Obsidian Note Create

Obsidian Note Create

When To Activate

Do NOT trigger for:

• Editing existing notes (just edit them directly)
• Non-Obsidian markdown files
• Files outside a vault

Instructions

Step 1: Read Vault Conventions

# Read vault map
cat "$VAULT_PATH/CLAUDE.md" 2>/dev/null

# If no CLAUDE.md, detect conventions from existing notes
find "$VAULT_PATH" -name "*.md" -maxdepth 2 | head -20
head -20 "$VAULT_PATH"/<some-existing-note>.md  # check frontmatter pattern

Extract:

• Folder structure (where does this type of note go?)
• Frontmatter schema (what properties are used?)
• Template for this note type
• Naming convention
• Tag conventions

If no CLAUDE.md exists and vault looks unstructured, suggest running obsidian-vault-init first.

Step 2: Determine Note Type and Location

If unsure, ask. Don't guess the folder.

Step 3: Detect Available CLI

# 1. Official Obsidian CLI (best if available and Obsidian is running)
which obsidian 2>/dev/null && obsidian help 2>/dev/null

# 2. Yakitrak CLI (works without Obsidian running)
which obsidian-cli 2>/dev/null

# 3. Direct file write (always works)
echo "Falling back to direct file write"

Official CLI:

obsidian create name="Note Title" content="..." template="Template" silent

Yakitrak CLI:

obsidian-cli create "Note Title" --content "..." --vault "VaultName"

Direct file write:

# Write directly — works everywhere including WSL

Use the best available option. Don't fail just because a CLI isn't installed.

Step 4: Build the Note

1. Frontmatter — YAML properties matching vault schema:

---
type: [note type]
created: YYYY-MM-DD
status: draft
tags:
  - [relevant tags]
# Additional properties per note type
---

2. Title and metadata — Human-readable header:

# Note Title

**Created**: YYYY-MM-DD

3. Body — Content structured per template:

## Section

Content with [[wikilinks]] to related notes.

Step 5: Add Wikilinks

# Find related notes by keyword
grep -rl "keyword" "$VAULT_PATH" --include="*.md" | head -10

# Find notes with matching tags
grep -rl "tags:.*keyword" "$VAULT_PATH" --include="*.md" | head -5

Add wikilinks to related notes:

• [[Related Note]] — link to the note
• [[Related Note#Specific Heading]] — link to a section
• [[Related Note|Display Text]] — link with custom display text

Don't force links. Only link where genuinely related.

Step 6: Check for Duplicates

# Check by filename
find "$VAULT_PATH" -name "*similar-name*" -name "*.md"

# Check by title in frontmatter
grep -rl "# Similar Title" "$VAULT_PATH" --include="*.md"

If a similar note exists, ask the user:

• Append to existing note?
• Create new note and link to existing?
• Replace existing note?

Step 7: Write and Confirm

Note created: [[Note Title]]

Location: Notes/note-title.md
Type: note
Links: [[Related Note 1]], [[Related Note 2]]

If using CLI, verify it worked:

obsidian read file="Note Title" 2>/dev/null || cat "$VAULT_PATH/Notes/note-title.md"

Filename Convention

kebab-case-title.md          # General notes
YYYY-MM-DD.md                # Daily notes
YYYY-MM-DD-meeting-title.md  # Meeting notes
project-name.md              # Project overviews

• Always lowercase
• Hyphens not underscores
• No spaces (they break some tools)
• Date prefix for time-sensitive notes

Frontmatter Property Reference

Don't invent new properties unless needed. Stick to the schema.

Output Format

## Note Created

**Title:** [[Note Title]]
**Path:** folder/note-title.md
**Type:** [note type]
**Template:** [template used]
**Links:** [[Link 1]], [[Link 2]]

[Preview of first 5 lines]

NEVER

• Create notes without checking vault conventions first
• Skip frontmatter (every note needs it)
• Use spaces in filenames
• Create duplicates without asking
• Invent frontmatter properties not in the vault schema
• Put notes in the wrong folder for their type
• Create a note without at least checking for related notes to link

ALWAYS

• Read CLAUDE.md (or detect conventions) before creating
• Use the best available CLI, fall back to direct file write
• Follow the vault's naming convention
• Include proper frontmatter matching the vault schema
• Check for duplicates before creating
• Search for related notes and add wikilinks where relevant
• Confirm what was created and where

Example

User: "Create a note about the API rate limiting approach we just discussed"

Reading vault conventions from CLAUDE.md...

Vault: MainVault
Convention: Notes go in Notes/, type: note, status: draft

Checking for related notes...
Found: [[api-design]], [[backend-architecture]]

No duplicate found for "api-rate-limiting".

Note created: [[API Rate Limiting]]

Path: Notes/api-rate-limiting.md
Type: note
Links: [[api-design]], [[backend-architecture]]

---
type: note
created: 2026-02-12
status: draft
tags:
  - api
  - architecture
---

# API Rate Limiting

Approach discussed for handling rate limits on the public API.

## Decision

- Token bucket algorithm with [[api-design|existing API gateway]]
- 100 requests/minute per API key
- 429 response with Retry-After header

## Links

- Related: [[api-design]], [[backend-architecture]]