Manage an Obsidian Vault with Hermes

An Obsidian vault is a directory of Markdown files. Hermes can work with it using normal file discovery, search, reading, writing, and targeted patching—without requiring the desktop app to be open. The bundled Obsidian skill focuses on predictable file operations and [[wikilinks]].

Official skill reference: Obsidian Vault

Start with the vault boundary

Identify the exact vault path before searching or writing. A Mac may contain several vaults, archived copies, or synced folders. Search by filename when the note name is known and by content when the concept is known. Read the current note before changing it.

Use complete writes for new notes, targeted patching for existing passages, and append behavior only for genuine logs or inbox-style capture. Preserve frontmatter, heading structure, links, and the vault's naming conventions.

Vault workflow checklist

Confirm the exact vault root and active copy.
Read any local convention file or index before creating pages.
Search titles and body text for an existing home for the information.
Use lowercase, date, or folder conventions already present in the vault.
Add meaningful [[wikilinks]] to related notes.
Re-read the changed file and check that links resolve to intended titles.

Common pitfalls

Editing the wrong synced copy. Similar vault directories can diverge silently.
Overwriting frontmatter or embeds. A full-file rewrite is excessive for a small correction.
Creating orphan notes. A new file without inbound or outbound links becomes hard to rediscover.
Assuming filenames equal display titles. Obsidian aliases and frontmatter can change how a note is referenced.
Writing secrets into a broadly synced vault. Treat sync scope and shared folders as a data boundary.

Verification

Open or re-read the final Markdown file, confirm its frontmatter parses, and inspect each new wikilink. Search the vault for the new title to confirm there is one intended page, then open the vault in Obsidian when visual embeds, callouts, or plugin-specific syntax matter. A successful file write alone does not prove the note renders as intended.