Automate Obsidian Notes with obsidian-skills for Claude & Codex

Introducing obsidian‑skills

If you’re deep into the Obsidian ecosystem and also love Claude or Codex, you’ll want to keep all your tools talking to each other. The GitHub project

kepano/obsidian-skills

provides exactly that—an open‑source collection of Agent Skills built for Obsidian. These skills are built on the

• Agent Skills specification (the same format used by Claude Code and Codex CLI)
• Obsidian‑compatible file types (Markdown, Obsidian‑Base, JSON‑Canvas)
• MIT licensing for free, easy reuse.

In this guide we’ll walk through why you should adopt the project, how to install it, and a hands‑on example of making a note with Claude.

What problem does obsidian‑skills solve?

1. Automation – Instead of manually opening a new .md file, you send a prompt to Claude/Codex and the note is generated instantly.
2. Consistency – All agents writing into Obsidian use the same skill schema so the format, code blocks, and metadata stay uniform.
3. Cross‑platform – Whether you’re on Windows, macOS, Linux, or using a cloud‑based vault, the same skill set works.

Without a skills plugin you’d have to: - Edit a file by hand - Write custom scripts outside Obsidian - Manage file paths manually in each agent

With obsidian‑skills the heavy lifting is handled for you.

Installation Paths

1. Obsidian Plugin Marketplace (recommended)

1. In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins → Browse.
2. Search for obsidian‑skills.
3. Click Install then Enable.

This installs the skills under /.obsidian/plugins/obsidian-skills and automatically registers them for use by Claude and Codex.

2. Manual (for codex cli or local Claude setups)

• Claude Code – Copy the entire skills/ folder into the root of your vault or any folder you’ve mapped to /.claude.
• Codex CLI – Drop the skills/ folder into your ~/.codex/skills directory.

After placing the folder, restart your agent to load the new skills.

Using the Skills

Once installed, the skills expose a set of verbs that the agent can call. Here’s an example prompt sent to Claude:

Prompt

Use the skill `obsidian-create-note` to create a new note titled "Obsidian‑Skills Demo" with the content:
- Introduction
- How to install
- Quick usage

Result – a new file Obsidian‑Skills Demo.md appears in your vault, formatted with Obsidian‑Markdown rules.

Why is this useful? It lets you draft meeting minutes, research notes, or to‑do lists by voice or text, and the file is instantly ready for the Obsidian graph, backlinks, and community plugins.

Common Commands

Each skill follows the Agent Skills spec, so you can also write your own skill wrappers if you need very custom behaviour.

Extending the Skills

Because the repo is open‑source, you can fork and add new actions:

1. Create a new skill folder inside skills/.
2. Add a manifest.json with name, description, and input format.
3. Add a handler.py (Python) or handler.js (JavaScript) that communicates with Obsidian’s local file system.
4. Commit and push. Your new skill will be accessible to any agent that supports the spec.

Community contributions are welcome—submit a pull request or raise an issue if you find bugs or want new features.

Getting Started Checklist

• Install from the Obsidian marketplace or copy the folder to /.claude.
• Write a first prompt (see example above).
• Verify the note appears and is correctly formatted.
• Explore the skill list with obsidian-list-notes.
• Share a gist or write a tutorial if you’re excited.

Bottom Line

If you already work with Claude, Codex, or any Agent Skills‑compatible agent, obsidian‑skills is the bridge that lets you treat your notes as first‑class data objects. With just a few clicks you unlock:

• Zero‑touch note creation
• Consistent Markdown formatting
• Quick edits from voice or chat
• Integration with Obsidian’s powerful graph and community ecosystem

Head over to the GitHub page, star the repo, open a PR, or just start typing in the chat. Happy note‑making!