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Obsidian Literature Workflow

  • 1 installs
  • 3.2k repo stars
  • Updated August 4, 2026
  • brycewang-stanford/awesome-agent-skills-for-empirical-research

obsidian-literature-workflow is a skill that runs filesystem-first literature review inside an Obsidian project vault, ingesting Zotero papers and synthesizing them into knowledge notes.

About

This skill handles the literature sub-workflow inside a filesystem-first Obsidian research vault. A researcher uses it to ingest papers from Zotero into canonical Papers/ notes, normalize note structure, synthesize durable literature knowledge into Knowledge/ notes, and refresh a literature canvas. It matters for organizing paper notes and connecting them to project knowledge without an Obsidian MCP.

  • Filesystem-first literature review inside an Obsidian vault
  • Ingests Zotero papers into canonical Papers/ notes
  • Synthesizes literature into Knowledge/ notes and a literature canvas

Obsidian Literature Workflow by the numbers

  • 1 all-time installs (skills.sh)
  • Ranked #1,361 of 1,879 Documentation skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
  • Data as of Aug 5, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
At a glance

obsidian-literature-workflow capabilities & compatibility

Capabilities
literature review · research synthesis
Works with
obsidian
Use cases
research · documentation
Pricing
Free
From the docs

What obsidian-literature-workflow says it does

Handle the **literature sub-workflow** inside the filesystem-first Obsidian project knowledge base.
SKILL.md
Durable paper notes live under `Papers/` inside `Research/{project-slug}/`
SKILL.md
npx skills add https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/awesome-agent-skills-for-empirical-research --skill obsidian-literature-workflow

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Listed on Skillselion
Installs1
repo stars3.2k
Last updatedAugust 4, 2026
Repositorybrycewang-stanford/awesome-agent-skills-for-empirical-research

What it does

Run filesystem-first literature review, ingest Zotero papers, and synthesize paper notes into project knowledge in Obsidian.

Who is it for?

Managing paper notes and literature synthesis inside an Obsidian research vault.

Skip if: Workflows that require an Obsidian MCP, or creating Concepts, Datasets, or .base views by default.

When should I use this skill?

When the user keeps paper notes in an Obsidian project and wants filesystem-first literature review or Zotero ingestion.

What you get

Canonical Papers/ notes, durable Knowledge/ synthesis, and a refreshed literature canvas.

  • Canonical Papers/*.md notes
  • Knowledge/ literature synthesis notes
  • Maps/literature.canvas

By the numbers

  • 10-step default workflow
  • 6-field standardized review schema

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

Obsidian Literature Workflow

Handle the literature sub-workflow inside the filesystem-first Obsidian project knowledge base.

Role in the workflow

This is a supporting skill under obsidian-project-memory.

Use it when the user says things like:

  • “My papers are in Obsidian”
  • “Read papers from Zotero and create notes in the vault”
  • “Review the notes under Papers/
  • “Generate literature knowledge notes from this project vault”
  • “Connect paper notes to project knowledge”
  • “Show me the literature structure as a map/graph”
  • “Check whether all papers already have detailed notes”

Assumptions

  • The project is already bound through .claude/project-memory/registry.yaml, or can be imported with obsidian-project-bootstrap
  • Durable paper notes live under Papers/ inside Research/{project-slug}/
  • Obsidian note writing is done through the filesystem; no Obsidian MCP is required
  • Zotero may still be used as the source of metadata/full text; use $zotero-obsidian-bridge when the source corpus is in Zotero

Default workflow

1. Read bound project memory and locate the vault root. 2. If the source papers are in Zotero, explicitly use $zotero-obsidian-bridge to pull them into canonical Papers/*.md notes. 3. Scan Papers/ and adjacent synthesis notes using filesystem tools. 4. Normalize note metadata and structure using $obsidian-markdown.

  • Prefer the standardized review schema:
  • Claim
  • Method
  • Evidence
  • Limitation
  • Direct relevance to repo
  • Relation to other papers

5. Query narrowly first:

  • read the relevant paper notes,
  • then the linked Knowledge/ notes,
  • and only then open Writing/ if the user asked for a review or comparison deliverable.

6. Prefer updating existing paper notes and literature synthesis notes over creating sibling notes. 7. Default literature synthesis should land in Knowledge/, not Experiments/ or Results/:

  • update Knowledge/Literature-Overview.md
  • update Knowledge/Method-Families.md
  • update Knowledge/Research-Gaps.md

when the synthesis is stable enough to deserve canonical notes. 8. If the source is a named collection and the user cares about completeness, maintain a collection inventory note with explicit coverage mapping. 9. Refresh Maps/literature.canvas after major paper-note changes or batch note creation.

  • Prefer argument-map structure over dense all-to-all links.
  • Prefer semantic filtering and edge thinning.
  • Create Maps/literature-main.canvas only when a lightweight presentation graph is needed.

10. Update the daily note and project memory with what changed.

Default outputs

  • Papers/ remains first-class: one durable paper note per paper whenever possible
  • Knowledge/ holds durable literature synthesis notes
  • Maps/literature.canvas is the default visual graph surface
  • literature work should usually produce at least one of:
  • new or updated paper notes,
  • new or updated knowledge notes,
  • literature-canvas refresh,
  • optional writing synthesis when requested

Default stance

Do not assume by default:

  • Concepts/
  • Datasets/
  • .base views

The literature workflow may create Maps/literature.canvas by default. Other artifacts still require explicit justification.

References

Load only what is needed:

  • references/PAPER-NOTE-SCHEMA.md - detailed paper-note frontmatter and sections
  • references/CANVAS-WORKFLOW.md - how and when to refresh Maps/literature.canvas

Related skills

FAQ

Does obsidian-literature-workflow need an Obsidian MCP?

No, Obsidian note writing is done through the filesystem; no Obsidian MCP is required.

Where does literature synthesis land?

In Knowledge/ notes such as Literature-Overview, Method-Families, and Research-Gaps, not Experiments or Results.

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