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Obsidian best practices

Skill msewell/agent-stuff/skills/obsidian-best-practices

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Guides setting up, configuring, and organizing Obsidian vaults for software engineers — folder structure, plugins, templates, Git backup, Dataview queries, and AI integrations. Also creates and edits Obsidian vault files following best practices for frontmatter schemas, wikilinks, Templater syntax, Dataview code blocks, and Canvas JSON. Use when setting up a new vault, recommending plugins, creating note templates, writing Dataview queries, configuring Git sync, advising on vault organization, or generating Obsidian-compatible Markdown files.

SKILL.md

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Obsidian Best Practices

Quick start — new vault setup

  1. Create a vault folder (e.g., ~/vaults/brain).
  2. Create the folder structure: 
    vault/
├── _templates/
├── daily/
├── meetings/
├── projects/
├── references/
├── archive/
└── attachments/
  3. Enable core plugins: Daily Notes, Templates, Backlinks, Outgoing Links, Tags, Graph View, Command Palette, Page Preview, Bookmarks, Canvas, Properties View.
  4. Install Tier 1 community plugins: Dataview, Templater, Obsidian Git, Tasks, Calendar.
  5. Create _templates/daily.md, _templates/meeting.md, _templates/project.md, _templates/reference.md using the templates in references/templates-and-daily-notes.md.
  6. Configure Daily Notes: date format YYYY-MM-DD, location daily/, template _templates/daily.md, open on startup.
  7. Configure Templater: template folder _templates, enable folder templates (daily/ → _templates/daily.md, meetings/ → _templates/meeting.md), trigger on new file creation.
  8. Initialize Git: git init, create private remote, configure Obsidian Git plugin (auto backup every 10-30 min, auto pull on open, auto push after commit).

Vault organization principles

  • Flat by default. Most notes live at the vault root. Folders are for note types (meetings, projects), not topics. Topics are tags.
  • Prefix system folders with _ (e.g., _templates/).
  • Never nest deeper than one level.
  • Archive, don't delete. Move stale notes to archive/.
  • For alternative approaches (PARA, Zettelkasten, LYT), see references/vault-organization-and-style.md.

Frontmatter schema

Every note gets this minimum frontmatter:

---
tags:
  - type/meeting
  - project/auth-redesign
created: 2026-02-26
---

Rules:

  • Flat YAML only — Obsidian doesn't support nested properties.
  • Namespaced tags: type/, project/, lang/, topic/. Pluralize leaf values.
  • created and updated in YYYY-MM-DD format.
  • status on actionable notes: active, paused, completed, archived.
  • Quote wikilinks in YAML: related: "[[Other Note]]".

Creating Obsidian-compatible Markdown

When creating or editing .md files for an Obsidian vault:

  • Use wikilinks: [[Note Title]], not [Note Title](Note%20Title.md).
  • Use aliases for readability: [[Authentication Middleware|auth middleware]].
  • Use block references for precision: [[Architecture Doc#^decision-rationale]].
  • Use ## for top-level sections (reserve # for the note title).
  • Use callouts for emphasis: 
    > [!warning] This API is deprecated in v3
> Use the new endpoint instead.
  • Use Templater syntax (<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>) in template files only.
  • Use inline fields for Dataview: Status:: In Progress.

Writing Dataview queries

Use dataview code blocks. Common patterns:

Table from tagged notes:

```dataview
TABLE status, priority, deadline
FROM #type/project
WHERE status = "active"
SORT priority ASC
```

Task aggregation:

```dataview
TASK
WHERE due >= date(today) AND due <= date(today) + dur(7 days)
WHERE !completed
SORT due ASC
```

Recent notes list:

```dataview
LIST
WHERE updated >= date(today) - dur(30 days)
SORT updated DESC
LIMIT 20
```

For DataviewJS, inline fields, and advanced patterns, see references/dataview-git-and-workflows.md.

Canvas files

Canvas files (.canvas) use the JSON Canvas spec:

  • Nodes: text, file, link, or group.
  • Edges connect nodes with optional labels and colors.
  • Coordinates can be negative — the canvas extends infinitely.
  • Color-code by category: blue for people, yellow for events, green for decisions, red for blockers.

Reference material

Consult these for detailed guidance:

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