Obsidian Vault Setup

Obsidian Vault Setup

This skill helps bootstrap an Obsidian vault with standard productivity conventions. It checks for required folders and templates, then creates missing items with sensible defaults.

When to Use

Invoke /obsidian-vault-setup when:

• Setting up a new Obsidian vault for use with Claude Code
• A vault is missing expected conventions (PEOPLE/, MEETINGS/, etc.)
• You need to verify vault structure before running other skills
• You want to ensure templates exist for daily planning workflows

Workflow

1. Discover Vault Root

Use the same logic as obsidian-vault-discovery skill:

cat ~/Library/Application\ Support/obsidian/obsidian.json

Parse the JSON to find:

• The vault with "open": true, OR
• If in a vault directory (cwd contains .obsidian/), use that vault
• Otherwise, use the most recently opened vault (highest ts)

2. Check Required Conventions

Check for the existence of these items:

Folders

| Folder | Detection Method | Description | |--------|------------------|-------------| | PEOPLE/ | Directory exists | People notes directory | | MEETINGS/ | Directory exists | Meeting notes directory | | DAILY_NOTES/ | Read .obsidian/daily-notes.json → folder field, OR directory exists | Daily notes directory | | TEMPLATES/ | Read .obsidian/templates.json → folder field, OR directory exists | Templates directory |

Templates

| Template | Path | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | Daily Note Template | TEMPLATES/Daily Note Template.md | Daily note template with Templater support | | Meeting Template | TEMPLATES/Meeting Template.md | Meeting note template with attendees and dataview | | People Template | TEMPLATES/People Template.md | People note template with contact fields |

Configuration

| File | Path | Description | |------|------|-------------| | CLAUDE.md | CLAUDE.md (vault root) | Vault conventions documentation for Claude |

3. Report Status

Display a status report showing:

✓ PEOPLE/ folder
✓ MEETINGS/ folder
✗ DAILY_NOTES/ folder (missing)
✓ TEMPLATES/ folder
✓ TEMPLATES/Daily Note Template.md
✗ TEMPLATES/Meeting Template.md (missing)
✗ TEMPLATES/People Template.md (missing)
✗ CLAUDE.md (missing)

4. Prompt for Creation

If any items are missing, ask the user:

The following items are missing from your vault:
- DAILY_NOTES/ folder
- TEMPLATES/Meeting Template.md
- TEMPLATES/People Template.md
- CLAUDE.md

Would you like to create these items with default conventions?

Use AskUserQuestion to confirm.

5. Create Missing Items

If the user confirms, create missing items:

Create Folders

mkdir -p "/PEOPLE"
mkdir -p "/MEETINGS"
mkdir -p "/DAILY_NOTES"
mkdir -p "/TEMPLATES"

Copy Templates

Copy template files from this skill's defaults/templates/ directory to the vault's TEMPLATES/ folder:

cp "skills/obsidian-vault-setup/defaults/templates/Daily Note Template.md" \
   "/TEMPLATES/Daily Note Template.md"

cp "skills/obsidian-vault-setup/defaults/templates/Meeting Template.md" \
   "/TEMPLATES/Meeting Template.md"

cp "skills/obsidian-vault-setup/defaults/templates/People Template.md" \
   "/TEMPLATES/People Template.md"

Copy CLAUDE.md Example

cp "skills/obsidian-vault-setup/defaults/CLAUDE.md.example" \
   "/CLAUDE.md"

6. Verify Creation

After creating items, re-run the status check to confirm all items now exist. Display final status:

✓ All required conventions are now in place!

Your vault is ready for:
- /daily-planner skill
- Meeting note automation
- People directory management

Configuration Files to Check

Daily Notes Configuration

Read .obsidian/daily-notes.json to get the configured folder:

{
  "folder": "DAILY_NOTES",
  "format": "YYYY/MM-MMMM/YYYY-MM-DD dddd",
  "template": "TEMPLATES/Daily Note Template"
}

If this file doesn't exist, check if DAILY_NOTES/ folder exists as fallback.

Templates Configuration

Read .obsidian/templates.json to get the configured folder:

{
  "folder": "TEMPLATES"
}

If this file doesn't exist, check if TEMPLATES/ folder exists as fallback.

Default Conventions

The skill installs these conventions:

1. ALL-CAPS folder names: PEOPLE/, MEETINGS/, DAILY_NOTES/, TEMPLATES/
2. Templater-compatible templates: Use `` syntax
3. YAML frontmatter: All notes use frontmatter with quoted wikilinks
4. Date-based organization: Meetings and daily notes organized by YYYY/MM-Month/
5. Dataview queries: Templates include dataview queries for related notes

Idempotency

Running this skill multiple times is safe:

• Existing folders are not modified
• Existing templates are not overwritten
• Only missing items are created
• User confirmation required before any changes

Usage Example

User: /obsidian-vault-setup

Claude:
Checking your Obsidian vault conventions...

Vault: /Users/jlaska/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents/Obsidian Vault

Status:
✓ PEOPLE/ folder
✓ MEETINGS/ folder
✗ DAILY_NOTES/ folder (missing)
✓ TEMPLATES/ folder
✗ TEMPLATES/Daily Note Template.md (missing)
✗ TEMPLATES/Meeting Template.md (missing)
✗ TEMPLATES/People Template.md (missing)
✓ CLAUDE.md

The following items are missing:
- DAILY_NOTES/ folder
- TEMPLATES/Daily Note Template.md
- TEMPLATES/Meeting Template.md
- TEMPLATES/People Template.md

Would you like to create these items?

User: yes

Claude:
Creating missing items...
✓ Created DAILY_NOTES/ folder
✓ Created TEMPLATES/Daily Note Template.md
✓ Created TEMPLATES/Meeting Template.md
✓ Created TEMPLATES/People Template.md

All conventions are now in place! Your vault is ready for:
- /daily-planner skill
- Meeting note automation
- People directory management

Related Skills

• obsidian-vault-discovery: Used to discover vault configuration
• daily-planner: Requires these conventions to be in place

Source & license

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

• Author: jlaska
• Source: jlaska/obsidian-claude-plugins
• License: MIT

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