Obsidian Skills is a small set of Agent Skills, written by Obsidian's CEO Steph Ango, that teach an AI coding agent how Obsidian's files work. There are six: Obsidian Flavored Markdown (wikilinks, embeds, callouts, properties), Obsidian Bases (.base files with views, filters and formulas), JSON Canvas (.canvas files), the Obsidian CLI, Defuddle for turning web pages into clean Markdown, and Knap for rendering Markdown templates from JSON or CSV data.
If you point Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode at a vault, these skills are the difference between an agent that writes generic Markdown and one that writes notes Obsidian actually renders properly, with working links, valid properties and Bases that open without errors. They follow the open Agent Skills format, so they work in any agent that supports it.
It is deliberately small: 15 files, mostly instructions and reference pages. Two of the skills tell the agent to install a command line tool from npm if it is missing (defuddle and knap), and the CLI skill needs the Obsidian app's own command line interface.
- Repository: github.com/kepano/obsidian-skills
- Licence: MIT (MIT License)
- Language: mixed. Stars: 50.1K. Forks: 3,545. Last push: Sep 15, 2026.
- Scan: safe, Oct 26, 2026, commit 3ccff53
Who it is for
Obsidian users who run Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode inside their vault and want the agent to write proper Obsidian notes, Bases and Canvases.
Getting started
1. In Claude Code, add the repository as a plugin marketplace
/plugin marketplace add kepano/obsidian-skills2. Install the skills
/plugin install obsidian@obsidian-skills3. Or install for any skills-compatible agent
npx skills add https://github.com/kepano/obsidian-skillsThe /plugin commands are typed inside Claude Code, not a shell. For Codex, copy the skills/ folder into ~/.codex/skills; for OpenCode, clone the whole repository into ~/.opencode/skills/.
Safety scan
We cloned kepano/obsidian-skills at commit 3ccff53 on Oct 26, 2026 and ran the checks described on the GitHub Tools page: credential patterns, decode-and-execute code, install-time scripts, committed binaries, risky CI workflows, every host the code talks to, known vulnerabilities in pinned dependencies, and project hygiene. A person read every hit. This is what we found.
- No secrets, no code patterns, no installers, no binaries and no URLs to unusual hosts across 15 files and about 2,000 lines, nearly all Markdown plus two small plugin manifests.
- The defuddle and knap skills tell the agent to run npm install -g defuddle or npm install -g knap if the tool is missing. Both come from Obsidian-related projects, but your agent will be installing a global npm package, so approve that step knowingly.
- No lockfiles and no GitHub workflows, so nothing to report on dependencies or CI. MIT licence present; no security policy or contributing guide.
What the scanner counted
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| Secrets | None found. |
| Suspicious code | None found. |
| Install-time code | None: nothing runs at install beyond the package manager itself. |
| Committed binaries | None. |
| CI workflows | No GitHub Actions workflows. |
| Network hosts | 0 distinct hosts referenced from source. No URLs to bare IP addresses. |
| Known vulnerabilities | No lockfile to check: dependencies are declared as ranges, so what gets installed is whatever is current on the day. |
| Project hygiene | Has licence file. Missing security policy, automated dependency updates, CodeQL, contributing guide. |
| OpenSSF Scorecard | Not scored: the project is not in Scorecard's weekly index. |
By the numbers
| Stars | 50.1K |
|---|---|
| Forks | 3,545 |
| Contributors | 17 |
| Commits | 49 |
| Open issues | 38 |
| Open pull requests | 36 |
| Releases | 0 |
| Latest release | none tagged |
| Licence | MIT |
| Main language | mixed |
| Project age | 9 months |
| Last push | Sep 15, 2026 |
| Tracked files | 15 |
| Lines of code | 1,984 |
| Checkout size | 57 KB |
Lines by language: Markdown 1,948, JSON 36.
Questions
Is Obsidian Skills free?
Yes. The skills are MIT-licensed. Obsidian itself is free for personal use, and running the skills needs an agent such as Claude Code or Codex under its own pricing.
Which agents can use these skills?
Any agent that supports the Agent Skills format. The README gives instructions for Claude Code (as a plugin), Codex and OpenCode, and npx skills add installs them for other compatible agents.
Does it give an AI access to my vault?
Not by itself. The skills only explain Obsidian's formats and tools. Access comes from where you run your agent: if you start Claude Code inside your vault folder, it can read and edit those files under its normal permission prompts.
This post is part of GitHub Tools, where every repository is cloned and scanned before it is written up. The scan is a snapshot of one commit on one day; the repository has moved on since, so check it before you install.