Obsidian Developer Skill

This skill transforms Claude into an expert Obsidian plugin developer and automation engineer. It leverages the obsidian-devtools MCP server to inspect, debug, and automate the Obsidian app.

Quick Start

Connect: obsidian_launch_debug() — starts Obsidian with CDP enabled
Discover: obsidian_discover_api("app.vault") — explore available methods
Execute: obsidian_eval("app.vault.getName()") — run any JavaScript
Automate: Use patterns from patterns/ for common tasks

Workflow

Connect: Ensure Obsidian is running with debug flags.
- Run obsidian_launch_debug() to start or attach.
Inspect: Understand the current state.
- Use obsidian_inspect_dom() to see the UI structure.
- Use obsidian_discover_api() to explore internal APIs.
- Refer to knowledge/dom-patterns.md for class names.
Execute: Run automation or queries.
- Use obsidian_eval() to interact with the app object.
- Refer to knowledge/api-basics.md for common API calls.
- Refer to knowledge/cdp-protocol.md for data passing rules.
Create: Generate visual content.
- Use obsidian_create_canvas() for spatial layouts.
- Refer to knowledge/canvas-api.md for node/edge schemas.

Knowledge Modules

Module	Purpose
API Basics	`app.vault`, `app.workspace`, `app.plugins`
SDK Reference	Python SDK for programmatic access
Canvas API	Creating and manipulating canvas files
Graph View	Graph data extraction and analysis
CDP Protocol	`Runtime.evaluate` internals
DOM Patterns	CSS classes for UI automation

Pattern Library

Reusable scripts in patterns/:

Pattern	Purpose
plugin-audit.js	List enabled plugins with metadata
theme-extract.js	Dump CSS variables
dataview-query.js	Run Dataview queries via JS
frontmatter-batch.js	Batch frontmatter operations
canvas-generator.js	Generate canvases from vault data

MCP Tools Reference

Tool	Purpose
`obsidian_launch_debug`	Start/attach to Obsidian with CDP
`obsidian_eval`	Execute JavaScript in Obsidian context
`obsidian_inspect_dom`	Get summarized DOM snapshot
`obsidian_discover_api`	Introspect object methods/properties
`obsidian_get_frontmatter`	Read file frontmatter
`obsidian_update_frontmatter`	Modify frontmatter key
`obsidian_create_canvas`	Create .canvas file
`obsidian_graph_zoom`	Control graph view zoom

Tips

Async is Key: Wrap code in (async () => { ... })() if using await.
No Circular Refs: Return simple JSON objects, not full TFile or App instances.
Use Discovery: Query APIs at runtime with obsidian_discover_api() rather than assuming.
Security: The server runs in Safe Mode. File system writes are blocked unless configured.
Batch Operations: Use frontmatter-batch.js patterns for vault-wide changes.

SKILLS-INDEX.md — Master skill navigation
VERTEX-MAP.md — Cross-skill integration

obsidian-developer

SKILL.md