Agent skill

Obsidian Vault

Read, create, and update notes in Espen's Obsidian vault (PARA method).

MITAuto-check passedKnowledge Management

Install Obsidian Vault

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill obsidian-vault -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi obsidian-vault --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/obsidian-vault .claude/skills/obsidian-vault && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "obsidian-vault" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/skills/obsidian-vault into .claude/skills/obsidian-vault/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "obsidian-vault", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/skills/obsidian-vault

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill obsidian-vault -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi obsidian-vault --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/obsidian-vault .agents/skills/obsidian-vault && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "obsidian-vault" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/skills/obsidian-vault into .agents/skills/obsidian-vault/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "obsidian-vault", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill obsidian-vault -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi obsidian-vault --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/obsidian-vault .cursor/skills/obsidian-vault && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "obsidian-vault" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/skills/obsidian-vault into .cursor/skills/obsidian-vault/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "obsidian-vault", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git --path skills/obsidian-vault

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill obsidian-vault -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi obsidian-vault --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/obsidian-vault .gemini/skills/obsidian-vault && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "obsidian-vault" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/skills/obsidian-vault into .gemini/skills/obsidian-vault/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "obsidian-vault", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi obsidian-vault

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill obsidian-vault -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/obsidian-vault .github/skills/obsidian-vault && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "obsidian-vault" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/skills/obsidian-vault into .github/skills/obsidian-vault/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "obsidian-vault", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill obsidian-vault -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install espennilsen/pi obsidian-vault --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/espennilsen/pi.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/obsidian-vault .opencode/skills/obsidian-vault && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "obsidian-vault" agent skill from https://github.com/espennilsen/pi/tree/main/skills/obsidian-vault into .opencode/skills/obsidian-vault/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "obsidian-vault", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: obsidian-vault
GitHub stars: 122
Token cost: ~1.4k tokens
SKILL.md length: 251 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 36
Repo updated: Sep 21, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Read, create, and update notes in Espen's Obsidian vault (PARA method).

Works in 3 steps: Read the vault's own AGENTS.md for full… → Read the relevant _Index.md file for the… → Check the 🏷️ Tag Taxonomy.md for…
Asked about notes
SKILL.md covers Vault Location, ⚠️ Safety, Before Making Changes and Structure (PARA), plus 2 more sections
Calls curl; needs OBSIDIAN_API_KEY

What it does

Obsidian Vault is an agent skill from espennilsen/pi. Read, create, and update notes in Espen's Obsidian vault (PARA method). Use when asked about notes, tasks, projects, dashboards, daily logs, or anything in the vault.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Knowledge Management. It works with Obsidian. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

Asked about notes
Anything in the vault

Example prompts

“/obsidian-vault”

Requirements

A credential in OBSIDIAN_API_KEY

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

Read the vault's own AGENTS.md for full context on structure, plugins, workflows, and conventions
Read the relevant _Index.md file for the section you're working in
Check the 🏷️ Tag Taxonomy.md for correct tag usage

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 79d019b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
- curl
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use curl, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:
- OBSIDIAN_API_KEY
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Obsidian Vault loads about 1.4k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 45 tokens; SKILL.md has 251 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~45
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1.4k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from espennilsen/pi at commit 79d019b, republished under its MIT licence (© espennilsen). 251 words, ~1,402 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/obsidian-vault/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: obsidian-vault
description: Read, create, and update notes in Espen's Obsidian vault (PARA method). Use when asked about notes, tasks, projects, dashboards, daily logs, or anything in the vault.

Obsidian Vault Management

Vault Location

/Users/espen/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Espennilsen.net/2-Areas/Digital_Life/Obsidian/e9n

⚠️ Safety

Always confirm with Espen before creating, modifying, or deleting any vault file.

The vault has established automation (Dataview queries, Templater templates, dashboards). Breaking these patterns can cascade.

