Prep For Writing

When to use

The user is about to write a long-form piece (essay, blog post, talk, paper) on a topic where their vault already has the raw material. Output is a single scratchpad note with quoted excerpts, source wikilinks, and an outline scaffold.

Procedure

1. Capture the topic from the user. If absent, ask.
2. Optionally capture: target length ("1500 words"), audience ("PKM-curious devs"), and angle ("personal essay" vs "tutorial"). Defaults: unspecified.
3. Call find_related(seed=topic, top_k=25).
4. Call read_notes_batch(paths=[top 10–15 candidates]) respecting the 200K-char cap.
5. From the bodies, extract 1–3 high-signal quotes per source. A quote is high-signal if it makes a specific claim or expresses a striking phrase. Cap each quote at ~3 sentences.
6. Propose a writing outline: 3–6 sections, each with a one-sentence claim and 2–4 supporting quotes. The outline structure depends on the user's angle if specified.
7. Write the scratchpad to Writing/.md (use the topic as a slugified filename). Frontmatter: status: drafting, topic, created, target_length if given. Body uses the template in §Output format.
8. Surface the scratchpad path and a one-paragraph top-line. Suggest the user open it in Obsidian; remind them to flip status to published (or delete the scratchpad) when done.

Output format

# Scratchpad: {topic}

> Target: {length / angle / audience} (or "unspecified")
> Generated: {YYYY-MM-DD}

## Outline

### 1. {Section claim}
- Quote from [[Source A]]:
  > {quoted text}
- Quote from [[Source B]]:
  > {quoted text}

### 2. {Section claim}
- ...

## Bibliography
- [[Source A]] — {one-line summary}
- [[Source B]] — {one-line summary}
- ...

## Draft
(empty — the user writes here)

Anti-patterns

• Don't write the draft. Stop at the outline. The user writes the draft.
• Don't paraphrase quotes. Use the user's actual words. Misattribution to oneself is a small disaster.
• Don't include more than ~15 sources. If the user's vault has 40+ relevant notes, pick the most central via find_hubs constrained to the topic — and tell the user you down-selected.
• Don't auto-publish or auto-commit anywhere. The scratchpad is private until the user moves it.
• Don't run this skill against .canvas or .base files; they're not body text.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: bettyguo
• Source: bettyguo/obsidian_mcp
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.