Obsidian Vault Management

This skill teaches goose how to effectively manage the Obsidian vault located at ~/dev/personal/obsidian/trobrock.

Vault Structure

~/dev/personal/obsidian/trobrock/
├── Personal Home.md      # Dashboard with goals and quick links
├── Projects/             # Side projects and business ideas
├── Travel/               # Trip planning and travel notes
├── Notes.md              # Scratch pad for quick notes and links
├── Quotes.md             # Inspirational quotes
├── Stuff I want.md       # Wishlist items
└── .obsidian/            # Obsidian config (don't modify)

File Conventions

Wiki Links

Always use Obsidian wiki-link syntax for internal links:

• [[Page Name]] - Link to a page
• [[Page Name|Display Text]] - Link with custom display text
• [[Page Name#Heading]] - Link to a specific section

Frontmatter

Use YAML frontmatter at the top of notes for metadata. Always use --- delimiters.

Creating Notes by Type

Projects (in Projects/ folder)

---
status: Idea | Active | Paused | Discontinued
tech_stack:
  - Rails
  - Ruby
  - Postgres
hosting:
  - Digitalocean
url: ""
---

# Project Name

Description and notes about the project.

Status values:

• Idea - Just a concept, not started
• Active - Currently being worked on
• Paused - On hold but may resume
• Discontinued - No longer being worked on

Travel Plans (in Travel/ folder)

---
status: Planning | Booked | Done
purpose: Personal | Business
date_start: YYYY-MM-DD
date_end: YYYY-MM-DD
url: ""
---

# Trip Name

## Trip Overview
Brief description of the trip.

## To Do
- [ ] Task 1
- [ ] Task 2

## Flights
Flight details here.

## Accommodations
Hotel/lodging info.

## Itinerary
Day-by-day plans.

Quick Notes (add to Notes.md)

For quick thoughts or links, append to Notes.md under the appropriate section:

• "Jot down some text" - Freeform notes and ideas
• "Make a to-do list" - Tasks
• "Create sub-pages" - Links to new detailed pages
• "Embed links" - External resources and bookmarks

Standalone Pages

For new top-level notes, create in the root ~/dev/personal/obsidian/trobrock/ directory with a descriptive name.

Editing Guidelines

1. Preserve frontmatter - When editing, always keep the YAML frontmatter intact
2. Use Markdown - Standard Markdown with Obsidian extensions (wiki links, callouts)
3. Checkboxes - Use - [ ] for incomplete and - [x] for complete tasks
4. Tables - Use Markdown tables for structured data
5. Emoji - Emoji are welcomed for visual organization (see Personal Home.md)

Common Tasks

Update Personal Home Dashboard

The Personal Home.md file contains yearly goals and quick links. Update goals and progress here.

Add a New Project Idea

1. Create a new file in Projects/ with the project name
2. Use the Project frontmatter template
3. Set status to Idea

Plan a New Trip

1. Create a new file in Travel/ with the trip name
2. Use the Travel frontmatter template
3. Set status to Planning
4. Fill in dates, to-dos, and itinerary as known

Add a Quick Bookmark/Link

1. Open Notes.md
2. Add under "Embed links" section: - [[Link Title]]
3. Create the linked page with the URL and notes

Verification

After creating or editing notes:

• Frontmatter is valid YAML (no syntax errors)
• Wiki links use double brackets [[]]
• Dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format
• Files are in the correct folder (Projects/, Travel/, or root)