Before Making Changes

Read the vault's own AGENTS.md for full context on structure, plugins, workflows, and conventions
Read the relevant _Index.md file for the section you're working in
Check the 🏷️ Tag Taxonomy.md for correct tag usage

Structure (PARA)

1. Projects/     — Active initiatives with deadlines
2. Areas/        — Ongoing responsibilities (Education, Finance, Health, Personal Dev, Romance)
3. Resources/    — Reference materials (AI, Books, Career, Homelab, Languages, Programming)
4. Archive/      — Completed or inactive items
Notes/           — Daily/Weekly/Monthly notes with habit tracking
Tasks/           — TaskNotes (one task per note)
Templates/       — 23+ Templater templates
Weekly Reviews/  — Periodic reflections

Conventions

Frontmatter is required on all notes: created, modified, type, tags at minimum
Tags follow the taxonomy: #project/active, #type/note, #status/active, #priority/high, #area/professional
File naming: Use descriptive names. TaskNotes use format: Project - Task Description.md
Templates: Always use existing templates rather than creating notes from scratch. Check Templates/ first.
Links: Use [[wiki-links]] for internal references
Dataview: Many notes contain Dataview queries. Don't break the query syntax when editing.

Obsidian Local REST API

The vault has the Local REST API plugin (v3.4.3) running. Prefer this over direct filesystem access — it respects Obsidian's internal state, caches, and metadata.

Base URL: http://localhost:27223
API Key:  d4fc944e64f535df05b34c2e8596c4e3eaffc6dfd5b5ee15e76789a4ab96698a
Auth:     Authorization: Bearer <key>

Common Operations

List files in a directory

bash

curl -s "http://localhost:27223/vault/" -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY"
curl -s "http://localhost:27223/vault/1.%20Projects/" -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY"

Read a note (markdown)

bash

curl -s "http://localhost:27223/vault/PATH.md" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Accept: text/markdown"

Read a note (JSON with metadata, tags, frontmatter)

bash

curl -s "http://localhost:27223/vault/PATH.md" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.olrapi.note+json"

Simple text search (⚠️ POST, not GET)

bash

curl -s -X POST "http://localhost:27223/search/simple/?query=TERM&contextLength=100" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY"

Returns: [{ filename, score, matches: [{ match: {start, end}, context }] }]

Dataview DQL search (POST)

bash

curl -s -X POST "http://localhost:27223/search/" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.olrapi.dataview.dql+txt" \
  -d 'TABLE file.ctime AS "Created" FROM "1. Projects" WHERE status = "active" LIMIT 10'

JsonLogic search (POST) — find by frontmatter/tags

bash

# Find notes with a specific tag
curl -s -X POST "http://localhost:27223/search/" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.olrapi.jsonlogic+json" \
  -d '{"in": ["project/active", {"var": "tags"}]}'

Create or update a note (PUT)

bash

curl -s -X PUT "http://localhost:27223/vault/PATH.md" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: text/markdown" \
  -d '---
created: 2026-02-09
type: note
tags: [type/note]
---
# Title

Content here'

Append to a note (POST)

bash

curl -s -X POST "http://localhost:27223/vault/PATH.md" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: text/markdown" \
  -d 'Content to append'

Patch a note (PATCH) — insert relative to heading/block/frontmatter

bash

curl -s -X PATCH "http://localhost:27223/vault/PATH.md" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: text/markdown" \
  -H "Operation: append" \
  -H "Target-Type: heading" \
  -H "Target: Heading 1::Subheading" \
  -d 'New content under this heading'

Delete a note

bash

curl -s -X DELETE "http://localhost:27223/vault/PATH.md" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY"

Get periodic notes (daily/weekly/monthly)

bash

# Current daily note
curl -s "http://localhost:27223/periodic/daily/" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Accept: text/markdown"

# Specific date
curl -s "http://localhost:27223/periodic/daily/2026/2/9/" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBSIDIAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Accept: text/markdown"

