obsidian-master-skill

Unified skill for all Obsidian vault operations — note creation, search, vault health, knowledge capture, bases, and daily notes. Uses progressive disclosure: essential rules below, deep reference in reference/.

Directory Structure

obsidian-master-skill/
├── SKILL.md                          # This file (overview + quick reference)
├── reference/                        # Detailed documentation
│   ├── markdown.md                   # Obsidian Flavored Markdown syntax
│   ├── vault-organization.md         # PARA folders, frontmatter, Dataview
│   ├── rest-api.md                   # Local REST API, URI scheme, plugin API
│   ├── bases.md                      # .base YAML schema, filters, formulas
│   ├── integration-patterns.md       # Claude Code integration patterns
│   └── knowledge-capture.md          # ADR, concept, how-to, meeting templates
├── Workflows/                        # Step-by-step workflow definitions
│   ├── CreateNote.md                 # Create notes with templates + PARA placement
│   ├── SearchVault.md                # DQL, content search, tag filtering
│   ├── ManageVault.md                # Health checks, orphans, broken links
│   ├── CaptureKnowledge.md           # Extract insights from conversations
│   ├── CreateBase.md                 # Build .base database views
│   ├── DailyNote.md                  # Daily note creation/enhancement
│   ├── ProcessInbox.md               # Triage inbox into PARA folders
│   └── SyncDocs.md                   # Sync external project docs to vault
└── Tools/                            # Python CLI tools (click + httpx)
    ├── SearchVault.py                # status, auth, search (dataview|content|jsonlogic)
    ├── VaultManager.py               # health, orphans, broken-links, lifecycle, move, inbox
    ├── NoteCreator.py                # create, daily, capture
    └── BaseBuilder.py                # create, validate, preview

Workflow Routing

Intent	Workflow	Tool
Create a note (any type)	Workflows/CreateNote.md	Tools/NoteCreator.py
Search vault (DQL, content, tags)	Workflows/SearchVault.md	Tools/SearchVault.py
Vault health, orphans, broken links	Workflows/ManageVault.md	Tools/VaultManager.py
Extract knowledge from conversation	Workflows/CaptureKnowledge.md	Tools/NoteCreator.py
Create/edit .base database views	Workflows/CreateBase.md	Tools/BaseBuilder.py
Daily note create/enhance	Workflows/DailyNote.md	Tools/NoteCreator.py
Process inbox notes into PARA	Workflows/ProcessInbox.md	Tools/VaultManager.py
Sync project docs to vault	Workflows/SyncDocs.md	Tools/VaultManager.py

Quick Reference

PARA Folder Map

Folder	Purpose	Note Types
00 - Inbox/	Quick capture, unsorted	Fleeting thoughts
00 - Maps of Content/	Index notes	MOCs, dashboards
01 - Projects/	Active projects	Project docs
02 - Areas/	Ongoing responsibilities	Area overviews
03 - Resources/	Reference materials	Evergreen notes
04 - Archive/	Completed/inactive	Archived projects
04 - Permanent/	Zettelkasten notes	Atomic ideas
06 - Daily/	Daily journal (YYYY/MM/YYYYMMDD.md)	Journal entries
08 - books/	Book notes	Reading notes
10 - 1-1/	Meeting notes	1-on-1s

Deep dive: reference/vault-organization.md

Frontmatter Schemas

Standard Note:

---
created: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm
updated: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm
tags:
  - category/subcategory
---

Daily Note (v2.0):

---
created: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm
updated: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm
title: YYYYMMDD
type: daily-note
status: true
tags:
  - daily
  - y/YYYY
  - y/YYYY-MM
aliases:
  - YYYY-MM-DD
date_formatted: YYYY-MM-DD
cssclasses:
  - daily
---

Project Note:

---
created: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm
updated: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm
type: project
status: active | paused | complete
priority: high | medium | low
tags:
  - project/name
---

