templates

Obsidian Templates

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when...	Use the alternative instead when...
Listing or previewing the templates configured in the vault	Editing template content as a plain note — use vault-files
Inserting a template into the currently open note	Creating a new note from a template — use vault-files create … template=…
Reading the resolved ({{date}} → real date) form of a template	Working with Templater plugin scripts — use command-palette for templater-obsidian:*

This skill covers the core Templates plugin. The community Templater plugin uses a different command surface — invoke it via command-palette (templater-obsidian:*) instead.

Prerequisites

• Obsidian desktop 1.12.7+ installer with CLI enabled
• Obsidian must be running
• Core Templates plugin enabled, with a templates folder configured

List Templates

# All templates
obsidian templates

# Just the count
obsidian templates total

Read a Template

# Raw template content (variables unresolved)
obsidian template:read name="Meeting"

# Resolve variables ({{date}}, {{time}}, {{title}})
obsidian template:read name="Meeting" resolve

# Provide a title for {{title}} resolution
obsidian template:read name="Meeting" title="Standup 2026-04-30" resolve

Insert a Template

# Insert into the active file at the cursor
obsidian template:insert name="Meeting"

template:insert only works on the active editor. To create a new note from a template instead, reach for vault-files:

obsidian create name="Meeting 2026-04-30" template="Meeting"

Common Patterns

"Preview what a template will produce before inserting"

obsidian template:read name="Daily" resolve

"Bulk-create a week of daily notes from a template"

for offset in 0 1 2 3 4; do
  date=$(date -v+${offset}d +%F)   # macOS; use date -d "+$offset days" +%F on Linux
  obsidian create path="Daily/$date.md" template="Daily"
done

"Open today's daily template raw vs resolved (debugging)"

obsidian template:read name="Daily"           # raw, with {{date}}
obsidian template:read name="Daily" resolve   # with today's date filled in

Template Variables

The core Templates plugin understands:

Variable	Resolves to
{{date}}	Current date (format from Templates settings)
{{time}}	Current time (format from Templates settings)
{{title}}	The new note's title (or title= parameter)

Use the resolve flag to apply these — without it, template:read returns the raw source, which is what you want for editing the template itself.

Agentic Optimizations

Context	Command
List templates	obsidian templates
Template count	obsidian templates total
Raw template body	obsidian template:read name=X
Resolved template body	obsidian template:read name=X resolve
Insert into active file	obsidian template:insert name=X
Create new note from template	obsidian create name=X template=Y (see vault-files)

Related Skills

• vault-files — Create new notes from templates (create … template=…)
• command-palette — Invoke Templater (templater-obsidian:*) commands
• plugins-themes — Enable / configure the Templates core plugin