# Introducing solvent-brain: A Starter for an AI-Maintained Architecture Knowledge Base

> solvent-brain is a free, MIT-licensed starter for an AI-maintained architecture knowledge base: an operating contract, resume state, rules and skills.

Canonical: https://mikereams.com/writing/introducing-solvent-brain-template

Published: September 26, 2026  
Author: Mike Reams (https://mikereams.com/about)  
Topics: [AI in the Architecture Practice](https://mikereams.com/writing/topics/ai-in-the-architecture-practice), [Architecture](https://mikereams.com/writing/topics/architecture), [Artificial Intelligence](https://mikereams.com/writing/topics/artificial-intelligence)  
Tags: Enterprise Architecture, AI, Open Source  
Project: [AI-Maintained Architecture Second-Brain Repository](https://mikereams.com/work/ai-maintained-architecture-knowledge-base)

![Diagram: the solvent-brain template folder is cloned and configured into your own vault, whose empty wiki fills with a graph.](https://mikereams.com/writing/introducing-solvent-brain-template.png)

This series has been about running an [AI-maintained knowledge base](https://mikereams.com/writing/building-an-ai-second-brain-for-enterprise-architecture) for an enterprise architecture practice: [resume state](https://mikereams.com/writing/sessions-forget-designing-resume-state-for-ai-agents), [a skeptical reviewer](https://mikereams.com/writing/never-let-the-generator-grade-its-own-work), [two model tiers](https://mikereams.com/writing/two-tiers-spend-the-expensive-model-only-on-judgment), [the two-lens capability model](https://mikereams.com/writing/every-app-needs-two-capabilities).

Each post ended with something to copy. solvent-brain collects those pieces in one repository: [github.com/solventarchitect/solvent-brain](https://github.com/solventarchitect/solvent-brain), MIT licensed. Click Use this template and it is yours.

## What is in it

- **The operating contract.** CLAUDE.md: two layers (raw sources in, a wiki the agent owns), six rules, and the session open and close rituals.
- **Resume state.** wiki/NOW.md — active threads, tripwires, pending ratification and a ruled-out list — with an index, an inbox and an append-only log.
- **Seven rules, written to paste in whole.** Verify before you assert, pushed is not deployed, guarded writes, ServiceNow Table API behaviors, the two-lens capability rule, the record rule and contract reconciliation.
- **A reviewer and an operator.** The skeptical-reviewer skill, the operator agent's instructions, and a template for a bounded, repeatable skill.
- **Two examples.** A disposition record with evidence and a review date, and the shape of a golden-questions eval set.

The README maps every file to the post that explains why it exists.

```
solvent-brain/
├── CLAUDE.md            operating contract
├── wiki/
│   ├── NOW.md           resume state
│   ├── index.md         catalog of every page
│   ├── inbox.md         open questions
│   └── log/             append-only, one file per month
├── raw/                 your sources (git-ignored)
├── rules/               seven rules, paste in whole
├── agents/operator.md   the bounded operator
├── skills/              skeptical-reviewer, _template
└── examples/            disposition record, golden questions
```

## What it deliberately is not

A starter, not a product. There are no scripts, validators, metamodel or integrations. That is on purpose: the patterns travel between organizations, and the tooling does not — it gets built around your own systems of record. Nothing in the repository comes from any organization's data, and raw/ is git-ignored by default because sources usually are sensitive.

## Getting started

1. **Make your copy.** Use this template on GitHub, or clone it.
2. **Name your practice.** Replace <team/practice> in CLAUDE.md, and change anything else that does not fit.
3. **Add one source.** Drop an export, meeting notes or a vendor notice into raw/.
4. **Open an agent session** in the folder and ask it to ingest the source. It reads CLAUDE.md, then NOW.md, and writes pages under wiki/.
5. **Close every session** with the close ritual. The files are the memory.

## How to grow it

Start with the contract and NOW.md alone. Add a rule the second time you catch the same mistake. Add the reviewer before the agent writes anything someone else will read. Add the operator and a cheaper model tier when routine work starts crowding out judgment.

## What I would love back

Issues on the [repository](https://github.com/solventarchitect/solvent-brain/issues) describing where the contract was unclear, where the agent went wrong, and which rule you had to add. The pattern got good because every failure became a rule. It will get better the same way.