Obsidian Vault
Use this skill for filesystem-first Obsidian vault work: reading notes, listing notes, searching note files, creating notes, appending content, and adding wikilinks.
Vault path
Use a known or resolved vault path before calling file tools.
The documented vault-path convention is the
environment variable, for example from
. If it is unset, use
~/Documents/Obsidian Vault
.
File tools do not expand shell variables. Do not pass paths containing
to
,
,
, or
; resolve the vault path first and pass a concrete absolute path. Vault paths may contain spaces, which is another reason to prefer file tools over shell commands.
If the vault path is unknown,
is acceptable for resolving
or checking whether the fallback path exists. Once the path is known, switch back to file tools.
Read a note
Use
with the resolved absolute path to the note. Prefer this over
because it provides line numbers and pagination.
List notes
Use
with
and the resolved vault path. Prefer this over
or
.
- To list all markdown notes, use under the vault path.
- To list a subfolder, search under that subfolder's absolute path.
Search
Use
for both filename and content searches. Prefer this over
,
, or
.
- For filenames, use with and a filename .
- For note contents, use with , the content regex as , and when you want to restrict matches to markdown notes.
Create a note
Use
with the resolved absolute path and the full markdown content. Prefer this over shell heredocs or
because it avoids shell quoting issues and returns structured results.
Append to a note
Prefer a native file-tool workflow when it is not awkward:
- Read the target note with .
- Use for an anchored append when there is stable context, such as adding a section after an existing heading or appending before a known trailing block.
- Use when rewriting the whole note is clearer than constructing a fragile patch.
For an anchored append with
, replace the anchor with the anchor plus the new content.
For a simple append with no stable context,
is acceptable if it is the clearest safe option.
Targeted edits
Use
for focused note changes when the current content gives you stable context. Prefer this over shell text rewriting.
Wikilinks
Obsidian links notes with
syntax. When creating notes, use these to link related content.