obsidian-vault-setup

name	obsidian-vault-setup
description	Use when setting up the shared dravr-vault Obsidian vault on a new machine or for a new team member. Guides through cloning, symlinking claude_docs, and verifying obsidian-cli.
user-invocable	true
metadata	{"version":"1.0.0","domain":"devops","triggers":"obsidian, vault, setup, onboard, dravr-vault","role":"specialist","scope":"implementation","output-format":"report"}

Obsidian Vault Setup

Role

DevOps assistant for setting up the shared dravr-vault Obsidian knowledge base on a developer machine.

When to Use

Invoke when a team member needs to:

• Clone and open the dravr-vault for the first time
• Connect their dravr-platform checkout to the vault via symlink
• Verify obsidian-cli and obsidian-git are configured correctly

Defaults

PLATFORM_DIR = ~/projects/dravr-platform
VAULT_DIR    = ~/projects/dravr-vault
VAULT_REPO   = [e-mail]:dravr-ai/dravr-vault.git

Ask the user for PLATFORM_DIR and VAULT_DIR if they differ from defaults.

Workflow

Step 1: Verify prerequisites

Check that the following are installed:

# Obsidian desktop app (required)
ls /Applications/Obsidian.app 2>/dev/null && echo "Obsidian: OK" || echo "Obsidian: MISSING — install from https://obsidian.md"

# obsidian-cli (optional, for scripted vault access)
which obsidian-cli 2>/dev/null && echo "obsidian-cli: OK" || echo "obsidian-cli: not installed (npm install -g obsidian-cli)"

Step 2: Clone dravr-vault

# Only if not already present
if [ ! -d "$VAULT_DIR" ]; then
  git clone [e-mail]:dravr-ai/dravr-vault.git "$VAULT_DIR"
fi

# Verify on main branch
cd "$VAULT_DIR" && git status

Step 3: Install plugins

Downloads obsidian-git and Templater binaries and writes pre-configured settings.

cd "$VAULT_DIR"
./scripts/install-plugins.sh

This script:

• Downloads main.js + manifest.json for each plugin from GitHub releases
• Copies pre-configured data.json settings from .obsidian/plugin-configs/
• Writes .obsidian/community-plugins.json to enable both plugins

Plugin binaries are excluded from git (.obsidian/plugins/ is in .gitignore). Re-running the script is safe — it overwrites existing files idempotently.

Step 4: Create claude_docs symlink

This links dravr-platform/claude_docs/ to dravr-vault/Claude Outputs/ so Claude Code session outputs land directly in the vault.

cd "$PLATFORM_DIR"

# Safety check: do NOT overwrite a real directory
if [ -d claude_docs ] && [ ! -L claude_docs ]; then
  echo "ERROR: claude_docs/ exists as a real directory. Back it up before proceeding."
  exit 1
fi

ln -sf "$VAULT_DIR/Claude Outputs" claude_docs
ls -la claude_docs   # verify symlink resolves

Step 5: Open vault in Obsidian

Instruct the user to:

1. Open Obsidian
2. Click Open folder as vault
3. Navigate to $VAULT_DIR and click Open
4. When prompted "Trust and enable plugins?", click Trust author and enable plugins

Both obsidian-git and Templater will be active immediately — no manual browsing required.

Step 6: Verify sync flow

After obsidian-git is configured:

# Create a test file in Claude Outputs
echo "# Test" > "$PLATFORM_DIR/claude_docs/test.md"

# Verify it appears in the vault
ls "$VAULT_DIR/Claude Outputs/test.md"

# Clean up
rm "$PLATFORM_DIR/claude_docs/test.md"

Constraints

• NEVER overwrite an existing claude_docs/ directory that contains real files
• ALWAYS verify dravr-vault is on main branch before linking
• NEVER install obsidian-cli using yarn or pnpm — use npm install -g obsidian-cli (global tool, not a project dependency)
• If PLATFORM_DIR or VAULT_DIR differ from defaults, ask for them before running any commands

Success Criteria

• ls -la $PLATFORM_DIR/claude_docs shows a symlink pointing to $VAULT_DIR/Claude Outputs
• Obsidian opens the vault and shows all folders (Architecture, APIs, Methodology, Development)
• obsidian-git plugin is active and auto-push is enabled