Obsidian Vault Init

Obsidian Vault Init

The cold start problem. You open a fresh vault (or an existing one with no structure) and Claude Code has zero context — what folders exist, what templates to use, what frontmatter properties matter, how notes link together. This skill bootstraps the vault with sensible structure and leaves a map (CLAUDE.md) so every future session starts oriented, not lost.

When To Activate

• User says "set up obsidian", "init vault", "new vault", "bootstrap vault"
• User says "make my vault work with Claude Code"
• Vault exists but has no CLAUDE.md and user asks Claude to create/manage notes
• User says "organise my vault" or "structure my vault"
• Beginning of session where vault has no CLAUDE.md

Do NOT trigger for:

• Vaults that already have a CLAUDE.md (read it instead)
• Single note creation (use obsidian-note-create)
• User explicitly says they don't want structure changes

Instructions

Step 1: Detect the Environment

Before anything, figure out what you're working with:

# Where is the vault?
# WSL: vault is likely on Windows filesystem
ls /mnt/c/Users/*/Documents/*vault* 2>/dev/null
ls /mnt/c/Users/*/Obsidian* 2>/dev/null

# Direct Linux/Mac
ls ~/Documents/*vault* 2>/dev/null
ls ~/Obsidian* 2>/dev/null

# If user gave a path, use that
ls "$VAULT_PATH"

Check what already exists:

# Existing structure
find "$VAULT_PATH" -maxdepth 2 -type d | head -30

# Existing templates
find "$VAULT_PATH" -path "*template*" -name "*.md" | head -10

# Existing .base files
find "$VAULT_PATH" -name "*.base" | head -10

# Check for CLAUDE.md
cat "$VAULT_PATH/CLAUDE.md" 2>/dev/null

Check which CLI is available:

which obsidian 2>/dev/null && echo "Official CLI available"
which obsidian-cli 2>/dev/null && echo "Yakitrak CLI available"

Step 2: Ask About Vault Purpose

Don't assume. Ask:

What's this vault for?

1. Personal knowledge management (PKM) - notes, learnings, references
2. Project notes - dev projects, tasks, meetings
3. Journal / daily notes - daily log, reflections
4. Mixed / all of the above

And: do you already have folder conventions you want to keep?

Respect existing structure. Build around it, not over it.

Step 3: Create Folder Structure

Based on vault purpose, create what's missing:

PKM vault:

Inbox/              # Quick capture, unsorted
Notes/              # Permanent notes
References/         # Source material, articles, books
Templates/          # Note templates
Attachments/        # Images, PDFs

Project vault:

Projects/           # One subfolder per project
  project-name/
    meetings/
    notes/
    tasks/
Archive/            # Completed projects
Templates/
Attachments/

Journal vault:

Daily/              # Daily notes (YYYY-MM-DD.md)
Weekly/             # Weekly reviews
Notes/              # Longer-form notes
Templates/
Attachments/

Mixed vault:

Inbox/
Projects/
Daily/
Notes/
References/
Templates/
Attachments/

Create with:

mkdir -p "$VAULT_PATH/Inbox" "$VAULT_PATH/Notes" "$VAULT_PATH/Templates" "$VAULT_PATH/Attachments"

Step 4: Create Templates

Create a template for each major note type. Templates use Obsidian frontmatter conventions — properties at the top in YAML, then body structure.

General note template (Templates/Note.md):

---
type: note
created: {{date}}
tags: []
status: draft
---

# {{title}}

Meeting template (Templates/Meeting.md):

---
type: meeting
project:
date: {{date}}
attendees: []
status: active
tags:
  - meeting
---

# {{title}}

**Date**: {{date}}
**Attendees**:

---

## Agenda

## Notes

## Action Items

- [ ]

Project template (Templates/Project.md):

---
type: project
status: active
created: {{date}}
tags:
  - project
---

# {{title}}

## Goal

## Tasks

- [ ]

## Notes

## Links

Daily note template (Templates/Daily.md):

---
type: daily
date: {{date}}
tags:
  - daily
---

# {{date}}

## Tasks

- [ ]

## Log

## Links

Note: {{date}} and {{title}} are Templater/core template placeholders. If the user has Templater installed, use ` and ` instead.

Step 5: Create Starter Base Views

Create .base files that give instant value:

All Tasks (Tasks.base):

filter:
  - property: type
    operator: "=="
    value: meeting
  - operator: OR
  - property: type
    operator: "=="
    value: project
properties:
  task-status:
    formula: 'this.status'
views:
  - name: All Tasks
    type: table
    properties:
      - file.name
      - status
      - project
      - date
    sort:
      - property: date
        order: desc

Recent Notes (Recent.base):

properties: {}
views:
  - name: Recent Notes
    type: table
    properties:
      - file.name
      - type
      - tags
      - file.mtime
    sort:
      - property: file.mtime
        order: desc
    filter:
      - property: file.mtime
        operator: ">="
        value: "{{today - 7 days}}"

Step 6: Create CLAUDE.md

This is the most important file. Every future Claude session reads this first.

