daily

Obsidian Daily Journal

A skill for preparing, updating, and maintaining daily journal entries in the user's Obsidian vault. Supports two distinct workflows — morning planning and evening review — designed to take 5–15 minutes each.

Dependencies

• vault skill: Read it first for vault conventions, PARA structure, and MCP gotchas.
• User's claude.md (if present): Always check for vault-specific conventions before writing.

Journal Template

Do NOT hardcode or assume the template structure. Instead:

1. Use mcp__obsidian__templates_list to see available templates.
2. Use mcp__obsidian__template_read with the matching name (set resolve: true if you want variables interpolated) to read the actual template content.
3. Use that template as-is when seeding a new journal entry.

Rules when working with the template

• Never modify or regenerate dataviewjs or dataview code blocks — treat them as read-only.
• Tasks use standard Obsidian checkbox syntax: - [ ] (open) / - [x] (done).
• Keep frontmatter fields intact. Only update fields like location if the user explicitly says so.
• Dates follow YYYY-MM-DD format (grab them from mcp__obsidian__date_time).
• If the template can't be found, ask the user — don't guess.

Workflow

Step 0: Determine mode

Ask the user (or infer from context/time cues):

Signal	Mode
"plan my day", "morning", "start of day", "what's on today"	Morning
"review", "wrap up", "end of day", "evening", "how did today go"	Evening
Ambiguous or just "daily" / "journal"	Ask: "Morning planning or evening review?"

Step 1: Locate or create the journal entry

1. Try mcp__obsidian__daily_read to fetch today's note.
2. If it already exists → work with it.
3. If it doesn't exist → read the journal template (see "Journal Template" above) and create the entry. The simplest path is mcp__obsidian__daily_append with the template body as content — that tool auto-creates today's daily note via the user's Daily Notes settings. If the user's setup doesn't auto-create, fall back to mcp__obsidian__file_create with a path derived from the user's daily-note convention and today's date from date_time.
4. If the user specifies a different date → use that date instead of today. The server's daily_* tools always target today, so non-today dates have to go through file_read / file_create / file_append with an explicit path you compute from the user's convention + the date.

Step 2a: Morning Planning (5–15 min)

Goal: Help the user walk into their day with clarity.

1. Read yesterday's journal (if it exists). The server doesn't expose a "yesterday" helper — compute yesterday's date from mcp__obsidian__date_time, then mcp__obsidian__file_read with the corresponding path based on the user's daily-note convention. If you can't determine the convention, ask the user. Scan for:
   • Unfinished tasks (carry forward if still relevant)
   • Any "tomorrow" notes in the Log
2. Check external context if available (calendar, email via connected tools). Summarize what's coming up today.
3. Populate the Agenda section with:
   • Carried-over tasks from yesterday
   • Calendar events / meetings
   • Anything the user mentions
4. Populate the Tasks section with actionable items derived from the agenda. Keep them concrete and completable.
5. Present a summary to the user and ask if anything is missing or should change.
6. Write the file once confirmed. Use mcp__obsidian__daily_append (or daily_prepend if the template expects new content at the top).

Keep the tone concise and practical — no motivational fluff. The user wants to think clearly, not be coached.

Step 2b: Evening Review (5–15 min)

Goal: Help the user close the day cleanly and capture what matters.

1. Read today's journal with mcp__obsidian__daily_read — review Agenda and Tasks.
2. Ask the user (briefly, not an interrogation):
   • "What got done? Anything to note?"
   • "Anything to carry to tomorrow?"
3. Update the Tasks section: Mark completed items - [x] using mcp__obsidian__task_update (pass ref as path:line with done: true or toggle: true). Leave open items as-is, or move them to tomorrow's note if the user says so.
4. Update the Log section with:
   • Key outcomes, decisions, observations the user shares
   • Keep it bullet-point style, concise
   • Use mcp__obsidian__daily_append with the new lines.
5. Optionally preview tomorrow: If the user wants, create tomorrow's journal entry via mcp__obsidian__file_create at the appropriate path and seed its Agenda with carried-over items.
6. Confirm what you wrote once the user is satisfied.

PARA Integration

The journal itself lives outside the PARA hierarchy (it's a daily artifact, not a project or area). But when the user mentions work related to a specific Project or Area:

• Link to the relevant note using [[Note Name]] wikilink syntax.
• If a task belongs to a PARA project, tag it or link it: - [ ] Finish proposal draft → [[Q3 Proposal]]
• Don't reorganize the user's vault — just create the connections.

Important Reminders

• Don't over-ask. Morning and evening should feel lightweight. 2–3 focused questions max, then write.
• Don't invent content. Only add what the user tells you, what's carried from yesterday, or what comes from connected tools (calendar/email). Never fabricate agenda items or tasks.
• Preserve existing content. When updating a journal that already has entries, append — don't overwrite. The server already refuses file_create with overwrite: true and empty content, but you should avoid overwrite entirely unless the user explicitly asks.
• Respect the user's style. Read past journal entries to match their tone, level of detail, and conventions. If they write terse bullets, you write terse bullets.