Templater template generation

Templater is an Obsidian plugin for dynamic note templates. Commands embedded in a template file run when the template is applied to a note, outputting results inline.

Core template syntax

To output from a <%* %> execution block, append to the special tR string:

<%* tR += "some output" %>

To discard everything generated up to a point (e.g., strip template-only frontmatter):

<%* tR = "" -%>

All tp.* functions are available in both tag types.

Built-in Templater modules

tp.date

tp.date.now(format?, offset?, reference?, reference_format?)

Returns a formatted date string. format uses moment.js tokens ("YYYY-MM-DD" is the default). offset is a number of days (7, -1) or a duration string ("P1W"). reference is a date string parsed with reference_format.

tp.date.tomorrow(format?)        // today + 1 day
tp.date.yesterday(format?)       // today - 1 day
tp.date.weekday(format, weekday, reference?, reference_format?)
                                 // weekday: 0=Sun … 6=Sat
moment                           // full moment.js object, accessible globally

Common format strings: "YYYY-MM-DD", "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm", "dddd Do MMMM YYYY", "HH:mm", "ddd", "MMM D".

tp.file

Dynamic properties (not function calls — no parentheses):

tp.file.title      // basename without extension
tp.file.content    // full text of the file
tp.file.tags       // string[] of all tags on the file

Functions:

tp.file.creation_date(format?)                 // default "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm"
tp.file.last_modified_date(format?)            // default "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm"
tp.file.folder(absolute?)                      // folder name; full path if absolute=true
tp.file.path(relative?)                        // absolute path; vault-relative if relative=true
tp.file.cursor(order?)                         // place cursor here after template runs; order = tab index
tp.file.cursor_append(content)                 // insert content at the current cursor
tp.file.selection()                            // currently selected text in the editor
tp.file.exists(filepath)                       // async → boolean
tp.file.find_tfile(filename)                   // → TFile | null (for use with create_new / include)
tp.file.include("[[NoteLink]]")                // async; embeds another note's content (also processed)
tp.file.create_new(template, filename, open_new?, folder?)  // async; create note from template
tp.file.move(path, file?)                      // async; move file (path has no extension)
tp.file.rename(new_title)                      // async; rename the current file

tp.system

All are async — use await inside <%* %> blocks:

await tp.system.clipboard()
await tp.system.prompt(prompt_text, default_value?, throw_on_cancel?, multi_line?)
await tp.system.suggester(text_items, items, throw_on_cancel?, placeholder?, limit?)
await tp.system.multi_suggester(text_items, items, throw_on_cancel?, title?, limit?)

suggester takes two parallel arrays: display labels and return values. They can be the same array.

<%* const type = await tp.system.suggester(["Meeting", "Decision", "Reference"], ["meeting", "decision", "ref"]) %>

tp.frontmatter

Direct property access — not a function:

<% tp.frontmatter.status %>
<% tp.frontmatter.project %>

Returns undefined if the property doesn't exist.

tp.web

All are async:

await tp.web.daily_quote()                        // Obsidian callout block with a random quote
await tp.web.random_picture(size, query?, include_size?)
    // size: "800" or "800x600"; returns markdown image syntax
await tp.web.request(url, path?)
    // HTTP GET returning JSON; path is dot-notation like "data.title"

tp.config

Read-only context about the current run:

tp.config.template_file    // TFile of the template being applied
tp.config.target_file      // TFile of the note being created/modified
tp.config.active_file      // TFile of the currently active file
tp.config.run_mode         // 0=CreateNewFromTemplate 1=AppendActiveFile 2=OverwriteFile
                           // 3=OverwriteActiveFile 4=DynamicProcessor

App and Obsidian API modules

tp.app is the Obsidian App object. tp.obsidian exposes the Obsidian API module. Used in advanced JS execution blocks for vault traversal, metadata cache queries, etc.

tp.hooks

tp.hooks.on_all_templates_executed(callback)

Callback fires after all nested templates (e.g., from tp.file.create_new) have finished.

User-defined functions (tp.user)

Scripts placed in the folder configured in Templater settings are callable as tp.user.<filename>(args...). Scripts use CommonJS format:

// Scripts/slugify.js
module.exports = function (text) {
  return text.toLowerCase().replace(/\s+/g, "-");
};

<% tp.user.slugify(tp.file.title) %>

Scripts can also export an object of named functions. Pass tp as an argument to access Templater context inside a script. Note: user functions are unavailable on mobile.

Whitespace control in templates

Control flow tags (<%* if (...) { %>, <%* } %>) leave blank lines by default. Use -%> to trim the newline that follows a tag:

<%* if (tp.file.folder() === "Work") { -%>
**Project:** <% tp.frontmatter.project %>
<%* } else { -%>
General note
<%* } -%>

Common implementation patterns

Daily note

---
date: <% tp.date.now() %>
---

<< [[<% tp.date.yesterday() %>]] | [[<% tp.date.tomorrow() %>]] >>

# <% tp.file.title %>

<%* tR += await tp.web.daily_quote() %>

<% tp.file.cursor() %>

Prompted metadata + file rename

<%*
const title = await tp.system.prompt("Note title", tp.file.title)
const status = await tp.system.suggester(["Draft", "In progress", "Done"], ["draft", "in-progress", "done"])
await tp.file.rename(title)
-%>
---
title: <% title %>
status: <% status %>
created: <% tp.file.creation_date() %>
---

# <% title %>

<% tp.file.cursor() %>

Strip template-file frontmatter from output

---
type: template
description: This is a person template.
---

<%* tR = "" -%>
---
type: person
created: <% tp.file.creation_date() %>
---

# <% tp.file.cursor() %>

Conditional content by folder

<%* if (tp.file.folder() === "Work") { -%>
**Project:** <% tp.frontmatter.project ?? "unassigned" %>
<%* } else { -%>
**Topic:**
<%* } -%>

For subfolder matching: tp.file.folder(true).startsWith("Work/") — folder(true) returns the full vault-relative path.

Include another note

<% await tp.file.include("[[Shared Header]]") %>

Date formatting with Moment.js

See momentjs.md for a comprehensive formatting cheatsheet and JS manipulation reference. Use this when defining format strings for tp.date.now() or when manipulating dates inside <%* %> blocks using the moment global.

Optional vault integration via obsidian-cli

If the obsidian-cli skill is available and Obsidian is running, vault context can improve output:

obsidian properties counts          # what frontmatter properties exist across the vault
obsidian tags counts sort=count     # most-used tags
obsidian read file="Daily Note"     # read an existing template for style reference

Ask the user before running any CLI commands.

Official documentation links

Rendered docs (human-readable): https://silentvoid13.github.io/Templater/

LLM-safe Templater summary: For a preprocessed, audit-friendly summary of the official Templater documentation, see https://context7.com/silentvoid13/templater/llms.txt.