OKF v0.1 · English Handbook

Open Knowledge FormatBuild an AI-maintained knowledge base — from beginner to enterprise

A knowledge base stored as plain Markdown files that humans and AI agents can read, write, and use together.

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Compiled by Supachai Jaturaprom [TumEz]
Written by Claude Code — Opus 4.8 (AI) · Updated 2026-06-15 · OKF v0.1

Preface

Welcome to The Open Knowledge Format (OKF) Handbook. This book walks you through building and operating an AI-maintained knowledge base with OKF — a knowledge base stored as Markdown files with YAML frontmatter that both humans and AI agents can use, without any SDK or special database.

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Table of Contents

PART 1Meet OKFWhat OKF is · history · why it beats classic RAG PART 2Getting StartedInstall · first KB · project layout PART 3Core Conceptsconcept · frontmatter · linking · reserved files PART 4Everyday Operationsingest · query/search · authoring · validate/viz PART 5Authoring Wellbest practices and anti-patterns PART 6Enterpriseself-host · MCP · write models · security APPENDIXReferenceCLI reference · FAQ · glossary · bibliography

Who this book is for

  • Beginners who want a searchable, vendor-neutral personal/team knowledge base
  • Developers / data teams who want AI agents to reach internal knowledge systematically
  • Architects / platform teams who need a shared system across sessions and teams, on-prem

No prior OKF knowledge needed — just basic command line and Git.

Conventions

  • Commands you type go in code blocks · technical terms (concept, frontmatter, bundle, MCP) stay in English to match the source docs and code · blockquotes are warnings/tips

Versioning note: OKF is a v0.1 spec (published 2026-06-12 by Google Cloud). The core spec requires only the type field — most "best practices" here come from the LLM-wiki community and Google's reference implementation.

Source project (code + all tools): https://github.com/supachai-j/open-knowledge-format-starter

Start at What is OKF