obsidian-compatible-writing

name	obsidian-compatible-writing
description	Write memory notes that are pleasant in Obsidian without requiring Obsidian. Optional enhancement skill. Use when the user has Obsidian open alongside their agent workflow and wants better vault navigation.

Obsidian-Compatible Writing

Optional enhancement skill. The core bedrock system works fully without Obsidian. This skill improves note quality for users who also browse the vault in Obsidian.

Nothing here changes the canonical data model. Memory/ is still the source of truth. Evidence/ is still non-canonical. The branch-note convention is unchanged.

---

What this skill adds

• Better YAML frontmatter for Obsidian's properties panel
• Optional tags for Obsidian graph filtering
• Better internal link quality
• Guidance for the optional canvas export
• Guidance for optional dashboard notes

What this skill does NOT do:

• Make wiki-links mandatory (they break portability)
• Require Obsidian to open or read notes
• Change the canonical data model
• Make canvas or dashboard files required

---

Richer frontmatter

Obsidian's Properties panel and graph use frontmatter. Adding a few extra fields makes the vault easier to navigate visually:

---
note_type: branch-entry
area: auth
updated: 2025-01-15
tags:
  - memory
  - auth
  - project/<project-slug>
aliases:
  - Authentication
---

Tags:

• memory on all Memory/ notes (makes graph filtering easy)
• evidence on all Evidence/ notes
• Domain tag matching the branch name
• Project tag for multi-project vaults

Aliases: add the human-readable name of the branch if it differs from the file name. (e.g., jwt.md could alias to JWT Handling)

These fields are optional. The bedrock system ignores them. Obsidian uses them.

---

Link quality

Standard portable links work in Obsidian:

See [auth/auth.md](auth/auth.md) for token handling.

Obsidian also resolves wiki-links, but only use them inside Obsidian-specific notes:

See [[auth/auth]] for token handling.    <- wiki-link, Obsidian only
See [auth/auth.md](auth/auth.md) ...    <- portable, works everywhere

For Memory/ notes (which must be portable), always use standard markdown links. Wiki-links are acceptable in optional Outputs/ or Dashboards/ notes.

---

Graph navigation

The knowledge graph looks best when:

• Every branch note links to its subtopic notes (already required by convention)
• Every branch note links back to Memory/MEMORY.md (add [Index](../MEMORY.md) at top)
• Decisions link back to the branch note that records them
• Evidence/imports notes reference their source branch in frontmatter

Adding a backlink line at the top of each branch note improves Obsidian graph density:

[Index](../MEMORY.md) | [Decisions](../decisions/decisions.md)

---

Optional: dashboard notes

Dashboards/ contains generated rollup views. These can be enhanced for Obsidian with dataview-style frontmatter -- but only if the user has the Dataview plugin.

Since Dataview is optional, keep dashboards compatible without it:

• Use plain markdown tables and lists as the primary content
• Add a dataview query as a comment block or secondary section for users who have it

## Recent Sessions

(plain markdown table of recent sessions)

<!-- Dataview users can replace the above with:
```dataview
TABLE date, title FROM "Sessions" SORT date DESC LIMIT 5
``` -->

---

Optional: canvas export

The bedrock export-canvas command generates Outputs/knowledge-export.canvas for viewing the vault as an Obsidian Canvas.

The canvas shows:

• Memory branch nodes (colored green)
• Evidence summary nodes (colored purple)
• Edges between linked notes

Open it in Obsidian with Canvas enabled (Settings > Core plugins > Canvas).

This is a generated Output: non-canonical, regeneratable. Do not manually edit it. To refresh: bedrock export-canvas --project .

---

What stays optional

Feature	Required	Optional
YAML frontmatter (basic)	Yes	--
Tags, aliases	No	Yes, improves Obsidian UX
Standard markdown links	Yes	--
Wiki-links	No	Yes, only in non-portable notes
Dataview queries	No	Yes, add as comments
Canvas export	No	Yes, use export-canvas
Dashboard notes	No	Yes, generated by sync
Obsidian installed	No	Yes, optional viewer

The system works fully without any of the optional features.

---

Obsidian settings for best experience

If using Obsidian:

1. Files and links > Use [[Wikilinks]]: OFF (keeps links portable)
2. Core plugins > Graph view: ON
3. Core plugins > Canvas: ON (for canvas export)
4. Community plugins > Dataview: Optional
5. Open the vault at: ~/agent-os/projects/<slug>/