creating-obsidian-templates

Create Obsidian templates for the Second Brain vault. Use when asked to "create a template", "make a template for", "add an Obsidian template", or "template for X".

SKILL.md

GitHub

Creating Obsidian Templates

Create templates for the Second Brain Obsidian vault that work with the core Templates plugin.

Template Location

All templates go in: content/_obsidian-templates/

This directory is excluded from Nuxt Content (configured in content.config.ts).

Template Format

Templates use Obsidian's template syntax:

  • {{date}} - Current date (YYYY-MM-DD)
  • {{date:format}} - Custom format (e.g., {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}})
  • {{time}} - Current time
  • {{title}} - Note title

Workflow

  1. Understand the use case: Ask what the template is for if unclear
  2. Check existing templates: ls content/_obsidian-templates/
  3. Research structure (if external format): Fetch examples from the web
  4. Create template: Write to content/_obsidian-templates/{name}.md
  5. Verify: Confirm template is valid markdown

Template Structure

---
title: "Template Name - {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}"
draft: true
---

## Section 1

<!-- Guidance comment -->

## Section 2

<!-- Guidance comment -->

Existing Templates

Template Purpose
newsletter.md Weekly newsletter draft for beehiiv

User Setup

Remind user to configure Obsidian:

  1. Settings → Core plugins → Enable Templates
  2. Template folder: _obsidian-templates
  3. Shortcut: Cmd/Ctrl + T to insert