Obsidian check

Skill jl-cmd/claude-journal/skills/obsidian-check

Validate Obsidian backend connectivity and vault health. Run diagnostics on MCP server, headless CLI, vault path, sync status, and vault structure. Use when the user says /obsidian-check, check obsidian, obsidian status, vault health, or any variation of "is my vault working".From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add jl-cmd/claude-journal --skill obsidian-check

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

1 stars1 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

SKILL.md

4.2 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

Obsidian Check: Backend Health Diagnostics

Overview

Run a series of diagnostic checks against the Obsidian backend and report results as a status table with actionable fix instructions.

Announce at start: "Running Obsidian backend diagnostics."

Checks

Run all checks in order. Collect results, then present a single summary table.

1. Obsidian MCP

Call mcp__obsidian__list_directory with path="sessions".

Pass: MCP server responded and listed the sessions directory.
Fail: MCP server did not respond or returned an error. Record the error message.

2. Headless CLI

Run ob --version via Bash.

Pass: Command returned a version string. Record the version.
Fail: Command not found or returned an error. This means obsidian-headless is not installed or Node.js 22+ is missing.

3. Vault Path

Check OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH environment variable first. If not set, check whether ~/.claude/vault/ exists as a directory.

Pass: A vault directory was found. Record the resolved path.
Fail: Neither the environment variable nor the default path resolves to a directory.

4. Sync Status

Run ob sync-status --path <vault-path> via Bash, using the vault path from Check 3. Skip this check if Check 2 or Check 3 failed.

Pass: Sync is active and connected.
Fail: Sync is inactive, disconnected, or the command returned an error. Record the status output.

5. Vault Structure

If any backend is available (Check 1 passed or Checks 2+3 passed), list the contents of sessions/ using whichever backend succeeded.

obsidian backend: mcp__obsidian__list_directory with path="sessions"
headless backend: Bash ls on the vault sessions directory

Report the project folders found and total session file count.

Pass: sessions/ directory exists and contains at least one project folder.
Fail: sessions/ directory is missing or empty.

Output

Present results as a markdown table:

## Obsidian Backend Diagnostics

| Check | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Obsidian MCP | [pass/fail icon] | [details or error] |
| Headless CLI | [pass/fail icon] | [version or error] |
| Vault Path | [pass/fail icon] | [resolved path or not found] |
| Sync Status | [pass/fail icon] | [status or skipped] |
| Vault Structure | [pass/fail icon] | [N projects, M sessions or error] |

**Backend:** [obsidian / headless / none detected]

Use these status icons:

Pass: +
Fail: -
Skipped: ~

Fix Instructions

After the table, provide actionable instructions for each failed check:

Obsidian MCP failed: "Install Obsidian, enable the Local REST API community plugin, and connect an Obsidian MCP server to Claude Code. See README Tier 2."
Headless CLI failed: "Install obsidian-headless: npm i -g obsidian-headless. Requires Node.js 22+."
Vault Path failed: "Set OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH in your Claude Code environment config, or place your synced vault at ~/.claude/vault/."
Sync Status failed: "Run ob login and ob sync-setup --vault <name> to configure sync. Then start with ob sync --continuous."
Vault Structure failed: "The sessions/ directory is missing from your vault. Run /session-log to create your first session report, which will create the directory structure automatically."

If all checks pass, report: "All backend checks passed. Your Obsidian vault is healthy."

Upgrade Path

After the fix instructions, show relevant upgrade suggestions based on the active backend:

Local vault active (no sync): "Your sessions are stored locally at ~/.claude/vault/. To sync across devices, install obsidian-headless (npm i -g obsidian-headless) and configure sync. See README Tier 1."
Headless active (no MCP): "Sync is working. For full vault search and frontmatter management, add Obsidian MCP. See README Tier 2."
Obsidian MCP active: No upgrade suggestion needed.