obsidian-vault-management

What this skill does

# Obsidian Vault Management

## Vault Structure (PARA-Based)

This vault uses a PARA-like organization:

| Folder | Purpose |
|--------|---------|
| `00 - Maps of Content` | Index notes linking related topics |
| `01 - Projects` | Active project notes |
| `02 - Areas` | Ongoing responsibilities |
| `03 - Resources` | Reference materials |
| `04 - Permanent` | Evergreen/zettelkasten notes |
| `05 - Fleeting` | Quick capture notes |
| `06 - Daily` | Daily notes (YYYY/MM/YYYYMMDD.md) |
| `07 - Archives` | Completed/inactive content |
| `08 - books` | Book notes and clippings |
| `99 - Meta` | Templates, settings |
| `Clippings` | Web clips and imports |

## Quick Reference

### Linking Syntax

```markdown
[[Note Name]]                    # Basic wikilink
[[Note Name|Display Text]]       # Aliased link
[[Note Name#Heading]]            # Link to heading
[[Note Name#^block-id]]          # Link to block
![[Note Name]]                   # Embed note
![[image.png]]                   # Embed image
![[Note Name#Heading]]           # Embed section
```

### Frontmatter Template

```yaml
---
created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm}}
updated: {{date:YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm}}
title: "Note Title"
type: note
status: draft
tags:
  - tag1
  - tag2
aliases:
  - "Alternate Name"
cssclasses:
  - custom-class
---
```

### Callouts

```markdown
> [!note] Title
> Content

> [!warning] Important
> Warning content

> [!tip] Helpful tip
> Tip content

> [!info]+ Collapsible (open by default)
> Content

> [!danger]- Collapsed by default
> Content
```

**Available callout types**: note, abstract, info, todo, tip, success, question, warning, failure, danger, bug, example, quote

## Creating Notes

### Daily Note

Create in `06 - Daily/YYYY/MM/` with filename `YYYYMMDD.md`:

```yaml
---
created: 2025-12-09T09:00
updated: 2025-12-09T09:00
title: "20251209"
type: daily-note
status: true
tags:
  - daily
  - journal
  - 2025
  - 2025-12
aliases:
  - "2025-12-09"
date_formatted: 2025-12-09
topics:
  - "[[daily]]"
  - "[[journal]]"
related:
  - "[[2025-12-08]]"
  - "[[2025-12-10]]"
cssclasses:
  - daily
---

# Daily Note - 2025-12-09

### Tasks
- [ ] Task 1

### Journal
...

### Navigation
<< [[2025-12-08]] | **Today** | [[2025-12-10]] >>
```

### Zettelkasten Note

Create in `04 - Permanent/`:

```yaml
---
created: {{date}}
type: zettelkasten
tags:
  - permanent
  - topic
---

# Note Title

## Main Insight
**Key Idea**: [Main point]

## Connections
- [[Related Note 1]]
- [[Related Note 2]]

## References
- Source citation
```

## Dataview Queries

For dataview query syntax, see [references/dataview.md](references/dataview.md).

**Quick examples:**

```dataview
LIST FROM "06 - Daily" WHERE file.cday = date(today) SORT file.ctime DESC
```

```dataview
TABLE status, tags FROM "01 - Projects" WHERE status != "completed"
```

## Templates

Templates location: `99 - Meta/00 - Templates/`

For Templater syntax, see [references/templater.md](references/templater.md).

**Common Templater variables:**

```markdown
<% tp.file.title %>              # Current file name
<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>  # Current date
<% tp.file.cursor(1) %>          # Cursor position
<% tp.system.prompt("Question") %> # User input prompt
```

## Installed Plugins

| Plugin | Purpose |
|--------|---------|
| **Dataview** | Query and display data from notes |
| **Templater** | Advanced templates with scripting |
| **Auto Note Mover** | Auto-organize notes by tags |
| **Periodic Notes** | Daily/weekly/monthly notes |
| **Kanban** | Kanban boards in markdown |
| **Tag Wrangler** | Bulk tag management |
| **Table Editor** | Markdown table editing |
| **Advanced URI** | Deep links to notes |
| **Local REST API** | External API access |

## File Operations

### Creating a Note

1. Determine appropriate folder based on note type
2. Add proper frontmatter
3. Use consistent naming conventions
4. Include relevant tags for auto-organization

### Best Practices

- Use descriptive filenames (avoid special characters except hyphens)
- Always include `created` and `updated` timestamps
- Tag notes for discoverability
- Link to related notes bidirectionally
- Use callouts for important information
- Include navigation links in daily notes

## Advanced Features

- **Dataview queries**: [references/dataview.md](references/dataview.md)
- **Templater scripting**: [references/templater.md](references/templater.md)
- **Canvas diagrams**: [references/canvas.md](references/canvas.md)
- **Plugin configurations**: [references/plugins.md](references/plugins.md)

---

## Gotchas

- **Bulk operations outside Obsidian don't trigger link-rebuilding** — external scripts must signal a `:Reindex` or wait for the next vault open.
- **Dataview cache is per-vault and per-session** — CLI script-based DQL queries may see stale state if Obsidian was last open with different filters.
- **Templater scripts via CLI run in a different context than the UI** — many `tp.system.*` functions return nil (no UI to prompt against).
- **PARA folder moves break tag-based queries** — if your queries hardcode folder paths, refactor them to use tags or properties before reorganizing.
- **Daily note rotation: changing the daily-note format mid-vault leaves old notes orphaned** — they don't auto-migrate to the new format; a rename pass is needed.