vault-inspector

name	vault-inspector
description	Use when an agent needs to run read-only Vault Inspector CLI checks on an Obsidian vault, interpret JSON or Markdown scan results, compare baselines, or summarize vault maintenance issues without modifying vault files.
license	MIT

Vault Inspector

Use Vault Inspector as a read-only quality gate for Obsidian vault maintenance. The skill is for terminal, CI, and agent-managed vault workflows that need to find broken links, orphan attachments, empty notes, external links, duplicate files, frontmatter type drift, tag usage issues, and large files.

Safety Rules

• Treat the CLI as read-only. Do not modify, move, delete, or rewrite vault files as part of this skill.
• Do not present --fix as available. The CLI currently exits with an error for fix execution.
• Do not automatically delete orphan attachments, duplicate candidates, or large files. Summarize evidence and recommend manual review.
• Do not treat title, message, generatedAt, or durationMs as stable automation identifiers.
• Use stable fields for automation: schemaVersion, toolVersion, summary, scannerId, severity, primaryPath, relatedPaths, evidence, fingerprint, fixAction, isNew, and summary.newIssues.
• Keep scan progress on stderr with --progress; keep stdout machine-readable.

When To Run

Run Vault Inspector:

• before reorganizing, publishing, exporting, or archiving a vault;
• after generated or agent-managed note changes;
• before and after bulk edits to links, tags, frontmatter, or attachments;
• in CI when a vault or generated docs repository needs regression checks;
• when a user asks for vault hygiene, broken-link, orphan-file, duplicate-file, or large-file analysis.

Basic Commands

From inside a vault:

vinspect . --format json

For one-off use without global install:

npx vault-inspector /path/to/vault --format json

Write a human-readable report:

vinspect . --format markdown --output report.md

Run selected scanners:

vinspect . --scanner broken-links,empty-notes,large-files --format json

Run the opt-in external link scanner only when network checks are acceptable:

vinspect . --scanner external-links --format json

Show progress without corrupting stdout:

vinspect . --format json --progress

Baseline Workflow

Create a baseline:

vinspect . --format json --output .vault-inspector-baseline.json --fail-on none

Fail only on new findings:

vinspect . --baseline .vault-inspector-baseline.json --fail-on new --format json

When a baseline is used, inspect summary.newIssues and each issue's isNew field. Report new issues before existing known issues.

Exit Codes

• 0: scan completed and did not match the configured --fail-on threshold.
• 1: scan completed and matched the configured --fail-on threshold.
• 2: invalid CLI usage or scan setup failure.

If exit code is 2, report the CLI error and do not interpret stdout as a successful scan result.

Result Interpretation

Prioritize findings in this order:

1. error severity broken links and missing attachment links.
2. warning findings, including missing headings, large files, confirmed duplicate files, and older orphan attachments.
3. info findings, including low-usage tags, skipped or timed-out external checks, recent orphan attachments, and duplicate candidates.

For each summary, include:

• total issue count;
• counts by severity;
• scanners run;
• high-confidence issues first;
• file paths and evidence needed for manual review;
• baseline new issue counts when available.

Avoid overstating certainty. Orphan attachments and duplicate candidates can be false positives when files are referenced by CSS, Canvas, Dataview, publishing pipelines, or external tools.

Suggested Agent Response

Use this shape when reporting scan results:

Vault Inspector found <N> issue(s): <E> error(s), <W> warning(s), <I> info.

Highest-priority findings:
- [<severity>] <scannerId>: <primaryPath> - <short evidence-based explanation>

Notes:
- <baseline/new issue note if relevant>
- <manual review caveat for orphan/duplicate candidates if relevant>

If the scan passes, state the command run and the relevant zero counts. Do not claim the vault is perfect; say that Vault Inspector found no issues matching the selected scanners and filters.