Write CLAUDE.md at vault root:

# Vault: [Vault Name]

## Structure

[List actual folders and their purpose]

## Conventions

### Frontmatter Properties
- `type`: [note, meeting, project, daily, reference]
- `status`: [draft, active, completed, archived]
- `project`: project name (lowercase, kebab-case)
- `tags`: array of tags
- `date`: YYYY-MM-DD
- `created`: YYYY-MM-DD

### File Naming
- Notes: `kebab-case-title.md`
- Daily: `YYYY-MM-DD.md` in Daily/
- Meetings: `YYYY-MM-DD-meeting-title.md` in project meetings folder

### Linking
- Use wikilinks: `[[Note Name]]`
- Use heading links: `[[Note Name#Heading]]`
- Embed with: `![[Note Name]]`
- Images: `![[image.png|500]]` (with width)

### Templates
- [List each template and when to use it]
- Template folder: Templates/

### Tags
- Use nested tags: `#project/name`, `#type/meeting`
- Common: #meeting, #project, #daily, #reference, #task

## CLI

[Available CLI tool and common commands]

## Notes for Claude

- Vault path: [absolute path]
- WSL: [yes/no, and path mapping if yes]
- Templater: [installed/not installed]
- Always check for existing notes before creating duplicates
- Respect the folder → template mapping above
- Keep frontmatter consistent with the property schema

Step 7: Verify

After setup, confirm everything:

# Check structure exists
find "$VAULT_PATH" -maxdepth 2 -type d

# Check templates
ls "$VAULT_PATH/Templates/"

# Check CLAUDE.md
cat "$VAULT_PATH/CLAUDE.md"

# Check .base files
find "$VAULT_PATH" -name "*.base"

Report what was created:

Vault initialised at [path]

Created:
- [X] folders
- [Y] templates
- [Z] .base views
- CLAUDE.md (vault map for future sessions)

Next: create your first note with obsidian-note-create

Output Format

## Vault Init: [Vault Name]

**Path:** [vault path]
**Type:** [PKM / Project / Journal / Mixed]
**CLI:** [Official / Yakitrak / None]

### Created
- Folders: [list]
- Templates: [list]
- Base views: [list]
- CLAUDE.md: yes

### Folder → Template Mapping
| Folder | Template |
|--------|----------|
| Notes/ | Note.md |
| Daily/ | Daily.md |
| Projects/*/meetings/ | Meeting.md |

### Next Steps
1. Open vault in Obsidian to verify
2. Customise templates to your taste
3. Start creating notes

NEVER

• Overwrite existing vault structure without asking
• Delete existing files or folders
• Create structure without asking about vault purpose first
• Skip the CLAUDE.md (it's the whole point)
• Use hardcoded paths — always detect or ask
• Assume Templater is installed — check first

ALWAYS

• Detect the environment (WSL, CLI availability) before acting
• Respect existing folder structure and conventions
• Create CLAUDE.md with accurate, current vault state
• Use the user's preferred naming conventions if they have them
• Create templates with proper frontmatter matching the property schema
• Report exactly what was created

Example

User: "Set up my obsidian vault for Claude Code. It's at /mnt/c/Users/me/Obsidian/MainVault"

Vault Init

Detected:
- WSL environment (path: /mnt/c/...)
- Existing folders: Daily/, Attachments/
- Yakitrak CLI available
- Templater plugin installed (found .obsidian/plugins/templater-obsidian/)
- No CLAUDE.md

What's this vault primarily for?
1. PKM
2. Project notes
3. Journal
4. Mixed

[User: Mixed]

Creating structure around your existing folders...

Created:
- Inbox/ (quick capture)
- Notes/ (permanent notes)
- Projects/ (project folders)
- References/ (source material)
- Templates/ (5 templates: Note, Meeting, Project, Daily, Reference)
- Tasks.base (all tasks view)
- Recent.base (last 7 days)
- CLAUDE.md (vault map)

Kept existing: Daily/, Attachments/

Your vault is ready. Future Claude sessions will read CLAUDE.md first.

What DOESN'T work:

• Creating structure without checking what exists first — overwrites user's work
• Using official Obsidian CLI from WSL — it can't reach the Windows Obsidian process
• Assuming folder names — some users use "Journal" not "Daily", "Assets" not "Attachments"
• Skipping CLAUDE.md — next session starts from scratch again

Source & license

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

• Author: ElliotJLT
• Source: ElliotJLT/Claude-Skill-Potions
• License: MIT

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