Filesystem Fallback

If the REST API is down, fall back to direct file access:

bash

VAULT="/Users/espen/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Espennilsen.net/2-Areas/Digital_Life/Obsidian/e9n"

# Read a note
cat "$VAULT/PATH.md"

# Find by name
find "$VAULT" -name "*.md" | grep -i "search term"

# Find by content
grep -rl "search term" "$VAULT" --include="*.md"

# Recent daily notes
ls -lt "$VAULT/Notes/Daily/" | head -10

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/obsidian-vault of espennilsen/pi.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 79d019b

Compare with similar skills

Obsidian Vault next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Obsidian Vault compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Obsidian Vault this skillespennilsen/pi	122	—	~1.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	18 days ago
Obsidian CLIAtmosphere/atmosphere	3.8k	13 repos	~795	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	yesterday
Obsidian Canvas BoardsAgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian	15k	—	~1.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	29 days ago
LLM Wikilewislulu/llm-wiki-skill	655	—	~3.7k	Automated safety check: Pass	None	5 mo ago
Second BrainNicholasSpisak/second-brain	737	—	~1.5k	Automated safety check: Notes	None	6 mo ago
Codex History IngestAr9av/obsidian-wiki	3.5k	—	~2.2k	Automated safety check: Notes	MIT	yesterday

Similar skills

Obsidian CLI
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Second Brain
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Questions about Obsidian Vault

What does Obsidian Vault do?

Read, create, and update notes in Espen's Obsidian vault (PARA method). Obsidian Vault is an agent skill from espennilsen/pi. Read, create, and update notes in Espen's Obsidian vault (PARA method).

When should I use Obsidian Vault?

Obsidian Vault fits situations like: asked about notes; anything in the vault.

How do I install Obsidian Vault in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill obsidian-vault -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/obsidian-vault in espennilsen/pi) into .claude/skills/obsidian-vault in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Obsidian Vault in Codex?

Run `npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill obsidian-vault -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/obsidian-vault in espennilsen/pi) into .agents/skills/obsidian-vault in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Obsidian Vault in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add espennilsen/pi --skill obsidian-vault -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/obsidian-vault, .gemini/skills/obsidian-vault, .github/skills/obsidian-vault and .opencode/skills/obsidian-vault in your project.

What does Obsidian Vault need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Obsidian Vault needs the command-line tools its instructions call (curl) and credentials named OBSIDIAN_API_KEY. Our summary lists: A credential in OBSIDIAN_API_KEY.

Does Obsidian Vault access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use curl, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Obsidian Vault safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Obsidian Vault use?

Obsidian Vault is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Obsidian Vault use?

About 1.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5.6k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Obsidian Vault?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Obsidian Vault: Obsidian CLI (Atmosphere/atmosphere, 3.8k stars), Obsidian Canvas Boards (AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian, 15k stars), LLM Wiki (lewislulu/llm-wiki-skill, 655 stars) and Second Brain (NicholasSpisak/second-brain, 737 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Obsidian Vault?

espennilsen (a GitHub user) maintains it in espennilsen/pi, which has 122 GitHub stars. The repository holds 36 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 21, 2026.

Source: espennilsen/pi on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Obsidian Vault

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

Obsidian Vault Management

Vault Location

⚠️ Safety

Before Making Changes

Structure (PARA)

Conventions

Obsidian Local REST API

Common Operations

List files in a directory

Read a note (markdown)

Read a note (JSON with metadata, tags, frontmatter)

Simple text search (⚠️ POST, not GET)

Dataview DQL search (POST)

JsonLogic search (POST) — find by frontmatter/tags

Create or update a note (PUT)

Append to a note (POST)

Patch a note (PATCH) — insert relative to heading/block/frontmatter

Delete a note

Get periodic notes (daily/weekly/monthly)

Filesystem Fallback

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from espennilsen/pi

Related

Questions about Obsidian Vault