PARA + Diary + Share Obsidian Workflow

Use this skill to help set up and operate an Obsidian vault organized around PARA, with an active diary area and a share-ready publishing area.

This is generic. Do not assume a specific vault name, local path, language, project name, or existing folder set.

Usage Guide

Use this skill when the user wants a practical Obsidian knowledge-management workflow rather than a generic note-taking explanation.

Typical user requests:

• "Initialize my Obsidian vault with PARA + Diary + Share."
• "Help me decide where this note should go."
• "Create a project workspace for <project>."
• "Write today's diary entry."
• "Turn this project note into reusable knowledge."
• "Prepare this note for sharing."
• "Review my active projects and unfinished tasks."
• "Archive old diary files."

Recommended operating flow:

1. Find the target vault with obsidian vaults verbose.
2. Initialize the folder structure if the vault is new.
3. Use 900 - Diary for the latest month's journal entries.
4. Use 100-Projects for active outcomes and project logs.
5. Distill reusable knowledge into 200-Area or 300-Resources.
6. Copy polished, audience-ready material into Share.
7. Move inactive material into 400-Archives.

Placeholder convention:

• Replace <vault> with the Obsidian vault name.
• Replace <project> with the project name.
• Replace <area> with an ongoing responsibility or domain.
• Replace <topic> with a reusable knowledge topic.
• Replace <title> with a share-note title.
• Replace YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY, and YYYY-MM-Week-N with real dates.

When responding to the user:

• Start with the chosen target folder and why it fits.
• Then provide concrete Obsidian CLI commands.
• Include a Markdown template when creating a new note.
• Warn clearly before move, overwrite, restore, delete, or bulk operations.
• Keep canonical notes in PARA folders; use Share only for share-ready copies.

First Checks

Inspect the local Obsidian CLI environment before producing vault-specific commands:

obsidian version
obsidian vaults verbose
obsidian help

Once the target vault is known, route commands explicitly:

obsidian vault="<vault>" ...

Avoid reading note bodies unless the user asks for content analysis or migration. Before write operations, say whether the command creates, appends, moves, copies, overwrites, or deletes.

Initialize The Folder Structure

Recommended top-level folders:

000-Sketch/
100-Projects/
200-Area/
300-Resources/
400-Archives/
900 - Diary/
Share/

Folder meanings:

• 000-Sketch: raw capture, rough ideas, inbox notes, unclear material.
• 100-Projects: active work with a goal, deadline, deliverable, or temporary outcome.
• 200-Area: ongoing responsibilities, domains, skills, roles, and long-lived operating areas.
• 300-Resources: reusable references that are not bound to an active project or responsibility.
• 400-Archives: completed, inactive, abandoned, or historical material.
• 900 - Diary: daily/weekly journal and personal timeline.
• Share: polished copies prepared for other people; not the canonical home of knowledge.

Create folders by creating useful index notes:

obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="000-Sketch/_index.md" content="# Sketch\n\nRaw capture and unclear ideas.\n"
obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="100-Projects/_index.md" content="# Projects\n\nActive outcomes and deliverables.\n"
obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="200-Area/_index.md" content="# Area\n\nOngoing responsibilities and domains.\n"
obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="300-Resources/_index.md" content="# Resources\n\nReusable references.\n"
obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="400-Archives/_index.md" content="# Archives\n\nInactive or completed material.\n"
obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="900 - Diary/_index.md" content="# Diary\n\nDaily and weekly logs.\n"
obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="Share/_index.md" content="# Share\n\nPolished copies for sharing.\n"

Routing Rules

Use purpose, not topic alone, to choose a folder:

• Still messy or not yet classified -> 000-Sketch.
• Has an outcome and will end -> 100-Projects/<project>/.
• Needs ongoing attention and does not really end -> 200-Area/<area>/.
• Useful as reference outside the original context -> 300-Resources/<topic>/.
• No longer active but worth keeping -> 400-Archives/....
• Records what happened today/this week -> 900 - Diary/.
• Prepared for another person or audience -> Share/.

Do not move a note from Project to Area/Resource just because it contains knowledge. Move or copy only after its purpose changes.

Diary Workflow

Default diary behavior:

1. Keep the latest month directly under 900 - Diary/.
2. Move entries older than one month into 900 - Diary/<year>/.
3. Use weekly files by default, named YYYY-MM-Week-N.md or a localized equivalent.
4. Append dated sections inside weekly files.
5. Use daily files only if the user explicitly prefers them.

