obsidian

name	obsidian
description	Read, write, and search Obsidian vaults. Use when saving drafts, reading notes, or working with Obsidian markdown. Includes proper Obsidian-flavored markdown syntax (wikilinks, callouts, embeds, properties).

Obsidian Skill

Complete Obsidian integration: vault operations + Obsidian-flavored markdown syntax.

---

Part 1: Vault Configuration

⚠️ CONFIGURE YOUR VAULT PATH BELOW

Replace {{OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}} with your actual Obsidian vault path. Common locations include iCloud Drive, ~/Documents/Obsidian/VaultName/, Dropbox, or any local folder. Keep this as a user-provided path; do not hard-code another user's vault location.

Vault Path

{{OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}}

Example Folder Structure

YourVault/
├── drafts/          # Message drafts, quick saves
├── inbox/           # Unsorted captures
├── projects/        # Project-specific folders
├── reference/       # Reference material
└── ...

---

Part 2: Vault Operations

Save a Note

# Save to drafts folder
cat > "{{OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}}/drafts/filename.md" << 'EOF'
---
title: Note Title
date: 2026-04-28
tags:
  - draft
---

Content here...
EOF

Read a Note

cat "{{OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}}/path/to/note.md"

List Notes in Folder

ls -la "{{OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}}/drafts/"

Search Notes

# Search by filename
find "{{OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}}" -name "*.md" -name "*keyword*"

# Search content
grep -r "search term" "{{OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}}" --include="*.md"

Move/Rename Note

mv "{{OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}}/old.md" "{{OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}}/new.md"

---

Part 3: Obsidian-Flavored Markdown

Obsidian extends CommonMark with wikilinks, embeds, callouts, properties, and comments.

Properties (Frontmatter)

Always start notes with YAML frontmatter:

---
title: My Note
date: 2026-04-28
tags:
  - project
  - active
aliases:
  - Alternative Name
status: in-progress
---

Default properties:

• tags — Searchable labels
• aliases — Alternative names for link suggestions
• cssclasses — CSS classes for styling

Internal Links (Wikilinks)

[[Note Name]]                          Link to note
[[Note Name|Display Text]]             Custom display text
[[Note Name#Heading]]                  Link to heading
[[Note Name#^block-id]]                Link to block
[[#Heading in same note]]              Same-note heading link

Use [[wikilinks]] for vault notes (Obsidian tracks renames), [text](url) for external URLs only.

Block References

Define a block ID by appending ^block-id to any paragraph:

This paragraph can be linked to. ^my-block-id

For lists and quotes, place block ID on separate line after:

> A quote block

^quote-id

Embeds

Prefix any wikilink with ! to embed content inline:

![[Note Name]]                         Embed full note
![[Note Name#Heading]]                 Embed section
![[image.png]]                         Embed image
![[image.png|300]]                     Image with width
![[document.pdf#page=3]]               Embed PDF page

Callouts

> [!note]
> Basic callout.

> [!warning] Custom Title
> Callout with custom title.

> [!tip]- Collapsed by default
> Foldable callout (- collapsed, + expanded).

Common types: note, tip, warning, info, example, quote, bug, danger, success, failure, question, abstract, todo

Tags

#tag                    Inline tag
#nested/tag             Nested tag hierarchy

Tags: letters, numbers (not first char), underscores, hyphens, forward slashes.

Comments (Hidden in Reading View)

This is visible %%but this is hidden%% text.

%%
This entire block is hidden.
%%

Highlights

==Highlighted text==

Math (LaTeX)

Inline: $e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$

Block:
$$
\frac{a}{b} = c
$$

Diagrams (Mermaid)

```mermaid
graph TD
    A[Start] --> B{Decision}
    B -->|Yes| C[Do this]
    B -->|No| D[Do that]
```

Footnotes

Text with a footnote[^1].

[^1]: Footnote content.

Inline footnote.^[This is inline.]

---

Part 4: Complete Example

---
title: Project Alpha
date: 2026-04-28
tags:
  - project
  - active
status: in-progress
---

# Project Alpha

This project aims to [[improve workflow]] using modern techniques.

> [!important] Key Deadline
> The first milestone is due on ==January 30th==.

## Tasks

- [x] Initial planning
- [ ] Development phase
  - [ ] Backend implementation
  - [ ] Frontend design

## Notes

The algorithm uses $O(n \log n)$ sorting. See [[Algorithm Notes#Sorting]] for details.

![[Architecture Diagram.png|600]]

Reviewed in [[Meeting Notes 2024-01-10#Decisions]].

---

Part 5: JSON Canvas (Optional)

For visual mind maps and flowcharts, create .canvas files:

{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "id": "a1b2c3d4e5f67890",
      "type": "text",
      "x": 0,
      "y": 0,
      "width": 250,
      "height": 100,
      "text": "# Main Idea\n\nContent here"
    }
  ],
  "edges": []
}

Node types: text, file, link, group

Each node needs:

• Unique 16-char hex ID
• Position (x, y)
• Dimensions (width, height)

---

Quick Reference

Action	Command
Save draft	Write to drafts/name.md
Read note	cat the file path
Search	grep -r "term" vault/
List folder	ls vault/folder/
Link syntax	[[Note]] or [[Note|Display]]
Embed	![[Note]] or ![[image.png]]
Callout	> [!type] Title
Tag	#tag or #nested/tag
Highlight	==text==
Comment	%%hidden%%

---

References

• Obsidian Help: Markdown
• Obsidian Help: Links
• Obsidian Help: Embeds
• Obsidian Help: Callouts
• Obsidian Help: Properties
• JSON Canvas Spec