Obsidian

Overview

Extend and automate Obsidian — the local-first knowledge management app built on plain Markdown files. This skill covers vault architecture for scalable PKM systems, plugin development (TypeScript), Dataview queries for dynamic views, Templater automation, custom CSS/themes, and publishing pipelines. Everything stays as files on disk — portable, version-controllable, and yours.

Instructions

Step 1: Vault Architecture

Zettelkasten (atomic notes):

vault/
├── 0-inbox/           # Capture first, organize later
├── 1-fleeting/        # Quick thoughts, raw ideas
├── 2-literature/      # Notes from sources
├── 3-permanent/       # Refined, atomic, linked notes
├── 4-projects/        # Active project folders
├── 5-areas/           # Ongoing responsibilities
├── 6-resources/       # Reference material
├── 7-archive/         # Completed/inactive items
├── templates/         # Note templates
└── attachments/       # Images, PDFs, files

PARA method:

Projects/

,

Areas/

,

Resources/

,

Archive/

,

_templates/

.

Configure

.obsidian/app.json

: set

newFileFolderPath

to inbox,

attachmentFolderPath

to attachments, enable

alwaysUpdateLinks

. Use descriptive titles for atomic notes,

YYYY-MM-DD

prefix for date-based notes.

Step 2: Templates with Templater

Install the Templater community plugin. Place templates in

templates/

.

Daily note (

templates/daily.md

):

---
date: <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
tags: [daily]
---
# <% tp.date.now("dddd, MMMM D, YYYY") %>
## Top 3 Priorities
- [ ]
## Notes
## Completed Today

Meeting note (

templates/meeting.md

):

---
date: <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
type: meeting
tags: [meeting]
---
# Meeting: <% tp.file.title %>
**Date:** <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm") %>
**Attendees:**
## Agenda
## Notes
## Action Items
- [ ]

Configure Templater: set template folder, enable trigger on new file creation, map folder templates (e.g.,

0-inbox

→

templates/inbox.md

).

Step 3: Dataview Queries

Install the Dataview community plugin to query your vault like a database.

-- Open tasks across vault
TASK WHERE !completed SORT file.mtime DESC LIMIT 50

-- Active projects dashboard
TABLE status, deadline, file.mtime AS "Last Modified"
FROM #project WHERE status = "active" SORT deadline ASC

-- Recently modified notes (last 7 days)
TABLE file.mtime AS "Modified" WHERE file.mtime >= date(today) - dur(7 days) SORT file.mtime DESC LIMIT 20

-- Orphan notes (no incoming links)
LIST WHERE length(file.inlinks) = 0
  AND !contains(file.path, "templates") AND !contains(file.path, "attachments")

DataviewJS for complex logic:

const pages = dv.pages('#project AND -"templates"');
const overdue = pages.where(p => p.status === "active" && p.deadline && dv.date(p.deadline) < dv.date("today"));
dv.header(3, `Overdue Projects (${overdue.length})`);
dv.table(["Project", "Deadline", "Days Overdue"],
  overdue.map(p => [p.file.link, p.deadline, Math.floor((Date.now() - new Date(p.deadline)) / 86400000)])
);

Step 4: Plugin Development

git clone https://github.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-sample-plugin my-plugin
cd my-plugin && npm install

Basic plugin (

main.ts

):

import { App, Plugin, PluginSettingTab, Setting, Notice, TFile, MarkdownView } from "obsidian";

interface MyPluginSettings { defaultFolder: string; enableFeature: boolean; }
const DEFAULT_SETTINGS: MyPluginSettings = { defaultFolder: "inbox", enableFeature: true };

export default class MyPlugin extends Plugin {
  settings: MyPluginSettings;

  async onload() {
    await this.loadSettings();
    this.addRibbonIcon("dice", "My Plugin", () => new Notice("Hello from My Plugin!"));
    this.addCommand({ id: "do-something", name: "Do something useful", callback: () => this.doSomething() });
    this.registerEvent(this.app.vault.on("create", (file) => {
      if (file instanceof TFile && file.extension === "md") console.log(`New: ${file.path}`);
    }));
    this.addSettingTab(new MyPluginSettingTab(this.app, this));
  }

  async doSomething() {
    const file = this.app.workspace.getActiveFile();
    if (!file) { new Notice("No active file"); return; }
    const content = await this.app.vault.read(file);
    await this.app.vault.modify(file, content + "\n\n---\nProcessed by My Plugin");
    new Notice("Done!");
  }

  async loadSettings() { this.settings = Object.assign({}, DEFAULT_SETTINGS, await this.loadData()); }
  async saveSettings() { await this.saveData(this.settings); }
}

class MyPluginSettingTab extends PluginSettingTab {
  plugin: MyPlugin;
  constructor(app: App, plugin: MyPlugin) { super(app, plugin); this.plugin = plugin; }
  display() {
    const { containerEl } = this;
    containerEl.empty();
    new Setting(containerEl).setName("Default folder").addText((t) =>
      t.setValue(this.plugin.settings.defaultFolder).onChange(async (v) => {
        this.plugin.settings.defaultFolder = v; await this.plugin.saveSettings();
      }));
  }
}

