Template Usage & Application Patterns

Quick reference for selecting and applying the right Obsidian template. Templates are in the Templates/ folder at vault root.

Template Selection

Decision Tree

Temporal tracking:

• Daily journaling → Daily Notes.md
• Weekly review → Weekly Planning.md
• Monthly goals → Monthly Goals.md
• Quarterly planning → Quarterly Goals.md

Meetings:

• Regular meetings → Meeting Notes.md
• One-on-one → 1-on-1 Meeting Notes.md

Projects:

• Starting new project → Project Brief.md
• Planning details → Project Planning.md
• Software feature → Feature Implementation.md
• Bug tracking → Bug Fix.md

Learning:

• General learning → Learning.md
• Technical tutorials → Learning Tech Template.md
• Book notes → Book Reviews.md

Organization:

• Creating index/hub → MOC Template.md
• Person notes → People.md
• Generic → General Notes.md

Other:

• Problem analysis → Problem Solving.md
• Work communication → Communicate your work.md
• Fitness → Weekly Workout.md

Essential Sections

Every knowledge note should include these sections (enforced by templates):

Related Section (required for concept notes)

## Related
*Link 2-5 related notes with a reason why.*
- [[Note Name]] — brief reason for connection
- [[Another Note]] — why it relates

Purpose: Enforces the 2-Link Rule and builds the knowledge graph.

Encounters Section (for evergreen/learning notes)

# Encounters
*Real-world bugs, usage, and insights. Add entries when you encounter this concept in practice.*

## YYYY-MM-DD - [Brief title]
[What happened, what you learned]
Link: [[TIL or project note]]

Purpose: Makes notes living documents that grow with experience.

How to Apply Templates

Via command: Run /apply-template, select from list, template applied to current note.

Via daily-startup: Daily notes auto-created using Daily Notes.md template.

Manually: Open template file, copy content, paste into new note.

Gotchas

• Wrong template selection wastes time — use the decision tree, don't guess based on note title alone
• The Related section is required for concept notes — skipping it creates orphaned knowledge that's hard to find later
• Encounters section only belongs on evergreen/learning notes, not on meeting notes or daily notes
• Templates are in Templates/ at vault root — don't confuse with the PARA folders
• When creating from template via CLI, use template= parameter — don't manually copy-paste template content

Integration with Plugin Commands

• /daily-startup → auto-applies Daily Notes.md
• /apply-template → interactive selection from all templates
• /review-okrs → uses Quarterly Goals.md, Monthly Goals.md, Weekly Planning.md