Save to Obsidian

Save to Obsidian

Saves markdown content to remote Obsidian vault via SSH.

Prerequisite

This skill is for machines WITHOUT iCloud sync (e.g., Linux/Ubuntu servers). If your machine already has iCloud Desktop sync enabled and direct access to the Obsidian vault, you don't need this skill — just copy files directly to the vault path.

When to Use

User says: "save to obsidian", "send to obsidian", "copy to obsidian"

Process

Write content to a temp .md file (enforce formatting rules below) Copy to remote vault: scp <filepath> user@remote-host:/path/to/obsidian/vault/ Confirm success to user Example: # Write content to temp file cat > /tmp/my-note.md << 'EOF' # My Note Content here EOF # Copy to remote Obsidian vault scp /tmp/my-note.md myuser@vault.example.com:~/Obsidian/MyVault/ # Clean up rm /tmp/my-note.md Configuration: The agent should use the SSH host and vault path configured in workspace TOOLS.md

Formatting Rules

All content saved to Obsidian MUST follow these rules:

Diagrams: Use Mermaid (mandatory)

Never use ASCII box diagrams, ASCII art, or plaintext diagrams Always use Mermaid fenced code blocks (```mermaid) Obsidian renders Mermaid natively — ASCII diagrams look broken Supported types: flowchart, sequence, state, class, ER, gantt, pie, mindmap, timeline, quadrant, graph

Tables: Use Markdown tables

Obsidian renders markdown tables natively For complex data, prefer tables over bullet lists

Links: Use wiki-links or relative links

Link between Obsidian notes: [[note-name]] External links: standard markdown [text](url)

General

Use headers (##) for structure — Obsidian outline panel relies on them Use YAML frontmatter if metadata is needed Keep filenames kebab-case (no spaces) for cross-platform compatibility

Agent Owner

This skill is executed by the main OpenClaw agent session. The save-to-obsidian.sh script runs as a shell command via the exec tool. No sub-agents are spawned. iCloud sync is handled automatically after file transfer — no agent action needed.

Success Criteria

Save succeeds when: scp exits with code 0 File appears in vault directory with correct filename iCloud sync propagates the file (typically 1-2 minutes; not verified by skill) Failure conditions: SSH unreachable, vault path does not exist, disk full, filename contains characters invalid for iCloud sync (handled by sanitization in script).

Edge Cases

SSH failure: script exits with error message and non-zero code; agent should report and stop Duplicate filename: overwrites silently — scp does not warn; user must check if overwrite is desired Special characters in filename: sanitized by script (spaces → hyphens, invalid chars stripped) Empty content: scp will transfer a 0-byte file; not an error but should be flagged No clear title: if content has no H1 header, agent should prompt user for filename before saving iCloud sync delay: file appears in vault within 1-2 min; if not visible after 5 min, check iCloud status

Notes

Uses existing SSH key auth (no password) Target: remote-host → Obsidian vault location Files sync via iCloud automatically (if vault is in iCloud folder)

Configuration

• This skill reads SSH and vault configuration from your workspace TOOLS.md:
• VariableDescriptionWhere to setSSH hostHostname/IP of the remote machine hosting the Obsidian vaultTOOLS.md (e.g., myserver.local)SSH userUsername on the remote machineTOOLS.md (e.g., your-username)SSH key pathPath to SSH private key (default: ~/.ssh/id_rsa)TOOLS.mdVault pathAbsolute path to Obsidian vault on remote machineTOOLS.md (e.g., ~/Obsidian/MyVault/)
• Example TOOLS.md entry:
• ## Obsidian Remote Vault
• SSH host: myserver.local
• SSH user: your-username
• Vault path: ~/Obsidian/MyVault/
• No API keys or tokens required — uses SSH key authentication only.