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

1. Write content to a temp .md file (enforce formatting rules below)
2. Copy to remote vault: scp user@remote-host:/path/to/obsidian/vault/
3. 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

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:

1. scp exits with code 0
2. File appears in vault directory with correct filename
3. 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:

| Variable | Description | Where to set |

|----------|-------------|--------------|

| SSH host | Hostname/IP of the remote machine hosting the Obsidian vault | TOOLS.md (e.g., myserver.local) |

| SSH user | Username on the remote machine | TOOLS.md (e.g., your-username) |

| SSH key path | Path to SSH private key (default: ~/.ssh/id_rsa) | TOOLS.md |

| Vault path | Absolute path to Obsidian vault on remote machine | TOOLS.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.