Obsidian Markdown

Obsidian Flavored Markdown Skill

Create and edit valid Obsidian Flavored Markdown. Obsidian extends CommonMark and GFM with wikilinks, embeds, callouts, properties, comments, and other syntax. This skill covers only Obsidian-specific extensions -- standard Markdown (headings, bold, italic, lists, quotes, code blocks, tables) is assumed knowledge.

Workflow: Creating an Obsidian Note

1. Add frontmatter with properties (title, tags, aliases) at the top of the file. See PROPERTIES.md for all property types.
2. Write content using standard Markdown for structure, plus Obsidian-specific syntax below.
3. Link related notes using wikilinks ([[Note]]) for internal vault connections, or standard Markdown links for external URLs.
4. Embed content from other notes, images, or PDFs using the ![[embed]] syntax. See EMBEDS.md for all embed types.
5. Add callouts for highlighted information using > [!type] syntax. See CALLOUTS.md for all callout types.
6. Verify the note renders correctly in Obsidian's reading view.

When choosing between wikilinks and Markdown links: use [[wikilinks]] for notes within the vault (Obsidian tracks renames automatically) and [text](url) for external URLs only.

Workflow: Editing an Existing Note

1. Read the target section first and identify the nearest section heading, full question text, and the next sibling heading. Do not locate a repeated item with a short marker such as **2.** or **3.** alone.
2. Require a unique anchor: combine the section heading with the complete question text and assert that it occurs exactly once before changing the file. If it is not unique, narrow the search to the bounded section instead of guessing.
3. Replace one bounded slice and preserve everything outside that slice. After writing, inspect the diff and check that section headings, question counts, and question order have not changed unexpectedly.
4. Use the vault's established math syntax: $...$ for inline math and $$...$$ for display math. Do not introduce \[...\] into a note that uses $$...$$.
5. Run the content linter after editing generated vault content: python3 scripts/lint_content.py. It checks balanced display-math delimiters, rejects Markdown headings/question markers swallowed by a math block, and catches control characters from incorrect Python LaTeX escaping.
6. Verify the exact edited region in reading view. Check display-math delimiters are balanced and, when the note contains repeated question numbers, confirm the complete target heading appears once and its solution remains adjacent to it.

Internal Links (Wikilinks)

[[Note Name]]                          Link to note
[[Note Name|Display Text]]             Custom display text
[[Note Name#Heading]]                  Link to heading
[[Note Name#^block-id]]                Link to block
[[#Heading in same note]]              Same-note heading link

Define a block ID by appending ^block-id to any paragraph:

This paragraph can be linked to. ^my-block-id

For lists and quotes, place the block ID on a separate line after the block:

> A quote block

^quote-id

Embeds

Prefix any wikilink with ! to embed its content inline:

![[Note Name]]                         Embed full note
![[Note Name#Heading]]                 Embed section
![[image.png]]                         Embed image
![[image.png|300]]                     Embed image with width
![[document.pdf#page=3]]               Embed PDF page

See EMBEDS.md for audio, video, search embeds, and external images.

Callouts

> [!note]
> Basic callout.

> [!warning] Custom Title
> Callout with a custom title.

> [!faq]- Collapsed by default
> Foldable callout (- collapsed, + expanded).

Common types: note, tip, warning, info, example, quote, bug, danger, success, failure, question, abstract, todo.

See CALLOUTS.md for the full list with aliases, nesting, and custom CSS callouts.

Properties (Frontmatter)

---
title: My Note
date: 2024-01-15
tags:
  - project
  - active
aliases:
  - Alternative Name
cssclasses:
  - custom-class
---

Default properties: tags (searchable labels), aliases (alternative note names for link suggestions), cssclasses (CSS classes for styling).

See PROPERTIES.md for all property types, tag syntax rules, and advanced usage.

Tags

#tag                    Inline tag
#nested/tag             Nested tag with hierarchy

Tags can contain letters, numbers (not first character), underscores, hyphens, and forward slashes. Tags can also be defined in frontmatter under the tags property.

Comments

This is visible %%but this is hidden%% text.

%%
This entire block is hidden in reading view.
%%

Obsidian-Specific Formatting

==Highlighted text==                   Highlight syntax

Math (LaTeX)

Inline: $e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$

Block:
$$
\frac{a}{b} = c
$$

Diagrams (Mermaid)

```mermaid
graph TD
    A[Start] --> B{Decision}
    B -->|Yes| C[Do this]
    B -->|No| D[Do that]
```

To link Mermaid nodes to Obsidian notes, add class NodeName internal-link;.

Footnotes

Text with a footnote[^1].

[^1]: Footnote content.

Inline footnote.^[This is inline.]

Complete Example

---
title: Project Alpha
date: 2024-01-15
tags:
  - project
  - active
status: in-progress
---

# Project Alpha

This project aims to [[improve workflow]] using modern techniques.

> [!important] Key Deadline
> The first milestone is due on ==January 30th==.

## Tasks

- [x] Initial planning
- [ ] Development phase
  - [ ] Backend implementation
  - [ ] Frontend design

## Notes

The algorithm uses $O(n \log n)$ sorting. See [[Algorithm Notes#Sorting]] for details.

![[Architecture Diagram.png|600]]

Reviewed in [[Meeting Notes 2024-01-10#Decisions]].

References

• Obsidian Flavored Markdown
• Internal links
• Embed files
• Callouts
• Properties