laurigates/templates

Obsidian Templates

When to Use This Skill

| Use this skill when... | Use the alternative instead when... | |---|---| | Listing or previewing the templates configured in the vault | Editing template content as a plain note — use vault-files | | Inserting a template into the currently open note | Creating a new note from a template — use vault-files create … template=… | | Reading the resolved ({{date}} → real date) form of a template | Working with Templater plugin scripts — use command-palette for templater-obsidian:* |

This skill covers the core Templates plugin. The community Templater plugin uses a different command surface — invoke it via command-palette (templater-obsidian:*) instead.

Prerequisites

• Obsidian desktop v1.12.4+ with CLI enabled
• Obsidian must be running
• Core Templates plugin enabled, with a templates folder configured

List Templates

# All templates
obsidian templates

# Just the count
obsidian templates total

Read a Template

# Raw template content (variables unresolved)
obsidian template:read name="Meeting"

# Resolve variables ({{date}}, {{time}}, {{title}})
obsidian template:read name="Meeting" resolve

# Provide a title for {{title}} resolution
obsidian template:read name="Meeting" title="Standup 2026-04-30" resolve

Insert a Template

# Insert into the active file at the cursor
obsidian template:insert name="Meeting"

template:insert only works on the active editor. To create a new note from a template instead, reach for vault-files:

obsidian create name="Meeting 2026-04-30" template="Meeting"

Common Patterns

"Preview what a template will produce before inserting"

obsidian template:read name="Daily" resolve

"Bulk-create a week of daily notes from a template"

for offset in 0 1 2 3 4; do
  date=$(date -v+${offset}d +%F)   # macOS; use date -d "+$offset days" +%F on Linux
  obsidian create path="Daily/$date.md" template="Daily"
done

"Open today's daily template raw vs resolved (debugging)"

obsidian template:read name="Daily"           # raw, with {{date}}
obsidian template:read name="Daily" resolve   # with today's date filled in

Template Variables

The core Templates plugin understands:

| Variable | Resolves to | |----------|-------------| | {{date}} | Current date (format from Templates settings) | | {{time}} | Current time (format from Templates settings) | | {{title}} | The new note's title (or title= parameter) |

Use the resolve flag to apply these — without it, template:read returns the raw source, which is what you want for editing the template itself.

Agentic Optimizations

| Context | Command | |---------|---------| | List templates | obsidian templates | | Template count | obsidian templates total | | Raw template body | obsidian template:read name=X | | Resolved template body | obsidian template:read name=X resolve | | Insert into active file | obsidian template:insert name=X | | Create new note from template | obsidian create name=X template=Y (see vault-files) |

Related Skills

• vault-files — Create new notes from templates (create … template=…)
• command-palette — Invoke Templater (templater-obsidian:*) commands
• plugins-themes — Enable / configure the Templates core plugin