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Obsidian Canvas Builder

Lets an agent read and safely edit Obsidian JSON Canvas boards in your vault

Source Download skill
Repository
AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian
Stars
16,065
Licence
MIT
Files
2 files

What it does

This skill teaches an AI agent to work with Obsidian Canvas files, which are visual boards that hold notes, images, text cards, groups and arrows. Once installed, the agent can report on existing boards (node counts, broken links, missing files), and build or change boards by adding vault notes, text cards and connections. Every change is previewed and applied through a recoverable transaction that the user approves before it is written, and the agent does not delete or rename board files.

Great for

  • Obsidian users who want an agent to arrange vault notes into visual maps or zones
  • People using the claude-obsidian vault setup who want safe, reviewed edits to .canvas files
  • Researchers who want a spatial overview of linked notes generated from a conversation

Skip it if

  • Users who do not use Obsidian, since the output is an Obsidian-specific canvas file and its vault workflow (the skill depends on the wider claude-obsidian product) (reason: it will not be useful without the surrounding product)
  • Anyone wanting to delete or rename canvas files through this skill, which explicitly cannot do so and returns a manual cleanup plan instead (reason: a limitation of the transaction engine)
  • Opening link nodes on untrusted URLs without review, because Obsidian may fetch Open Graph metadata from those hosts when the canvas is rendered (reason: render-time network egress)

Try asking

  • “Show canvas status for my vault and tell me which edges point to missing notes”
  • “Create a canvas called research-map with notes on contextual retrieval and link them to my RAG summary”
  • “Put this on the canvas: add the attached PDF and my meeting note as file nodes in a new group”
  • “Add a link node for https://jsoncanvas.org/spec/1.0/ to my main canvas after I confirm the preview”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Obsidian Canvas BuilderInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 2 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.

    canvas.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip canvas.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip canvas.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Ask for a status or preview first so you can review node positions and file targets before approving any transaction
  • Name the board explicitly to avoid it defaulting to wiki/canvases/main.canvas
  • Prefer text nodes containing a URL if you do not want Obsidian to fetch link previews when the canvas opens

What's inside

  • references/canvas-spec.md
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.