| name | update-obsidian |
| description | Incrementally update an existing Obsidian vault's terminal configuration without overwriting user customizations. Use this skill when the user wants to update Obsidian settings, fix terminal profiles, refresh their Obsidian setup, sync new profiles from template, or troubleshoot WSL terminal issues. Also trigger when the user ran setup-obsidian before and now needs to bring their configuration up to date, or when they mention broken terminal profiles or path issues in Obsidian. |
| version | 1.1.0 |
Purpose
Bring an existing Obsidian vault's terminal configuration up to date. The update script merges new profiles from the plugin template, fixes common WSL issues (doubled paths, stale args), removes deprecated profiles, and copies new launcher scripts — all without touching profiles or scripts the user has customized.
This is the counterpart to setup-obsidian: setup creates from scratch, update patches what's already there.
Workflow
Step 1: Resolve the Workplace Directory
Resolution order:
- If the user gave a path, use it.
- If the current working directory has
.obsidian/plugins/terminal/data.json, use it.
- Otherwise, ask which workplace to update.
If no .obsidian/ directory exists at all, tell the user this workplace hasn't been set up yet and suggest setup-obsidian instead.
Step 2: Run the Update Script
bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/update-obsidian.sh" "<WORKPLACE_DIR>"
Add --dry-run to preview changes first. The script is idempotent — safe to run multiple times.
If the script fails, check the JSON error:
- Exit 1 (validation): directory not found or invalid JSON in data.json
- Exit 2 (args): missing workplace directory argument
- Exit 3 (operation failed): a write operation failed — check file permissions
Step 3: Summarize Changes
The script returns JSON with arrays describing what changed:
profiles_added — new terminal profiles merged from templateprofiles_fixed — WSL profiles that had stale args or missing settings correctedscripts_copied — new launcher scripts added
If all arrays are empty, nothing needed updating — tell the user their configuration is already current. If --dry-run was used, confirm whether to apply the changes for real.
Script Contract
Full interface: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/contracts/update-obsidian.yml
