open-note

name	open-note
description	Open a vault note from an 'open X for me' intent. First looks for a relevant markdown in the vault (semantic + exact match) and opens it as-is in Obsidian if it exists; otherwise synthesizes the topic from the vault, writes a note that follows the conventions, and opens it. Triggered when the user says 'open X for me', 'open the note about X', 'ouvre-moi X'.
version	1.0.0

open-note — "open X for me"

Default behavior of the natural command "open for me". Goal: the user always has something to read in Obsidian — either the existing note, or a fresh synthesis created on the fly and persisted into the vault.

Principle

One promise only: "open X for me" never falls into the void.

• If a vault doc is about X → open it as-is (do not modify it).
• If nothing covers X → synthesize from the vault, write a note that follows the conventions, and open it.

The judgment (which doc, whether to create one, where to file it) stays in the skill; the only deterministic part is the opening (open -a "Obsidian" <path>).

Procedure

1. Understand the target

Extract the topic from the request. Three cases:

• Known file (exact path, precise date, obvious note name: daily/2026-06-12, "the prep for ", "the backlog for ") → go straight to step 3 (direct open, no RAG).
• Semantic topic ("what we know about front-end governance", "the topic") → step 2 (search).
• Ambiguous → treat as semantic, and resolve the ambiguity by surfacing the candidates.

2. Search the vault

• mcp__vault-rag__search_vault first (semantic, ~300ms, free).
• grep/find as a complement for exact matches (name, identifier, date).
• Judge the relevance of the best match: does this doc really cover X, or just mention it in passing?

3. If a relevant doc exists → open it as-is

open -a "Obsidian" <absolute-path-to-md>

• Do not modify it (respect append-only for dailies, living notes for people/topics — never overwrite a living doc on a mere "open X for me").
• State which file is being opened and its freshness (updated date).
• If several docs are equally relevant: open the best one, cite the other candidates in one line (do not block on a choice).

4. If nothing relevant → synthesize, write, open

1. Synthesize from the vault alone (RAG + grep). No live source sync by default — "open X for me" is a quick consultation. (If the vault is clearly empty on the topic, say so rather than inventing; offer the user a source sync if they want one.)

2. Choose folder + name per the vault conventions (see CLAUDE.md §2 "Note format"):

   Nature of the topic	Destination
   Cross-cutting topic / concept	vault/topics/<topic-kebab>.md (default)
   Person	vault/people/<first-last>.md
   Decision	vault/decisions/YYYY-MM-DD-short-title.md
   Initiative	vault/initiatives/<name>.md

   Never create a daily/ note through this flow (append-only, handled elsewhere).

3. Check for collision: if the target name already exists → a doc existed after all; go back to step 3 and open it instead of overwriting.

4. Write the markdown with compliant frontmatter (type, created, updated, tags) and [[…]] backlinks to related notes. Tone: the user's own (factual, concise).

5. Open it in Obsidian.

6. Qualify the reliability: make clear the note was just created by AI synthesis from the vault (≠ verbatim), so the user rereads it with a critical eye.

Guardrails

• Never overwrite an existing doc on an "open X for me".
• Always via Obsidian (open -a "Obsidian" <path>). If the file does not open (vault not registered in the app), ask the user for the vault name and use obsidian://open?vault=<name>&file=<relative-path>.
• Timestamp: run date in bash before writing a dated note (correct created/updated).
• Persistence (commit/push) is handled by the hook — do not run git yourself.

Out of scope

• Modifying / enriching an existing doc (that is a different, explicit gesture — not the default of "open X for me").
• Fetching live sources (Slack/Drive): only if the user explicitly asks.