Obsidian Flavored Markdown Skill

This skill enables Claude Code to create and edit valid Obsidian Flavored Markdown, including all Obsidian-specific syntax extensions.

Overview

Obsidian uses a combination of Markdown flavors:

• CommonMark
• GitHub Flavored Markdown
• LaTeX for math
• Obsidian-specific extensions (wikilinks, callouts, embeds, etc.)

Basic Formatting

Paragraphs and Line Breaks

markdown
This is a paragraph.

This is another paragraph (blank line between creates separate paragraphs).

For a line break within a paragraph, add two spaces at the end  
or use Shift+Enter.

Headings

markdown
# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3
#### Heading 4
##### Heading 5
###### Heading 6

Text Formatting

| Style | Syntax | Example | Output | |-------|--------|---------|--------| | Bold | **text** or __text__ | **Bold** | Bold | | Italic | *text* or _text_ | *Italic* | Italic | | Bold + Italic | ***text*** | ***Both*** | Both | | Strikethrough | ~~text~~ | ~~Striked~~ | ~~Striked~~ | | Highlight | ==text== | ==Highlighted== | ==Highlighted== | | Inline code | code | code | code |

Escaping Formatting

Use backslash to escape special characters:

markdown
\*This won't be italic\*
\#This won't be a heading
1\. This won't be a list item

Common characters to escape: \*, \_, \#, \ , \|, \~

Internal Links (Wikilinks)

Basic Links

markdown
[[Note Name]]
[[Note Name.md]]
[[Note Name|Display Text]]

Link to Headings

markdown
[[Note Name#Heading]]
[[Note Name#Heading|Custom Text]]
[[#Heading in same note]]
[[##Search all headings in vault]]

Link to Blocks

markdown
[[Note Name#^block-id]]
[[Note Name#^block-id|Custom Text]]

Define a block ID by adding ^block-id at the end of a paragraph:

markdown
This is a paragraph that can be linked to. ^my-block-id

For lists and quotes, add the block ID on a separate line:

markdown
> This is a quote
> With multiple lines

^quote-id

Search Links

markdown
[[##heading]]     Search for headings containing "heading"
[[^^block]]       Search for blocks containing "block"

Markdown-Style Links

markdown
[Display Text](Note%20Name.md)
[Display Text](Note%20Name.md#Heading)
[Display Text](https://example.com)
[Note](obsidian://open?vault=VaultName&file=Note.md)

Note: Spaces must be URL-encoded as %20 in Markdown links.

Embeds

Embed Notes

markdown
![[Note Name]]
![[Note Name#Heading]]
![[Note Name#^block-id]]

Embed Images

markdown
![[image.png]]
![[image.png|640x480]]    Width x Height
![[image.png|300]]        Width only (maintains aspect ratio)

External Images

markdown
![Alt text](https://example.com/image.png)
![Alt text|300](https://example.com/image.png)

Embed Audio

markdown
![[audio.mp3]]
![[audio.ogg]]

Embed PDF

markdown
![[document.pdf]]
![[document.pdf#page=3]]
![[document.pdf#height=400]]

Embed Lists

markdown
![[Note#^list-id]]

Where the list has been defined with a block ID:

markdown
- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 3

^list-id

Embed Search Results

`markdown

tag:#project status:done

Callouts

Basic Callout

markdown
> [!note]
> This is a note callout.

> [!info] Custom Title
> This callout has a custom title.

> [!tip] Title Only

Foldable Callouts

markdown
> [!faq]- Collapsed by default
> This content is hidden until expanded.

> [!faq]+ Expanded by default
> This content is visible but can be collapsed.

Nested Callouts

markdown
> [!question] Outer callout
> > [!note] Inner callout
> > Nested content

Supported Callout Types

| Type | Aliases | Description | |------|---------|-------------| | note | - | Blue, pencil icon | | abstract | summary, tldr | Teal, clipboard icon | | info | - | Blue, info icon | | todo | - | Blue, checkbox icon | | tip | hint, important | Cyan, flame icon | | success | check, done | Green, checkmark icon | | question | help, faq | Yellow, question mark | | warning | caution, attention | Orange, warning icon | | failure | fail, missing | Red, X icon | | danger | error | Red, zap icon | | bug | - | Red, bug icon | | example | - | Purple, list icon | | quote | cite | Gray, quote icon |

Custom Callouts (CSS)

css
.callout[data-callout="custom-type"] {
  --callout-color: 255, 0, 0;
  --callout-icon: lucide-alert-circle;
}

Lists

Unordered Lists

markdown
- Item 1
- Item 2
  - Nested item
  - Another nested
- Item 3

* Also works with asterisks
+ Or plus signs

Ordered Lists

markdown
1. First item
2. Second item
   1. Nested numbered
   2. Another nested
3. Third item

1) Alternative syntax
2) With parentheses

Task Lists

markdown
- [ ] Incomplete task
- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Task with sub-tasks
  - [ ] Subtask 1
  - [x] Subtask 2

Quotes

markdown
> This is a blockquote.
> It can span multiple lines.
>
> And include multiple paragraphs.
>
> > Nested quotes work too.