Deep dive: reference/vault-organization.md

Link Conventions

[[Note Name]]                    # Wikilink
[[Note Name|Display Text]]       # Aliased link
[[Note Name#Heading]]            # Heading link
[[Note Name#^block-id]]          # Block reference
![[Note Name]]                   # Embed note
![[image.png]]                   # Embed image
![[image.png|300]]               # Embed with width

Deep dive: reference/markdown.md

Common Dataview Queries

LIST FROM "06 - Daily" WHERE file.cday = date(today) SORT file.ctime DESC

TABLE status, tags FROM "01 - Projects" WHERE status != "completed"

TABLE WITHOUT ID file.link AS "Note", file.mtime AS "Modified"
FROM "03 - Resources" SORT file.mtime DESC LIMIT 20

LIST FROM "" WHERE length(file.inlinks) = 0 AND length(file.outlinks) = 0

Deep dive: reference/vault-organization.md

Knowledge Capture Signals

Signal in Conversation	Capture Type	Destination
"We decided to..."	ADR	03 - Resources/decisions/
"What is X?" / "X works by..."	Concept	04 - Permanent/
"How do I..." / "Steps to..."	How-To	03 - Resources/howtos/
"In the meeting..."	Meeting Note	10 - 1-1/
"Track all notes about..."	MOC	00 - Maps of Content/
Quick insight or todo	Daily Append	06 - Daily/YYYY/MM/YYYYMMDD.md

Deep dive: reference/knowledge-capture.md

Callout Types

> [!note] Title
> Content

> [!tip]+ Expandable (default open)
> [!info]- Collapsed (default closed)

Types: note, abstract/summary/tldr, info, todo, tip/hint/important, success/check/done, question/help/faq, warning/caution/attention, failure/fail/missing, danger/error, bug, example, quote/cite

Deep dive: reference/markdown.md

REST API Quick Start

# Requires Local REST API plugin enabled in Obsidian
export OBSIDIAN_API_KEY="your-key"
export OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL="https://127.0.0.1:27124"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" $OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL/vault/

Endpoint	Method	Purpose
/vault/{path}	GET/PUT/DELETE/PATCH	File CRUD
/search/simple/	POST	Text search
/search/	POST	Dataview query
/search/jsonlogic/	POST	Complex filtering
/active/	GET/PUT	Active file
/commands/{id}	POST	Execute command

Deep dive: reference/rest-api.md

Base Files Quick Start

# example.base — table of active projects
filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("01 - Projects")
    - 'status == "active"'
views:
  - type: table
    name: "Active Projects"
    order: [file.name, status, priority, due_date]

Embed: ![[example.base]] or ![[example.base#View Name]]

Deep dive: reference/bases.md

Tools (Python)

All tools use click CLI, httpx for REST API, pyyaml for frontmatter, pathlib for direct file access. Dual mode: REST API when Obsidian running, direct file fallback otherwise.

Tool	Commands
Tools/SearchVault.py	status, auth, search --type dataview|content|jsonlogic
Tools/VaultManager.py	health, orphans, broken-links, lifecycle, move, inbox
Tools/NoteCreator.py	create, daily, capture
Tools/BaseBuilder.py	create, validate, preview

Examples

"Create a new project note for API redesign"     -> Workflows/CreateNote.md
"Search my vault for notes about Kubernetes"      -> Workflows/SearchVault.md
"Find orphan notes and suggest connections"       -> Workflows/ManageVault.md
"Save what we just discussed as an ADR"           -> Workflows/CaptureKnowledge.md
"Create a base view of all active projects"       -> Workflows/CreateBase.md
"Create today's daily note"                       -> Workflows/DailyNote.md
"Process my inbox"                                -> Workflows/ProcessInbox.md
"What's the Obsidian markdown syntax for X?"      -> reference/markdown.md
"How do I use the REST API?"                      -> reference/rest-api.md
"How do bases formulas work?"                     -> reference/bases.md

Neovim Reference

For obsidian.nvim configuration, see reference/integration-patterns.md section on Neovim integration.