consolidate-on

Given a note's name, this skill finds the corresponding file in the vault, collects every alias it goes by, and standardises every wikilink pointing at it across the vault to use the reliable [[filename|Display Name]] format. This works for any note type — people, projects, references, or anything else in the vault.

Why this matters

Obsidian resolves [[Project Alpha]] by looking for either a file named Project Alpha.md or a file with alias "Project Alpha" — but alias resolution only works after the vault has been indexed. Before indexing (fresh open, sync, or rebuild), [[Project Alpha]] silently creates a new empty Project Alpha.md instead of linking to memory/projects/project-alpha.md. The reliable format [[project-alpha|Project Alpha]] resolves directly by filename and always works.

Vault location

The vault is the current working directory (the mounted vault folder). Notes live in several locations depending on their type:

• memory/people/ — person files
• memory/projects/ — project files
• references/ — reference notes
• Full vault (recursive) — fallback for any other note type

If operating in a different vault, check CLAUDE.md for the vault path.

Steps

1. Find the target file

Search for the target note in the following order, stopping at the first match:

1. memory/people/
2. memory/projects/
3. references/
4. Full vault (recursive)

Match the input name against:

• The file's title: frontmatter field
• Any entry in the file's aliases: list
• The filename slug itself (e.g. jane-smith, project-alpha)

If no match is found, tell the user and ask if they'd like to create the note first. If multiple files could match, ask the user to clarify.

2. Extract canonical identity

From the matched file, collect:

• canonical_filename: the basename without .md (e.g. jane-smith)
• display_name: the title: frontmatter value (e.g. Jane Smith)
• aliases: every entry in the aliases: list

3. Run the consolidation script

Call the bundled script, passing in all aliases so it knows what patterns to search for:

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/consolidate-on/scripts/consolidate.py \
  --vault <vault_root_path> \
  --filename "<canonical_filename>" \
  --display "<display_name>" \
  --aliases "<alias1>" "<alias2>" "<alias3>"

Pass every alias, including the full name, first name, nicknames, and Slack handles. The script skips any links that are already canonical, so it is safe to run repeatedly.

4. Report results

After the script runs, tell the user:

• How many files were scanned
• How many links were updated, and in which files
• Whether any plain-text mentions were found that weren't auto-converted (report only, don't auto-fix prose)

5. Offer follow-up

Ask if there are stray empty files Obsidian may have created (e.g. Jane.md at the vault root or elsewhere). If so, offer to delete them — they are artefacts of the broken links.

Edge cases

• Note not found: stop and inform the user; offer to create the note
• Multiple possible matches: list them and ask the user to pick one
• Already canonical links: the script skips them silently — running twice is safe
• Prose mentions (not wikilinks): report them but don't auto-convert — the user may want them as plain text
• Table-escaped links ([[alias\|text]]): the script handles these correctly
• Frontmatter wikilinks (assigned-to: "[[alias]]"): handled the same as body links