Obsidian JSON Canvas Assistant
Create, edit, and validate Obsidian Canvas files with an agent.
The skill only directs reading, parsing, modifying, and writing .canvas files, with edge-reference validation; no malware, credential handling, covert exfiltration, or privileged dependency is evident, so a relatively high score is justified. However, it lacks explicit user confirmation, backup/rollback, sensitive-data handling, and external-link data-flow guidance, costing 9 points.
The workflows are internally consistent and cover creation, node insertion, edge creation, editing, and static validation, with examples. There are no executable tests, abnormal-input handling, diagnostic failure messages, or reproducible ID-generation procedure, and runtime behavior cannot be verified from this static review, so the score is limited accordingly.
The name, trigger description, and use cases involving .canvas nodes, edges, groups, mind maps, and flowcharts are reasonably clear. Non-fit boundaries, trigger exclusions, complex-layout limitations, and Chinese-language support are not specified, costing 5 points.
The documentation is well structured with sections, tables, a validation checklist, and complete examples. Repository context supplies installation instructions, an MIT license, and specification references. However, skill versioning, changelog, explicit maintenance ownership, update path, and some dependency/install assumptions are incomplete, costing 7 points.
The skill can produce directly usable .canvas JSON for core creation and editing tasks, including node, edge, ID, and format checks. There is no execution evidence; layout avoidance is advisory rather than algorithmically guaranteed, and complex edits still require manual review, so the static-review cap and limited completeness evidence cost 9 points.
The skill cites the JSON Canvas specification, GitHub project, and local examples, giving key fields and validation rules some traceability. It provides no committed tests, CI coverage, or independently reproducible execution evidence, so evidence coverage remains thin and costs 6 points.
- This assessment is based only on the supplied source files; the skill was not executed and Obsidian compatibility was not independently verified.
- Obtain user confirmation and create a recoverable backup before writing existing .canvas files; no rollback procedure is specified.
- Further review should verify the JSON Canvas specification version, ID constraints, file-path permissions, and complex-layout behavior.
- The publisher is not verified by the FollowSkills enterprise registry and is treated as unknown.
What does this skill do, and when should you use it?
This is the JSON Canvas skill in kepano/obsidian-skills, focused on Obsidian .canvas files. It covers text, file, link, and group nodes, along with edges and connections between nodes. The instructions define workflows for creating canvases, adding nodes, connecting nodes, and editing existing files, followed by checks for valid JSON, unique IDs, and valid edge references. The repository is MIT-licensed, but this profile covers only the JSON Canvas skill.
Reads and parses .canvas JSON files; creates the nodes-and-edges base structure; generates 16-character lowercase hexadecimal IDs; adds or edits text, file, link, and group nodes; creates and modifies edges, anchor sides, arrow ends, colors, and labels; positions nodes using spacing and layout guidance; writes updated JSON back to the file; validates JSON parsing, ID uniqueness, edge references, node types, required attributes, and allowed values.
- An Obsidian user wants to create a mind map or flowchart from scratch.
- A knowledge worker needs to add nodes and connections to an existing Canvas.
- A project planner wants to organize an overview with groups, text nodes, and file nodes.
- An agent workflow needs to make structured edits to .canvas files.
- A user wants to validate Canvas JSON and detect broken node references before saving.
What are this skill's strengths and limitations?
- Covers four common workflows: creation, node addition, connection, and editing.
- Clearly documents node, edge, color, layout, and ID rules.
- Provides a concrete validation checklist for malformed JSON and broken references.
- Uses the open JSON Canvas Spec 1.0 and is distributed under the MIT license.
- Its scope is limited to JSON Canvas; it does not include the sibling Markdown, Bases, CLI, or web-extraction capabilities.
- The source provides no test suite, version compatibility range, or reported execution results.
- The client must be able to read and write local files; specific permission configuration is not documented.
- Full examples are referenced in references/EXAMPLES.md, but that file's contents are not included in the supplied source.
How do you install this skill?
The skill is distributed through the kepano/obsidian-skills repository. Install the collection with npx skills add https://github.com/kepano/obsidian-skills; for Codex, copy the repository's skills/ directory into the usual ~/.codex/skills path. The repository also documents installation for Claude Code, OpenCode, and its marketplace. The source does not document a separate installation procedure for this skill alone.
How do you use this skill?
Enable the skill in an Agent Skills-compatible client, then give it a concrete Canvas task such as: “Create an Obsidian Canvas containing project goals, tasks, and milestones, and connect the related nodes.” You can also ask it to edit an existing .canvas file, add nodes, connect nodes, or validate a file. The instructions require checking JSON validity, ID uniqueness, and edge references after changes.