Template - obsidian-nvim/obsidian.nvim GitHub Wiki

To insert a template in the current note, run the command :Obsidian template. This will open a list of available templates in your templates folder with your preferred picker. Select a template and hit <CR> to insert.

To create a new note from a template, run the command :Obsidian new_from_template. This will prompt you for an optional path for the new note and will open a list of available templates in your templates folder with your preferred picker. Select a template and hit <CR> to create the new note with the selected template.

Substitutions for {{id}}, {{title}}, {{path}}, {{date}}, and {{time}} are supported out-of-the-box. For example, with the following configuration

require("obsidian").setup({
   -- other fields ...

   templates = {
      folder = "my-templates-folder",
      date_format = "%Y-%m-%d-%a",
      time_format = "%H:%M",
   },
})

and the file ~/my-vault/my-templates-folder/note template.md:

# {{title}}

Date created: {{date}}

Creating the note Configuring Neovim.md and executing :Obsidian template will insert the following above the cursor position.

# Configuring Neovim

Date created: 2023-03-01-Wed

Substitutions

You can also define custom template substitutions with the configuration field templates.substitutions. For example, to automatically substitute the template variable {{yesterday}} when inserting a template, you could add this to your config:

require("obsidian").setup({
   -- other fields ...
   templates = {
      substitutions = {
         yesterday = function()
            return os.date("%Y-%m-%d", os.time() - 86400)
         end,
      },
   },
})

Substitution functions are passed obsidian.TemplateContext objects with details about which template is being used. For example, to return different values from different templates:

--- NOTE: For weekly templates this means "seven days ago", otherwise it means "one day ago".
yesterday = function(ctx)
   if vim.endswith(ctx.template_name, "Weekly Note Template.md") then
      return os.date("%Y-%m-%d", os.time() - 86400 * 7)
   end
   -- Fallback
   return os.date("%Y-%m-%d", os.time() - 86400)
end

Context Types

---@alias obsidian.TemplateContext obsidian.InsertTemplateContext | obsidian.CloneTemplateContext
---The table passed to user substitution functions. Use `ctx.type` to distinguish between the different kinds.

---@class obsidian.InsertTemplateContext
---The table passed to user substitution functions when inserting templates into a buffer.
---
---@field type "insert_template"
---@field template_name string|obsidian.Path The name or path of the template being used.
---@field template_opts obsidian.config.TemplateOpts The template options being used.
---@field templates_dir obsidian.Path The folder containing the template file.
---@field location [number, number, number, number] `{ buf, win, row, col }` location from which the request was made.
---@field partial_note? obsidian.Note An optional note with fields to copy from.

---@class obsidian.CloneTemplateContext
---The table passed to user substitution functions when cloning template files to create new notes.
---
---@field type "clone_template"
---@field template_name string|obsidian.Path The name or path of the template being used.
---@field template_opts obsidian.config.TemplateOpts The template options being used.
---@field templates_dir obsidian.Path The folder containing the template file.
---@field destination_path obsidian.Path The path the cloned template will be written to.
---@field partial_note obsidian.Note The note being written.

Customizations

You can specify per-template behavior using the templates.customizations configuration field. You may want to do this if you want to:

1. Control which directory a new note is placed in based on the template you used to create it

You might want all of your notes created using your meeting.md template to go to {vault_root}/jobs/my-job/meetings/

require("obsidian").setup({
   -- other fields ...
   templates = {
      customizations = {
         meeting = {
            notes_subdir = "jobs/my-job/meetings",
         },
      },
   },
})

2. Control the ID generated for notes based on the template you used to create it

For example, rather than a default, Zettelkasten-style note for prominent people you want to study, you could opt for a simpler ID:

biography = {
   -- This function currently only receives the note title as an input
   note_id_func = function(title)
      if title == nil then
         return nil
      end

      local name = title:gsub(" ", "-"):gsub("[^A-Za-z0-9-]", ""):lower()
      return name -- "Hulk Hogan" → "hulk-hogan"
   end,
}

[!IMPORTANT] The name of the template file must match the name specified in your configuration

Template	Customization
book.md	book
personal-diaries.md	["personal-diaries"]
big books.md	["big books"]

Full Type Annotation

---@class obsidian.config.CustomTemplateOpts
---
---@field notes_subdir? string
---@field note_id_func? (fun(title: string|?): string)