Obsidian Vault Operations Skill

Core operations for reading, writing, and managing files in an Obsidian vault.

Vault Structure

vault-root/ ├── CLAUDE.md # Main context (always read first) ├── Daily Notes/ # YYYY-MM-DD.md format ├── Goals/ # Goal cascade files ├── Projects/ # Project folders with CLAUDE.md ├── Templates/ # Reusable note structures └── Archives/ # Completed/inactive content

File Operations

Reading Notes

• Use Glob to find files: .md , Daily Notes/.md

• Read CLAUDE.md first for vault context

• Check for wiki-links to related notes

Creating Notes

• Check if note already exists

• Use appropriate template if available

• Add YAML frontmatter with date and tags

• Insert wiki-links to related notes

Editing Notes

• Preserve YAML frontmatter structure

• Maintain existing wiki-links

• Use consistent heading hierarchy

• Apply standard tag format

Wiki-Link Format

[[Note Name]] # Simple link [[Note Name|Display Text]] # Link with alias [[Note Name#Section]] # Link to section

YAML Frontmatter

Standard frontmatter structure:

date: 2024-01-15 tags: [tag1, tag2] status: active

Template Variables

When processing templates, replace:

• {{date}}

• Today's date (YYYY-MM-DD)

• {{date:format}}

• Formatted date

• {{date-1}}

• Yesterday

• {{date+1}}

• Tomorrow

• {{time}}

• Current time

Common Patterns

Daily Note Creation

• Calculate today's date in YYYY-MM-DD format

• Check if Daily Notes/{date}.md exists

• If not, read Templates/Daily Template.md

• Replace template variables

• Write to Daily Notes/{date}.md

Finding Related Notes

• Extract key terms from current note

• Search vault for matching content

• Suggest wiki-links to related notes

Tag Operations

• Priority: #priority/high , #priority/medium , #priority/low

• Status: #active , #waiting , #completed , #archived

• Context: #work , #personal , #health , #learning

Best Practices

• Always check CLAUDE.md for vault-specific conventions

• Preserve existing structure when editing

• Use relative paths for internal links

• Add frontmatter to new notes

• Link to relevant goals when creating tasks