Stop Using Obsidian. This Simple Second Brain Setup Actually Works (Andrej Karpathy + Claude Cowork)

Building an effective "second brain" does not require complex software like Obsidian; instead, a minimalist folder structure combined with AI agents provides a more sustainable and manageable knowledge management system. By organizing files into specific directories—raw, wiki, archive, prompts, and projects—users can leverage AI to automatically curate, synthesize, and document information. This approach reduces maintenance overhead by offloading the organization of raw data, such as PDFs, transcripts, and website URLs, to automated agents. Further efficiency is gained by layering automations, including scheduled daily translations, voice memo transcription, and weekly content synthesis. This framework, inspired by self-documenting knowledge base concepts, allows individuals and businesses to build a scalable, version-controlled repository that evolves alongside their projects without the technical burden of traditional, highly complex note-taking setups.