| name | obsidian |
| description | Use when the user mentions Obsidian, vault, daily notes, wikilinks, frontmatter, backlinks, graph view, or obsidian-cli. Activates for searching, creating, editing, moving notes in an Obsidian vault, managing YAML frontmatter, setting up Zettelkasten vault structure, or syncing vaults via Obsidian Headless (ob CLI). Also trigger on Korean phrases like "노트 만들어줘", "vault 동기화", or "frontmatter 수정해줘". Do NOT trigger for generic Markdown editing (README, docs) or other note apps (Notion, Bear). Do NOT activate when the user wants to use vault notes as conversational context (e.g., "내 노트 참고해서 답해줘", "check my notes about X", "이전에 정리한 거 있어?") — that belongs to the obsidian-brain skill.
|
Obsidian Vault Skill
Contents
Obsidian vault = a normal folder of Markdown files on disk. Use obsidian-cli only when its features add real value (search, link-aware move/rename, frontmatter ops, opening in Obsidian).
Tool Selection Guide
| Task | Best tool |
|---|
| Read note content | Read tool |
| Edit note content | Edit tool |
| Create new note | Write tool |
| Create note + open in Obsidian | obsidian-cli create --open |
| Search note names | obsidian-cli search "query" |
| Search inside notes | obsidian-cli search-content "query" |
| Broad content search / regex | Grep tool on vault path |
| Find notes by name pattern | Glob tool on vault path |
| Move/rename note (updates wikilinks) | obsidian-cli move |
| View/edit frontmatter | obsidian-cli frontmatter |
| Open daily note | obsidian-cli daily |
| List vault contents | obsidian-cli list |
| Delete note | obsidian-cli delete |
| Sync vault (no desktop) | ob sync |
Find the Vault
Never hardcode paths. Resolve the vault path first:
obsidian-cli print-default --path-only
cat ~/Library/Application\ Support/obsidian/obsidian.json
The config JSON has a vaults object; use the entry with "open": true. If multiple vaults exist, ask the user which to use, then: obsidian-cli set-default "<vault-folder-name>"
Working with Notes
Read: Use Read tool on the .md file directly. For backlink context: obsidian-cli print "Note" --mentions
Create: Use Write tool for simple creation. To also open in Obsidian: obsidian-cli create "Folder/Note" --content "..." --open. To append: add --append.
Edit: Use Edit tool — precise diffs, preserves formatting. Prefer over obsidian-cli for content changes.
Search by name: obsidian-cli search "query" — fuzzy match across vault.
Search content: obsidian-cli search-content "query" — snippets + line numbers.
Regex search: Use Grep on vault path (faster, supports regex).
Filename pattern: Use Glob on vault path (e.g., **/daily/**/*.md).
Move/rename: Always use obsidian-cli move "Old/note" "New/note" — updates [[wikilinks]] across vault. Plain mv cannot do this.
Frontmatter:
obsidian-cli frontmatter "Note" --print
obsidian-cli frontmatter "Note" --edit --key "status" --value "done"
obsidian-cli frontmatter "Note" --delete --key "draft"
For bulk frontmatter ops across many notes, use Read + Edit directly — more efficient.
Daily note: obsidian-cli daily — creates if needed, opens in Obsidian.
List vault: obsidian-cli list or obsidian-cli list "Projects" for a subfolder.
Delete: obsidian-cli delete "Folder/note-to-delete"
Multi-Vault Usage
All obsidian-cli commands accept --vault <name>:
obsidian-cli search "query" --vault "Work"
obsidian-cli create "Note" --content "..." --vault "Personal"
Common Patterns
Batch note updates: Use Glob to find files, then Read + Edit per file — faster than calling obsidian-cli repeatedly.
Linked notes: Use Write with [[wikilinks]] in content; Obsidian resolves them on open.
Template-based creation: Read the template, substitute placeholders, Write the new note.
When NOT to Use
- Generic Markdown editing (README.md, CHANGELOG.md, docs/) — use Read/Edit tools directly
- Other note-taking apps (Notion, Bear, Apple Notes) — this skill is Obsidian-specific
- Code documentation or inline comments
Error Handling
If obsidian-cli is not installed:
- Fall back to direct file operations: use Glob to find notes, Read/Edit/Write to modify them
- Wikilink-aware move/rename won't work without obsidian-cli — warn the user
OS-specific Obsidian config paths:
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json
- Linux:
~/.config/obsidian/obsidian.json
- Windows:
%APPDATA%/obsidian/obsidian.json
Obsidian Headless
For headless sync (CI/servers), see the Headless section in references/commands.md.
CLI Reference
For detailed flag options, see references/commands.md.
References Loading Guide
| Situation | Load |
|---|
| CLI command options, headless usage | references/commands.md |
