Obsidian Templater

Templater template generation

Templater is an Obsidian plugin for dynamic note templates. Commands embedded in a template file run when the template is applied to a note, outputting results inline.

Core template syntax

| Tag | Behavior | | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | ` | Outputs the result of the expression | | | Executes JS code; no output by default | | | Re-evaluated in preview mode (deprecated, avoid) | | | Trims one newline before/after the tag | | ` | Trims all whitespace before/after the tag |

To output from a ` execution block, append to the special tR` string:

To discard everything generated up to a point (e.g., strip template-only frontmatter):

All tp.* functions are available in both tag types.

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Built-in Templater modules

tp.date

tp.date.now(format?, offset?, reference?, reference_format?)

Returns a formatted date string. format uses moment.js tokens ("YYYY-MM-DD" is the default). offset is a number of days (7, -1) or a duration string ("P1W"). reference is a date string parsed with reference_format.

tp.date.tomorrow(format?)        // today + 1 day
tp.date.yesterday(format?)       // today - 1 day
tp.date.weekday(format, weekday, reference?, reference_format?)
                                 // weekday: 0=Sun … 6=Sat
moment                           // full moment.js object, accessible globally

Common format strings: "YYYY-MM-DD", "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm", "dddd Do MMMM YYYY", "HH:mm", "ddd", "MMM D".

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tp.file

Dynamic properties (not function calls — no parentheses):

tp.file.title      // basename without extension
tp.file.content    // full text of the file
tp.file.tags       // string[] of all tags on the file

Functions:

tp.file.creation_date(format?)                 // default "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm"
tp.file.last_modified_date(format?)            // default "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm"
tp.file.folder(absolute?)                      // folder name; full path if absolute=true
tp.file.path(relative?)                        // absolute path; vault-relative if relative=true
tp.file.cursor(order?)                         // place cursor here after template runs; order = tab index
tp.file.cursor_append(content)                 // insert content at the current cursor
tp.file.selection()                            // currently selected text in the editor
tp.file.exists(filepath)                       // async → boolean
tp.file.find_tfile(filename)                   // → TFile | null (for use with create_new / include)
tp.file.include("[[NoteLink]]")                // async; embeds another note's content (also processed)
tp.file.create_new(template, filename, open_new?, folder?)  // async; create note from template
tp.file.move(path, file?)                      // async; move file (path has no extension)
tp.file.rename(new_title)                      // async; rename the current file

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tp.system

All are async — use await inside `` blocks:

await tp.system.clipboard()
await tp.system.prompt(prompt_text, default_value?, throw_on_cancel?, multi_line?)
await tp.system.suggester(text_items, items, throw_on_cancel?, placeholder?, limit?)
await tp.system.multi_suggester(text_items, items, throw_on_cancel?, title?, limit?)

suggester takes two parallel arrays: display labels and return values. They can be the same array.

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tp.frontmatter

Direct property access — not a function:

Returns undefined if the property doesn't exist.

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tp.web

All are async:

await tp.web.daily_quote()                        // Obsidian callout block with a random quote
await tp.web.random_picture(size, query?, include_size?)
    // size: "800" or "800x600"; returns markdown image syntax
await tp.web.request(url, path?)
    // HTTP GET returning JSON; path is dot-notation like "data.title"

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tp.config

Read-only context about the current run:

tp.config.template_file    // TFile of the template being applied
tp.config.target_file      // TFile of the note being created/modified
tp.config.active_file      // TFile of the currently active file
tp.config.run_mode         // 0=CreateNewFromTemplate 1=AppendActiveFile 2=OverwriteFile
                           // 3=OverwriteActiveFile 4=DynamicProcessor

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App and Obsidian API modules

tp.app is the Obsidian App object. tp.obsidian exposes the Obsidian API module. Used in advanced JS execution blocks for vault traversal, metadata cache queries, etc.

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tp.hooks

tp.hooks.on_all_templates_executed(callback)

Callback fires after all nested templates (e.g., from tp.file.create_new) have finished.

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User-defined functions (tp.user)

Scripts placed in the folder configured in Templater settings are callable as tp.user.(args...). Scripts use CommonJS format:

// Scripts/slugify.js
module.exports = function (text) {
  return text.toLowerCase().replace(/\s+/g, "-");
};

Scripts can also export an object of named functions. Pass tp as an argument to access Templater context inside a script. Note: user functions are unavailable on mobile.

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Whitespace control in templates

Control flow tags (`, ) leave blank lines by default. Use -%>` to trim the newline that follows a tag:

**Project:** 

General note

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Common implementation patterns

Daily note

---
date: 
---

]] | [[]] >>

# 

Prompted metadata + file rename

---
title: 
status: 
created: 
---

# 

Strip template-file frontmatter from output

---
type: template
description: This is a person template.
---

---
type: person
created: 
---

# 

Conditional content by folder

**Project:** 

**Topic:**

For subfolder matching: tp.file.folder(true).startsWith("Work/") — folder(true) returns the full vault-relative path.

Include another note

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Date formatting with Moment.js

See [momentjs.md](references/momentjs.md) for a comprehensive formatting cheatsheet and JS manipulation reference. Use this when defining format strings for tp.date.now() or when manipulating dates inside ` blocks using the moment` global.

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Optional vault integration via obsidian-clis

If the obsidian-clis skill is available and Obsidian is running, vault context can improve output:

obsidian properties counts          # what frontmatter properties exist across the vault
obsidian tags counts sort=count     # most-used tags
obsidian read file="Daily Note"     # read an existing template for style reference

Ask the user before running any CLI commands.

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Official documentation links

Rendered docs (human-readable): https://silentvoid13.github.io/Templater/

LLM-safe Templater summary: For a preprocessed, audit-friendly summary of the official Templater documentation, see https://context7.com/silentvoid13/templater/llms.txt.

Source & license

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

• Author: nweii
• Source: nweii/agent-stuff
• License: MIT

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