brain creates a linked copy that keeps attribution back to the origin star. That's the whole trust model: nothing moves without consent, and credit travels with the node. | Path | What it is | |---|---| template/ | plugin/ registry/ spec + manifest schema for Constellation. constellation/ frameworks/ Publish Rubric — example shareable content. docs/ scripts/ 1. clone git clone https://github.com/<you /domvault.git && cd domvault 2. scaffold a brand-new brain wherever you want it ./plugin/install.sh ~/my-brain 3. open ~/my-brain in Obsidian, point Claude at it, start capturing Full walkthrough: docs/03-getting-started.md /dys5315/domvault/blob/main/docs/03-getting-started.md . Domvault never phones home. The base engine has no network calls. Constellation publishing is: Opt-in per note — nothing is shared unless you run publish on it. Explicit — you see a diff of exactly what leaves your machine. Attributed — your name/handle travels with every published node. Revocable — unpublishing removes the planet from the Universe. There is no telemetry, no silent sync, no analytics on your private notes. If you ever find code that violates this, it's a bug — open an issue. Source-available under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 : use it, study it, modify it, share it freely for any non-commercial purpose — but you may not sell it or build a commercial product on it without permission, and you must keep the attribution. The author retains all commercial rights. See for plain-English details. /dys5315/domvault/blob/main/docs/06-ip-and-licensing.md docs/06-ip-and-licensing.md Required Notice: Copyright c 2026 Dom Sadarangani Domvault / Constellation