Code

Inline Code

markdown
Use `backticks` for inline code.
Use double backticks for ``code with a ` backtick inside``.

Code Blocks

`markdown

Plain code block

// Syntax highlighted code block function hello() { console.log("Hello, world!"); }

Python example

def greet(name): print(f"Hello, {name}!")

Nesting Code Blocks

Use more backticks or tildes for the outer block:

``markdown

Here's how to create a code block:

js
console.log("Hello")

`

Tables

markdown
| Header 1 | Header 2 | Header 3 |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Cell 1   | Cell 2   | Cell 3   |
| Cell 4   | Cell 5   | Cell 6   |

Alignment

markdown
| Left     | Center   | Right    |
|:---------|:--------:|---------:|
| Left     | Center   | Right    |

Using Pipes in Tables

Escape pipes with backslash:

markdown
| Column 1 | Column 2 |
|----------|----------|
| [[Link\|Display]] | ![[Image\|100]] |

Math (LaTeX)

Inline Math

markdown
This is inline math: $e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$

Block Math

markdown
$$
\begin{vmatrix}
a & b \\
c & d
\end{vmatrix} = ad - bc
$$

Common Math Syntax

markdown
$x^2$              Superscript
$x_i$              Subscript
$\frac{a}{b}$      Fraction
$\sqrt{x}$         Square root
$\sum_{i=1}^{n}$   Summation
$\int_a^b$         Integral
$\alpha, \beta$    Greek letters

Diagrams (Mermaid)

`markdown

graph TD AStart] --> B{Decision} B -->|Yes| CDo this] B -->|No| DDo that] C --> EEnd] D --> E

Sequence Diagrams

`markdown

sequenceDiagram Alice->>Bob: Hello Bob Bob-->>Alice: Hi Alice

Linking in Diagrams

`markdown

graph TD ABiology] BChemistry] A --> B class A,B internal-link;

Footnotes

markdown
This sentence has a footnote[^1].

[^1]: This is the footnote content.

You can also use named footnotes[^note].

[^note]: Named footnotes still appear as numbers.

Inline footnotes are also supported.^[This is an inline footnote.]

Comments

markdown
This is visible %%but this is hidden%% text.

%%
This entire block is hidden.
It won't appear in reading view.
%%

Horizontal Rules

markdown
---
***
___
- - -
* * *

Properties (Frontmatter)

Properties use YAML frontmatter at the start of a note:

yaml
---
title: My Note Title
date: 2024-01-15
tags:
  - project
  - important
aliases:
  - My Note
  - Alternative Name
cssclasses:
  - custom-class
status: in-progress
rating: 4.5
completed: false
due: 2024-02-01T14:30:00
---

Property Types

| Type | Example | |------|---------| | Text | title: My Title | | Number | rating: 4.5 | | Checkbox | completed: true | | Date | date: 2024-01-15 | | Date & Time | due: 2024-01-15T14:30:00 | | List | tags: [one, two] or YAML list | | Links | related: "[[Other Note]]" |

Default Properties

• tags - Note tags
• aliases - Alternative names for the note
• cssclasses - CSS classes applied to the note

Tags

markdown
#tag
#nested/tag
#tag-with-dashes
#tag_with_underscores

In frontmatter:
---
tags:
  - tag1
  - nested/tag2
---

Tags can contain:

• Letters (any language)
• Numbers (not as first character)
• Underscores _
• Hyphens -
• Forward slashes / (for nesting)

HTML Content

Obsidian supports HTML within Markdown:

markdown
<div class="custom-container">
  <span style="color: red;">Colored text</span>
</div>

<details>
  <summary>Click to expand</summary>
  Hidden content here.
</details>

<kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>C</kbd>

Complete Example

`markdown
---
title: Project Alpha
date: 2024-01-15
tags:
  - project
  - active
status: in-progress
priority: high
---

# Project Alpha

## Overview

This project aims to [[improve workflow]] using modern techniques.

> [!important] Key Deadline
> The first milestone is due on ==January 30th==.

## Tasks

- [x] Initial planning
- [x] Resource allocation
- [ ] Development phase
  - [ ] Backend implementation
  - [ ] Frontend design
- [ ] Testing
- [ ] Deployment

## Technical Notes

The main algorithm uses the formula $O(n \log n)$ for sorting.

def process_data(items): return sorted(items, key=lambda x: x.priority)

## Architecture

graph LR AInput] --> BProcess] B --> COutput] B --> DCache]

## Related Documents

- ![[Meeting Notes 2024-01-10#Decisions]]
- [[Budget Allocation|Budget]]
- [[Team Members]]

## References

For more details, see the official documentation[^1].

[^1]: https://example.com/docs

%%
Internal notes:
- Review with team on Friday
- Consider alternative approaches
%%

References

• Basic formatting syntax
• Advanced formatting syntax
• Obsidian Flavored Markdown
• Internal links
• Embed files
• Callouts
• Properties