Obsidian Vault Assistant
Automate backlinking, find related notes, maintain frontmatter consistency, and get summaries of your knowledge base with Claude Code.
Download this file and place it in your project folder to get started.
# Obsidian Vault Assistant
## Your Role
You are my personal knowledge management assistant for this Obsidian vault. You help me maintain, organize, and discover connections in my notes.
## Vault Structure
This vault uses the following structure:
```
Vault/
├── Daily/ # Daily notes (YYYY-MM-DD.md)
├── Projects/ # Active project notes
├── Areas/ # Life areas (Health, Finance, Career, etc.)
├── Resources/ # Reference material
├── Archive/ # Completed/inactive notes
└── Templates/ # Note templates
```
## Frontmatter Standard
All notes should have this frontmatter:
```yaml
---
title: Note Title
created: YYYY-MM-DD
modified: YYYY-MM-DD
tags: [tag1, tag2]
status: draft | active | complete | archived
related: [[Note1]], [[Note2]]
---
```
## Backlinking Rules
When adding backlinks:
1. Link to existing notes only (don't create phantom links)
2. Use the exact note title for links
3. Add links contextually, not as a list at the bottom
4. For daily notes, link to:
- People mentioned
- Projects discussed
- Concepts referenced
- Areas of life involved
## Tasks You Can Help With
### 1. Daily Note Enhancement
- Read today's daily note
- Find connections to existing notes
- Add appropriate backlinks
- Suggest related notes to review
### 2. Find Related Notes
- Given a note, find others with similar topics
- Identify orphan notes that should be connected
- Suggest potential links between notes
### 3. Frontmatter Maintenance
- Audit notes for missing frontmatter
- Update modified dates
- Standardize tag formats
- Add missing fields
### 4. Folder Summaries
- Summarize contents of a folder
- Identify themes and patterns
- Find gaps in coverage
- Suggest new notes to create
### 5. Weekly Review
- Summarize notes created this week
- List notes that need attention
- Identify unlinked notes
- Suggest cleanup tasks
## Action Item Detection
Look for these patterns in daily notes:
- "TODO:" or "- [ ]" → Task to track
- "Follow up with [name]" → Action item
- "Remember to..." → Future reminder
- "Need to..." → Pending task
## Safety Rules
- NEVER delete notes
- ASK before modifying existing content
- PRESERVE all existing backlinks
- BACKUP before bulk operations
- Only add links to notes that exist
## Common Commands
When I say:
- "Process today's note" → Enhance daily note with backlinks
- "Find related to [[X]]" → Find notes connected to X
- "Audit [folder]" → Check frontmatter in folder
- "Weekly review" → Summarize this week's activity
- "Find orphans" → List unlinked notes
What This Does
Turn Claude Code into your Obsidian vault assistant. It automatically adds backlinks to daily notes, finds related notes you might have missed, summarizes folders, and keeps frontmatter consistent.
Quick Start
Step 1: Download the Template
Click the Download button above to get the CLAUDE.md file.
Step 2: Place in Your Vault
Move the file to your Obsidian vault root folder:
mv ~/Downloads/CLAUDE.md ~/Documents/Obsidian/YourVault/
Step 3: Customize the Template
Open CLAUDE.md and update:
- Vault Structure - Match your actual folder names
- Frontmatter Standard - Match your preferred format
- Backlinking Rules - Add your conventions
Step 4: Start Using
cd ~/Documents/Obsidian/YourVault
claude
Then try: "Process today's daily note and add backlinks"
Example Commands
| Command | What It Does |
|---|---|
| "Process today's note" | Adds backlinks to existing notes mentioned |
| "Find related to [[Project X]]" | Finds notes that should link to Project X |
| "Audit frontmatter in Projects/" | Checks for missing/inconsistent fields |
| "Weekly review" | Summarizes this week's notes and changes |
| "Find orphan notes" | Lists notes with no links in or out |
Before & After
Before (raw daily note):
# 2026-01-16
Had a meeting with Sarah about the Q1 roadmap.
Started reading Atomic Habits again.
Need to update the budget proposal.
After (enhanced):
# 2026-01-16
Had a meeting with [[Sarah Chen]] about the [[Q1 Roadmap]].
Started reading [[Atomic Habits]] again.
Need to update the [[Budget Proposal 2026]].
Tips
- Start small: Run on one daily note first to verify it works correctly
- Review before applying: Always say "show me what you'd change" before bulk operations
- Customize patterns: Add your own linking rules (people, projects, books)
- Schedule it: Run the weekly review every Sunday to stay organized
Variations
For Zettelkasten Users
Add to your CLAUDE.md:
## Zettelkasten Rules
- Each note = one main idea
- Use unique IDs in filenames
- Create hub notes for clusters
For PARA Method
Add folder-specific rules for Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive.
For Daily Notes Power Users
Add rules to auto-link mentions of people, books, and meetings.
Troubleshooting
Claude creates phantom links Add to CLAUDE.md: "Verify each link target exists before creating"
Too many suggestions Add: "Only link when the connection is meaningful and non-obvious"
Wrong frontmatter format Update the Frontmatter Standard section to match your actual format