Obsidian Vault Template

Origin & Philosophy

I wanted to get started with Obsidian and discovered Steph Ango's blog and Karlos' video. Steph Ango is the CEO of the company behind Obsidian, and his vault (which this repo is forked from) is a great example of how to use Obsidian effectively. The core concept is to avoid rigid folder structures and instead rely on Links to organize everything.

1. Everything is a Link: Whether it's for organizing by category (like [[notes]], [[daily]]), by topic (like [[ai]]), or referencing a specific concept (like [[deep_work]]), they are all just [[wiki-links]] pointing to files in the references/ folder. There is no fundamental difference between them—you decide how to use them.
2. Dynamic Reference Pages: All these links point to files in references/. When you open [[ai]], you don't just see a blank page; you see a dynamically generated table of every note linked to "ai". This is powered by the .base files in templates/bases/.

Why do I fork and adapt?

I really like the fascinating philosophy behind. However, I also found the original vault was a bit complex and overwhelming for a beginner, at least for me.

So, this repository is a simplified version that I customized to fit my preferences (e.g., folder structure, snake_case naming). I highly recommend reading the original blog post and watching the video to understand the "Why" first. Then, you can start with the original or use this simplified version as a lighter starting point.

Vault Structure

Here is a quick overview of the folders and what they do:

.
├── files/                 # THE POOL. Almost all your notes live here flatly.
├── journals/              # Yearly aggregations (e.g., 2025.md).
├── index/                 # THE INDEX. Contains the files for topics and categories.
├── templates/             # Templates for creating new notes.
│   ├── bases/             # Defines the "Views" (tables).
│   ├── daily_template     # For daily streams of thought.
│   ├── note_template      # For standard atomic notes.
│   ├── post_template      # For drafting content to publish.
│   ├── clipping_template  # For articles/content saved from the web.
│   └── index_*_template   # For creating new Index pages.
└── attachments/           # Drag & drop images here.

Differences from the Original

• Folder Structure: Flattened hierarchy with a single files/ pool for content and an index/ folder for connections.
• Naming Convention: More snake_case folder and file names are used.
• Indexing Logic: Distinct semantic separation between Category (Metadata) and Topic (Content association), each with dedicated templates to visualize the connections.
• Templates: A curated set of templates for daily use, including the dynamic index_ templates.

How to continue

You can download this repository, open it with Obsidian, and click around the links to experience the flexibility of this system. However, I highly recommend watching the video mentioned above. It provides a step-by-step walkthrough that covers the philosophy from the blog, which can be a bit brief on its own.

After watching, come back and read the [[Detailed Guide - Obsidian Vault Design & Usage]] included in this vault. Although the practice here differs slightly from the video, you will find it easy to pick up since you understand the underlying philosophy. I believe you'll gain a deeper understanding of how the components work together and how to effectively create new notes, topics, and categories.