Build:

npm run dev

— copy

main.js

,

manifest.json

,

styles.css

to

vault/.obsidian/plugins/my-plugin/

.

Step 5: CSS Snippets & Themes

Place in

vault/.obsidian/snippets/my-theme.css

, enable in Settings → Appearance.

.markdown-rendered h1 { color: var(--text-accent); border-bottom: 2px solid var(--interactive-accent); }
.markdown-source-view.mod-cm6 .cm-contentContainer { max-width: 800px; margin: 0 auto; }
.callout[data-callout="goal"] { --callout-color: 59, 130, 246; --callout-icon: target; }
.tag { background: var(--interactive-accent); color: var(--text-on-accent); border-radius: 12px; padding: 2px 8px; }

Step 6: Automation & Integration

Obsidian URI scheme:

obsidian://open?vault=MyVault&file=path/to/note
obsidian://new?vault=MyVault&file=inbox/New Note&content=Hello

Git sync (

.gitignore

for vault):

.obsidian/workspace.json
.obsidian/workspace-mobile.json
.obsidian/plugins/*/data.json
.trash/

Auto-commit:

*/30 * * * * cd /path/to/vault && git add -A && git diff --cached --quiet || git commit -m "backup $(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M)" && git push

Local REST API plugin (programmatic access on port 27123):

curl http://localhost:27123/vault/projects/my-project.md -H "Authorization: Bearer KEY"
curl -X PUT http://localhost:27123/vault/inbox/new-note.md -H "Authorization: Bearer KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: text/markdown" -d "# New Note\n\nContent here"

Publishing with Quartz:

npx quartz create && npx quartz build --serve && npx quartz sync

Examples

Example 1: Full PKM vault setup with daily notes workflow

User prompt: "Set up a Zettelkasten vault for my team's knowledge base. I need a daily notes template with priorities and meeting links, a project template with status tracking, Dataview queries for an active projects dashboard and orphan note finder, and Git auto-sync every 30 minutes."

The agent will create the folder structure (0-inbox through 7-archive plus templates and attachments), write a daily note Templater template with date frontmatter, priority checkboxes, and a meetings section, create a project template with status/deadline fields, add Dataview queries to a dashboard note (active projects table sorted by deadline, orphan notes list), set up

.gitignore

to exclude workspace and plugin data files, and create a cron-based auto-commit script that runs every 30 minutes.

Example 2: Custom plugin for automated link suggestions

User prompt: "Build an Obsidian plugin that adds a command to show related notes based on shared tags. When I run the command, it should find the top 5 notes that share the most tags with the current note and display them in a notice."

The agent will scaffold a plugin from the sample template, implement an

onload

method that registers a command called "Show related notes". The command handler will read the active file's frontmatter tags via

metadataCache

, iterate over all markdown files in the vault, score each by counting overlapping tags, sort by score descending, take the top 5 results, and display their names and shared tag count in an Obsidian Notice popup.

Guidelines

• Keep atomic notes short and linked — each permanent note should capture a single idea with links to related notes; this makes the vault scale without becoming a disorganized dump.
• Use frontmatter consistently — always include

  date

  ,

  tags

  , and

  status

  fields so Dataview queries work reliably across the entire vault.
• Test plugins in a separate vault — use a dedicated test vault during development to avoid corrupting your real notes; symlink the plugin output folder for fast iteration.
• Avoid deeply nested folders — rely on links, tags, and Dataview over folder hierarchy; deep nesting makes notes harder to find and reduces the value of the graph view.
• Pin Obsidian and plugin versions in shared vaults — when multiple people use the same vault via Git, document the required Obsidian version and plugin versions to prevent compatibility issues.
• Back up

  .obsidian/plugins

  selectively — commit

  manifest.json

  and

  main.js

  for essential plugins but exclude

  data.json

  files that contain user-specific settings.