Diary section template:

## YYYY-MM-DD

### Progress

- 

### Project Log

- 

### Learned

- 

### Next

- [ ] 

Append a diary section:

obsidian vault="<vault>" append path="900 - Diary/YYYY-MM-Week-N.md" content="\n## YYYY-MM-DD\n\n### Progress\n\n- \n\n### Project Log\n\n- \n\n### Learned\n\n- \n\n### Next\n\n- [ ] \n" open

Archive old diary files after checking names and dates:

obsidian vault="<vault>" files folder="900 - Diary"
obsidian vault="<vault>" move path="900 - Diary/YYYY-MM-Week-N.md" to="900 - Diary/YYYY/YYYY-MM-Week-N.md"

Project Workflow

For each active project:

100-Projects/<project>/
  <project>.md
  Logs/
  Decisions/
  Knowledge/
  Tasks.md

Project entry template:

# <project>

status:: active
type:: project

## Goal

## Current Focus

- [ ] 

## Risks

## Decisions

## Knowledge To Distill

Create a project:

obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="100-Projects/<project>/<project>.md" content="# <project>\n\nstatus:: active\ntype:: project\n\n## Goal\n\n\n## Current Focus\n\n- [ ] \n\n## Risks\n\n\n## Decisions\n\n\n## Knowledge To Distill\n" open
obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="100-Projects/<project>/Tasks.md" content="# <project> Tasks\n\n- [ ] Define the next concrete outcome\n"

Track project work:

obsidian vault="<vault>" tasks path="100-Projects/<project>" todo verbose
obsidian vault="<vault>" search:context query="risk" path="100-Projects/<project>"
obsidian vault="<vault>" search:context query="decision" path="100-Projects/<project>"

Knowledge Distillation

Use this pipeline:

1. Diary records the day.
2. Project notes capture project-specific context.
3. Area or Resource notes preserve reusable knowledge.
4. Share notes are audience-ready copies.

Choose destination:

• 200-Area/<area>/...: ongoing responsibility, skill, role, or domain.
• 300-Resources/<topic>/...: reusable reference independent of current work.
• Share/<title>.md: polished copy for someone else.

Knowledge note template:

# <topic>

type:: knowledge
source-project:: [[<project>]]
share-ready:: false

## Context

## Conclusion

## When To Use

## Steps / Examples

## Links

Create a knowledge note:

obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="300-Resources/<topic>/<note>.md" content="# <note>\n\ntype:: knowledge\nshare-ready:: false\n\n## Context\n\n\n## Conclusion\n\n\n## When To Use\n\n\n## Steps / Examples\n\n\n## Links\n" open

Share Workflow

Share is an outward-facing copy area. It should not replace the canonical note in Projects, Areas, or Resources.

When preparing a share note:

1. Identify the canonical source note.
2. Decide the audience and remove private/internal details as needed.
3. Create Share/<title>.md.
4. Keep links or a source reference back to the canonical note when useful.
5. Avoid overwriting existing share notes unless explicitly requested.

Create a share note:

obsidian vault="<vault>" create path="Share/<title>.md" content="# <title>\n\n## Summary\n\n\n## Main Content\n\n\n## Examples\n\n\n## References\n" open

For exact copy operations, verify the source and destination first. Use filesystem copy only when needed and avoid overwriting without confirmation.

Review And Maintenance

Daily review:

obsidian vault="<vault>" tasks todo verbose
obsidian vault="<vault>" search:context query="blocked" path="100-Projects"
obsidian vault="<vault>" search:context query="risk" path="100-Projects"

Weekly review:

obsidian vault="<vault>" files folder="900 - Diary"
obsidian vault="<vault>" tasks path="100-Projects" todo verbose
obsidian vault="<vault>" search:context query="Knowledge To Distill" path="100-Projects"
obsidian vault="<vault>" search query="share-ready:: true"

Vault cleanup:

obsidian vault="<vault>" unresolved counts verbose
obsidian vault="<vault>" orphans total
obsidian vault="<vault>" deadends total
obsidian vault="<vault>" tags counts sort=count

Response Style

When this skill is active:

• Ask for the vault name only if it cannot be inferred from context or CLI output.
• Provide concrete Obsidian CLI commands.
• Explain the target folder and why that folder fits.
• Use templates for new notes.
• Warn before any command that moves, overwrites, restores, permanently deletes, or bulk edits notes.