vault

What this skill does

# Vault Context

Core knowledge layer for the Obsidian vault. Always load before any vault operation — this provides
the map that makes every other skill accurate.

## Ask, Don't Assume

These skills act on the user's personal knowledge — the interpretation is theirs, not yours. This
principle is shared by every ritual skill (daily, close-day, weekly, goals, spot-drift).

- If you don't know something — a path, a date range, what counts as a "win", which goals are active
  — **ask**. Don't infer it from context or pick a default silently.
- Before writing any synthesis or judgment into a note, **present your draft with its source and get
  explicit confirmation.** Let the user correct, add, or cut before anything is written.
- Missing or ambiguous data is not permission to invent. Surface the gap and ask — a sparse or
  missing note does not mean nothing happened.
- One question at a time for judgment calls; batch only purely factual unknowns.

## Vault Path

`/Users/kriscard/obsidian-vault-kriscard`

## PARA Structure

| Layer     | Path             | What belongs here                           |
| --------- | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| Inbox     | `0 - Inbox/`     | Unprocessed captures, raw ideas             |
| Projects  | `1 - Projects/`  | Active deliverables with outcome + deadline |
| Areas     | `2 - Areas/`     | Ongoing responsibilities (no end date)      |
| Resources | `3 - Resources/` | Reference material, TIL, wiki pages         |
| Archives  | `4 - Archives/`  | Inactive projects, old resources            |

**PARA rule of thumb:**

- Project = outcome + deadline. No deadline → Area.
- Area = standard to maintain, not a finish line to cross.
- Resource = potentially useful reference, not actionable.
- Archive = anything from the other three that's no longer active.

## Key Paths

```
2 - Areas/Daily Ops/YYYY/YYYY-MM-DD.md          # Daily notes
2 - Areas/Daily Ops/Weekly/M - Month YYYY/YYYY-Www.md  # Weekly notes
2 - Areas/Goals/Quaterly/Quaterly Goals - QN YYYY.md   # Quarterly goals (typo preserved)
2 - Areas/Goals/Monthly/M - Month YYYY.md        # Monthly goals
2 - Areas/Goals/OKR Dashboard.base               # OKR base query
3 - Resources/TIL/til-YYYY-MM-DD.md             # TIL notes
0 - Inbox/                                       # Processing queue
```

Note: the quarterly folder is spelled "Quaterly" — preserve this to match the existing vault
structure.

## Obsidian CLI Reference

```bash
obsidian read path="<path>"                      # Read a note
obsidian create path="<path>" template="<name>"  # Create from template
obsidian create path="<path>" content="..." overwrite  # Overwrite a whole note
obsidian append path="<path>" content="..."      # Append to end of note
obsidian prepend path="<path>" content="..."     # Prepend to top of note
obsidian move path="<src>" to="<dst>"            # Move/rename note
obsidian files folder="<path>" format=json       # List files
obsidian search query="<q>"                      # Full-text search
obsidian search:context query="<q>" limit=10     # Search with surrounding lines
obsidian tasks todo path="<daily-note path>"     # Today's open tasks (path, not folder)
obsidian task path="<path>" line=N done          # Mark a task done
obsidian orphans                                 # Orphaned notes
obsidian deadends                                # Notes with no outgoing links
obsidian unresolved verbose counts               # Broken links
obsidian backlinks path="<path>" counts          # Backlinks to a note
obsidian links path="<path>"                     # Outgoing links from a note
obsidian vault info=files                        # Vault stats
obsidian tags counts sort=count                  # All tags with usage counts
obsidian property:read path="<path>" name="<k>"  # Read a frontmatter property
obsidian property:set path="<path>" name="<k>" value="<v>"  # Set a property
obsidian template:read name="<name>" resolve title="<t>"  # Render template
obsidian base:query path="<path>" format=json    # Query a .base file
```

**No `patch` command.** The CLI cannot edit a specific section in place. To write to a note:
`append`/`prepend` when landing the content anywhere in the note is fine. When it must update or
replace a _named section_, ask the user: use the MCP `obsidian_patch_content` tool (supports
heading/block/frontmatter targeting), or recreate the note via `read` + `create ... overwrite`.

**No `daily:*` commands.** `daily` is only a flag on `task`/`tasks`, and that flag needs the Daily
Notes core plugin enabled (currently disabled). Work the daily note by its path:
`TODAY="2 - Areas/Daily Ops/$(date +%Y)/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md"`, then `obsidian read path="$TODAY"` /
`append` / `prepend`. Today's open tasks: `obsidian tasks todo path="$TODAY"` (note `tasks path=`
takes a file, not a folder).

If any `obsidian` command fails: tell the user "Obsidian CLI isn't working — update Obsidian with
CLI enabled."

## Templates Location

`Templates/` folder in vault root. Key templates:

- `Templates/Daily Notes.md`
- `Templates/Weekly.md`
- `Templates/Project.md`
- `Templates/TIL.md`

## References

| Priority   | Load when                                                      | Reference                          |
| ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| 1 — High   | Full CLI command needed beyond the inline reference            | `references/cli-reference.md`      |
| 2 — High   | obsidian-utils script commands or invocation syntax            | `references/obsidian-utils.md`     |
| 3 — Medium | Complete folder tree, metadata patterns, or naming conventions | `references/detailed-structure.md` |
| 4 — Medium | Tag taxonomy or tagging best practices                         | `references/tagging-system.md`     |
| 5 — Medium | Which template to use for a note type                          | `references/templates-guide.md`    |