Read and write notes in the Obsidian vault — paths, filename conventions, linking rules, and where a given kind of note belongs. Use when reading or writing vault notes, capturing knowledge, defining a domain term, or building context from notes.
Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
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---
name: vault
description: Read and write notes in the Obsidian vault — paths, filename conventions, linking rules, and where a given kind of note belongs. Use when reading or writing vault notes, capturing knowledge, defining a domain term, or building context from notes.
---
# Vault (Obsidian Notes)
Location: `~/Documents/Notes/` (vault name: `Notes`)
## Principles
1. Treat the vault as Markdown files under `~/Documents/Notes`; do not use the `obsidian` CLI.
2. Use WikiLinks for semantic note links, especially dates: `[[YYYY-MM-DD]]`.
3. New task notes start with `status: open`.
4. Read before writing, preserve existing structure, and avoid whole-file rewrites unless unavoidable.
5. In prose, escape `<` as `\<` so Obsidian doesn't parse it as HTML. Leave code spans and fenced blocks as they are; a backslash there renders literally.
## Core Paths
| Type | Path |
|---|---|
| Tasks | `Projects/<project>/Tasks/<YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS> <ID> <title>.md` |
| Daily notes | `Journal/Daily Notes/<YYYY>/<YYYY-MM>/<YYYY-MM-DD>.md` |
| Weekly notes | `Journal/Weekly Notes/<YYYY>-W<WW>.md` |
| Events | `Projects/<project>/Events/<YYYY-MM-DD> <event type> <title>.md` |
| Topics | `Projects/<project>/Topics/<Topic>.md` |
| Research | `Projects/<project>/Research/<Title>.md` |
| Templates | `Vault Metadata/Templates/` |
Evergreen, project-independent knowledge lives in the top-level domain folders
(`Development/`, `Artificial Intelligence/`, `Process/`, `Knowledge management/`, ...), not
in a project's `Topics/`. Moving a note there is the `obsidian-topic-maintainer` graduation
step.
Section ownership: `Current State`, `Decision Log`, `Open Questions`, and `Next Session` on a
task note belong to `task-note-update`; routing a task note by `task-type` belongs to `task`.
Do not write those sections from here.
## Shell Rules
```bash
VAULT="$HOME/Documents/Notes"
date +"%Y-%m-%d %H%M%S" # task filename
date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" # log entry header
date -Iseconds # frontmatter
```
Use normal Unix tools (`rg`, `find`, `sed`, `awk`, `perl`, `stat`, `mkdir`, `cp`, `mv`, `printf`). Quote paths because project names contain spaces.
## Linking
Link if it improves navigation, not just because a term matches.
Link people by full name: `[[@Firstname Surname]]`.
Use aliased WikiLinks for ticket references:
```markdown
[[2026-02-13 141534 RH-6949 Performance issue|RH-6949]]
```
Every mention of a Jira issue number in summaries, blockers, carryover, or task updates should be a WikiLink to its task note when a matching note exists.
## Domain terms
There is no `Glossary/` folder. A domain term is a short note in the project's `Topics/`,
sitting alongside the longer hubs — same folder, same shape, just briefer. Search first: if
the concept already has a hub, extend it rather than adding a second note, because duplicate
basenames make links ambiguous.
```markdown
---
aliases:
- <abbreviation or singular/plural variant>
---
# [[Term]]
<Plain-language definition, one or two sentences, wikilinking the concepts it leans on.
Do not define jargon with more jargon.>
<Optional: a concrete example, or how it differs from the term it is confused with.>
## See also
[[Related]] · [[Related]]
```
Give every abbreviation an `aliases:` entry so existing links keep resolving. `obsidian-topic-maintainer` owns hub shape, alias collisions, and promotion to a domain folder.
