Obsidian Vault Management

Purpose

This skill provides expert guidance for working with Obsidian vaults, enabling effective knowledge management through proper syntax usage, organizational best practices, and workflow automation. It covers Obsidian Flavored Markdown (OFM), modern organization methodologies, task management workflows, and integration with Claude Code.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Working with Obsidian notes and needing to understand OFM syntax
• Organizing or restructuring an Obsidian vault
• Setting up daily/weekly task management workflows
• Creating templates for notes, projects, or reviews
• Performing vault maintenance (finding broken links, orphaned notes, etc.)
• Helping users implement knowledge management best practices
• Integrating Obsidian with automation tools or Claude Code

Obsidian Flavored Markdown (OFM)

Key Syntax Differences

Obsidian extends standard Markdown with wiki-inspired features:

Wikilinks (Internal Linking):

• [[Note Name]] - Link to another note
• [[Note Name|Display Text]] - Custom display text
• [[Note#Heading]] - Link to specific heading
• [[Note^block-id]] - Link to specific block
• Add ^block-id at end of any line to create referenceable blocks

Embeds (Transclusion):

• ![[Note]] - Embed entire note
• ![[Note#Heading]] - Embed from heading onwards
• ![[Note^block-id]] - Embed specific block
• ![[Image.jpg]] - Embed media files

Callouts:

> [!note] Optional Title
> Content here

Types: note, tip, info, todo, warning, danger, error, bug, example, abstract, success, question, failure, important, quote

Collapsible: [!tip]+ (expanded) or [!tip]- (collapsed)

Tags:

• #tag - Basic tag
• #parent/child/grandchild - Nested hierarchy

Comments:

• %% Hidden comment %% - Obsidian-only, not portable

Highlights:

• ==highlighted text== - Obsidian-specific

Properties/Frontmatter:

---
title: Note Title
date: 2025-11-12
tags: [tag1, tag2]
status: active
---

Math (LaTeX):

• Inline: $E = mc^2$
• Display: $$equation$$

Diagrams (Mermaid):

```mermaid
graph LR
    A --> B --> C
```

Dataview Queries (if plugin installed):

```dataview
TABLE rating, date
FROM #books
SORT rating DESC
```

For complete syntax details, refer to references/ofm-syntax.md.

Organization Best Practices

Recommended Folder Structures

ACE Framework (Recommended):

Atlas/          # Knowledge maps, ideas, reference materials
Calendar/       # Daily notes, periodic notes, time-based entries
Efforts/        # Projects, goals, active work

FINVA System (Workflow-based):

Fleeting/       # Quick rough notes (weekly review)
In Progress/    # Projects needing work
Notes/          # Permanent completed notes
Views/          # MOCs and organizational notes
Archives/       # Old projects

Zettelkasten (Research-focused):

Fleeting/       # Temporary captures
Permanent/      # Atomic evergreen notes

Core Principles

1. Use minimal folders (3-7 top-level max)
2. Organize by note TYPE, not TOPIC - let links connect topics
3. Create MOCs (Maps of Content) as navigation hubs
4. Design for worst-day usability - system must work when tired
5. Let structure emerge organically rather than pre-planning everything

Maps of Content (MOCs)

MOCs are index notes that link to related notes:

# Topic Name

## Overview
Brief description

## Subtopic 1
- [[Note 1]]
- [[Note 2]]

## Subtopic 2
- [[Note 3]]
- [[Note 4]]

Create MOCs when:

• Experiencing "mental squeeze point" (juggling too many related notes)
• Topic has 5+ related notes
• Need navigation hub for an area

For detailed organization strategies, refer to references/organization-guide.md.

Daily/Weekly Task Workflows

Essential Plugins

• Daily Notes (Core) - Creates daily notes
• Templater (Community) - Advanced templates
• Tasks (Community) - Task management
• Dataview (Community) - Query and display data
• Day Planner (Community) - Time blocking

Templates

Daily note template available at assets/templates/daily-note.md Weekly review template available at assets/templates/weekly-review.md Project template available at assets/templates/project.md

Task Syntax (Tasks Plugin)

- [ ] Basic task
- [ ] Task with due date =