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obsidian-curator

by @philmossman

Manage Obsidian vaults via LiveSync CouchDB — capture notes, AI-enrich and file them, manage tasks, audit and tidy vault structure. Use when working with Obs...

Versionv0.1.1
Downloads1,209
Installs3
#clawhub
TERMINAL
clawhub install obsidian-curator

📖 About This Skill

name: obsidian-curator description: Manage Obsidian vaults via LiveSync CouchDB — capture notes, AI-enrich and file them, manage tasks, audit and tidy vault structure. Use when working with Obsidian vaults through CouchDB/LiveSync (not local filesystem). Requires CouchDB with Obsidian LiveSync plugin. AI features (process, file) need an AI provider configured; capture, audit, tidy, and tasks work rule-based without any API key. metadata: openclaw: emoji: "📋" requires: bins: ["obsidian-curator"] install: - id: node kind: node package: obsidian-curator bins: ["obsidian-curator"] label: "Install obsidian-curator (npm)"

obsidian-curator

Manage Obsidian vaults through the CouchDB database that powers Obsidian LiveSync. Capture, process, file, audit, tidy, and manage tasks — all via CLI or Node.js API.

Prerequisites: CouchDB with LiveSync configured, E2EE disabled.

Security & Trust

  • Open source: github.com/philmossman/obsidian-curator (MIT)
  • npm provenance: Published via GitHub Actions OIDC with Sigstore attestation — cryptographically verifiable build provenance
  • No lifecycle scripts: No preinstall, install, or postinstall scripts — npm install only copies files
  • Minimal dependencies: Only nano (CouchDB client) and date-fns (date parsing)
  • Local network only: Connects to your CouchDB instance (user-configured host/port). No external telemetry, no phone-home, no data leaves your network
  • Credentials: Stored locally in ~/.obsidian-curator/config.json — never transmitted except to your own CouchDB
  • E2EE note: LiveSync E2EE must be disabled because the tool reads/writes vault documents directly via CouchDB. This is a LiveSync architectural requirement, not a security compromise by this tool

    • Setup

    Run the interactive wizard — it tests the CouchDB connection live:

    obsidian-curator init

    Configures: CouchDB connection, vault structure preset (PARA/Zettelkasten/Johnny Decimal/Flat/Custom), AI provider (OpenAI/Anthropic/Ollama/None), task projects.

    Config location: ~/.obsidian-curator/config.json

    Commands

    Capture (no AI needed)

    obsidian-curator capture "Quick thought about project X"
obsidian-curator capture "Meeting notes from standup" --source meeting

    Process inbox (AI required)

    Enrich inbox notes with tags, summary, and suggested folder:

    obsidian-curator process
obsidian-curator process --limit 5 --dry-run
obsidian-curator process --force   # re-process already-processed notes

    File notes (AI required)

    Route processed notes to canonical vault folders:

    obsidian-curator file
obsidian-curator file --dry-run --min-confidence 0.8

    Audit (no AI needed)

    Check vault structure against configured canonical folders:

    obsidian-curator audit

    Tidy (AI optional)

    Find duplicates, structure violations, dead notes. With AI, ambiguous cases are triaged automatically:

    obsidian-curator tidy --dry-run
obsidian-curator tidy --checks dupes,stubs

    Tasks (no AI needed)

    obsidian-curator tasks                          # list open tasks
obsidian-curator tasks --project Work --priority high
obsidian-curator task "call dentist next Tuesday"   # create task (parses dates, priority, project)
obsidian-curator done "dentist"                     # mark done by partial title match

    Config

    obsidian-curator config show
obsidian-curator config set ai.provider ollama
obsidian-curator config set vault.host 192.168.1.100

    Programmatic API

    const { VaultClient, Curator, createAIAdapter, loadConfig } = require('obsidian-curator');
    const config = loadConfig();
const vault = new VaultClient(config.vault);
await vault.ping();
const ai = createAIAdapter(config);
const curator = new Curator({ vault, ai, config });
    await curator.capture('Quick thought');
await curator.process({ limit: 5 });
await curator.file({ dryRun: true });
await curator.audit();
await curator.tidy({ checks: ['dupes', 'stubs'], dryRun: true });
    const tasks = await curator.tasks({ status: 'open', project: 'Work' });
await curator.createTask('call Alice next Friday');
await curator.taskBrief();  // markdown summary

    AI Providers

    | Provider | Cost | Privacy | Setup | |----------|------|---------|-------| | none | Free | Local | Default — rule-based features only | | ollama | Free | Local | config set ai.provider ollama + model name | | openai | Pay-per-use | Cloud | config set ai.provider openai + API key | | anthropic | Pay-per-use | Cloud | config set ai.provider anthropic + API key | | Custom/OpenRouter | Varies | Varies | Use openai provider with custom baseUrl |

    Vault Structure Presets

  • PARA: inbox → Projects / Areas / Resources / Archives
  • Zettelkasten: inbox → Slipbox / References / Projects / Archives
  • Johnny Decimal: inbox → numbered category folders (00-09, 10-19, ...)
  • Flat: inbox only, no enforced structure
  • Custom: define your own canonical folders

    • ⚙️ Configuration

    obsidian-curator config show
obsidian-curator config set ai.provider ollama
obsidian-curator config set vault.host 192.168.1.100