obsidian-organize

name	obsidian-organize
description	Transform and organize notes in the Obsidian vault — add frontmatter, detect note types, create relationships
activation	["organize note","transform note","add frontmatter","add properties","categorize note","note type","create MOC","link notes"]

Obsidian Note Organization

Transform existing notes to follow vault conventions. Add frontmatter, detect types, create relationships.

Workflow

1. Assess — Read the note, check file size first (>100KB = sample only)
2. Detect type — Tasks/dates = project, concepts = atomic, date-stamped = daily, index = moc
3. Derive relationships — Check for existing MOCs, explicit mentions, content similarity
4. Search first — Before creating new MOCs, search for existing ones (especially AI/ML topics)
5. Add frontmatter — Use targeted edits, never rewrite the file
6. Update parent — Add link to the parent MOC (always update both sides)
7. Standardize links — Convert to [[wiki-style]] in body text

Validation Scripts

Run from vault root:

# Check frontmatter formatting (leading blanks, unquoted links, missing fields)
uv run python .claude/skills/obsidian-organize/scripts/validate_frontmatter.py .

# Fix leading blank lines (dry run, then --apply)
uv run python .claude/skills/obsidian-organize/scripts/validate_frontmatter.py . --fix-blanks
uv run python .claude/skills/obsidian-organize/scripts/validate_frontmatter.py . --fix-blanks --apply

# Check relationship integrity (broken up: targets, orphans, one-way links)
uv run python .claude/skills/obsidian-organize/scripts/validate_links.py .

Critical Rules

• Never rewrite content — only add structure and metadata
• Never duplicate title — Obsidian shows filename, don't add matching H1
• Always use targeted edits — especially for MOCs, Home, PARA entry points
• Check file existence before any write operation
• Backup first if you must overwrite anything

Frontmatter Templates

See Templates/ for canonical examples. Quick reference:

# Atomic note
type: atomic
created: YYYY-MM-DD
up: "[[Parent MOC]]"
related:
  - "[[Related Note]]"
tags:
  - concept

# Project note
type: project
created: YYYY-MM-DD
status: active
up: "[[Projects]]"
due: YYYY-MM-DD
tags:
  - project

# MOC
type: moc
tags:
  - moc
  - area

Type Detection Heuristics

Content Pattern	Likely Type
Tasks, deadlines, objectives	project
Single concept explained	atomic
Date-stamped journal entry	daily
Index of links to other notes	moc
Quick thought, unstructured	fleeting
Book/article/course summary	review or literature
External tool, guide, or how-to	resource

Tag Validation

Before applying tags to any note, cross-reference against the canonical tag list:

1. Read Tag Taxonomy.md for the full canonical list with "NOT" variants
2. Use only canonical forms — e.g. machine-learning not ml, coding not programming, software-engineering not software
3. Flag new tags — if a tag doesn't exist in the taxonomy, propose adding it to Tag Taxonomy.md rather than using it ad-hoc
4. 1-3 domain tags max per note — don't over-tag

Relationship Derivation

1. Check explicit [[links]] in body text → candidates for related:
2. Search for parent MOC and neighbors — run these in parallel:
   • qmd vsearch "<note topic>" -c vault -n 5 — finds conceptually related MOCs and neighbors, especially useful when the best up: target isn't obvious from keywords alone (skip if qmd not installed)
   • Grep for key terms — exhaustive keyword matches to catch all mentions Combine both: qmd for discovery, grep for completeness.
3. Check if note belongs under an existing MOC → set up:
4. Check .obsidian-assistant-notes.md for vault-specific routing patterns and common mistakes

Breadcrumbs Codeblocks & down: Property

• Don't add explicit down: when organizing MOCs — Breadcrumbs automatically implies down: from children's up: links
• Explicit down: is only needed when a parent claims children that lack up: back-links (rare edge case)

When to add a Breadcrumbs codeblock

Add a breadcrumbs tree codeblock (after frontmatter, before content) when:

1. The note is a MOC (type: moc) — always. The moc-note template includes it by default.
2. Any non-MOC note has 5+ children pointing up: to it — add for discoverability.

\`\`\`breadcrumbs
type: tree
dir: down
depth: -2
\`\`\`

When organizing a note, check if it's a MOC missing a codeblock and add one.

Supported Edge Fields

Field	When to Use	Format
up	Always — every note except PARA roots	up: "[[Parent]]"
down	Rarely — implied from up: by Breadcrumbs	YAML list of quoted links
related	Peer/lateral connections	YAML list of quoted links
prev / next	Sequential content	Single quoted link
source	Attribution (not a Breadcrumbs edge)	Single quoted link or string

Removed properties (never use): supports, opposes, refines, implements, same