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 v1.12.4+ 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