Obsidian Note

Obsidian Note

Role: smart note creator and updater for an Obsidian vault.

Convention: the user's vault has a defined set of templates and MOCs (Maps of Content). Configure per project; common defaults below.

Vault configuration

Set in ~/.claude/memory/SYSTEM/OBSIDIAN.md:

• VAULT_PATH — absolute path to the vault root
• Canonical MOCs — list of allowed MOC references
• Template folder — read-only template files
• Status tags — canonical status values

Example default configuration:

VAULT_PATH: ~/Obsidian/Vault
TEMPLATE_FOLDER: Templates/
MOCS:
  - "Concepts MOC"
  - "Topics MOC"
  - "Notes MOC"
  - "People MOC"
  - "Projects MOC"
  - "Texts MOC"
  - "Sources MOC"
  - "Research MOC"
STATUS_TAGS:
  - status-new
  - status-active
  - status-done
  - status-draft

Note types and templates

Frontmatter pattern

Default frontmatter for a new note:

---
MOC: "[[Notes MOC]]"
Created: 2026-05-02
Modified: 2026-05-02
Links:
  - "[[Topic 1]]"
  - "[[Topic 2]]"
tags:
  - status-new
Type:
---

Field rules

• MOC: exactly one, from the canonical list. Always double brackets with quotes: "[[NNN Name MOC]]". Never duplicate the MOC reference in Links.
• Created/Modified: dates in YYYY-MM-DD format. Both required.
• Links: ALL non-status metadata goes here as wikilinks (topics, hierarchy, organizational refs, year markers).
• tags: Status ONLY. One canonical value per file.
• Type: empty for manually created notes (or template-specific value, e.g. [[Article]]).

Common mistakes to avoid

• Adding topic tags, hierarchy, or qualifiers to tags: (all non-status → Links:)
• Inventing new status values — stick to canonical
• Inventing new MOCs — stick to the canonical list
• Duplicating MOC reference in Links
• Leaving #status-X hashtags in body text (status belongs in frontmatter tags)
• Adding descriptions to Type: (leave empty unless template specifies)
• Horizontal rules (---) as visual separators in body (use headings instead)

Workflow

Creating a new note

1. Determine note type from user intent (or ask)
2. Pick the template from the table above
3. Generate filename per vault convention (typically Title.md in Unsorted/ or a specific folder)
4. Fill frontmatter with correct MOC, dates, initial tags, links
5. Populate body from template + user input
6. Save to the vault
7. Confirm with file path

Updating metadata on an existing note

1. Read the note
2. Identify what to update (MOC, links, tags, modified date)
3. Edit the YAML frontmatter
4. Update Modified: to today's date
5. Save

Output format

After creating or updating, return:

Created/Updated: {VAULT_PATH}/Unsorted/Note Title.md
- MOC: [[Notes MOC]]
- Status: status-new
- Links: [[Topic 1]], [[Topic 2]]

Anti-patterns

• Creating notes outside the configured vault path
• Modifying notes in the templates folder (templates are read-only)
• Inventing new MOCs or status tags
• Mixing status tags with other metadata in tags:

🎯 COMPLETED: [SKILL:obsidian-note] [note created/updated in vault] 🗣️ CUSTOM COMPLETED: [SKILL:obsidian-note] [Note saved]