Templater: our vault as an operating system

If we start every daily note from a blank file and think “what should I write here” — we’re burning energy in the wrong place. A template removes that question once and for all. In this article — my actual templates that have been running in the vault for years.

Why templates aren’t “bureaucracy”

The word “template” sounds bureaucratic. In reality — it’s a thinking protocol. A tested form that asks us the right questions while we’re tired or in a hurry. Without templates:

Daily notes come out different every day. Sometimes there’s “how I feel,” sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes “what I did,” sometimes we forgot.
Meeting notes — no one can read them later, the structure is different every time.
A new project starts from a blank file and we burn two hours on “how to organize this.”

With templates:

Press one button — get a daily note with the date pre-filled, weather, 3 sections (intention for the day, what got done, reflection).
New project — in 10 seconds a ready folder with README, taskboard, decisions log, decisions template.
Meeting notes — identical sections (attendees, agenda, decisions, action items), easy to find anything a month later.

This is the “operating system” — repeatable processes without having to reinvent the form every single time.

Templater — the foundation

In the previous article about plugins I mentioned Templater. This is the plugin that makes templates alive. Plain Obsidian templates (built-in) are just static files that get copied. Templater gives us variables: substitute date, time, file name, our name, a random example, anything.

Basic syntax:

<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>     -> 2026-09-23
<% tp.date.now("dddd") %>            -> Wednesday
<% tp.file.title %>                  -> current file name
<% tp.system.prompt("Project name") %>  -> prompts you for input

Looks like code, but really it’s just a set of “placeholders” that get filled in at file creation time.

Setup: Settings → Templater → Template folder location — pick 99_Meta/Templates. This is where our templates will live. Another important option: Trigger Templater on new file creation + Folder Templates — this lets a template fire automatically when we create a file in a specific folder.

Template 1 — Daily Note

My actual daily note (simplified for the example — drop our own details in place of [placeholders]):

---
date: <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
day: <% tp.date.now("dddd") %>
tags: [daily-note]
---

# <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD, dddd") %>

## Intention for the day
> What's the one important outcome that will make today a success?

[our one main thing for today]

## Top 3
- [ ] 
- [ ] 
- [ ] 

## What got done (evening)
- 

## Reflection (2-3 sentences)
- 

## Links
- [[<% tp.date.yesterday("YYYY-MM-DD") %>|← yesterday]] | [[<% tp.date.tomorrow("YYYY-MM-DD") %>|tomorrow →]]

What happens:

On file creation — date and weekday get substituted.
At the bottom, links to yesterday’s and tomorrow’s daily notes appear automatically — one-click navigation between days.

Setup in Periodic Notes (the plugin from the previous article): point it at this template as Daily note template — and when we click on a day in Calendar, Obsidian creates a new note already with this structure.

Template 2 — Meeting Notes

---
date: <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
type: meeting
attendees: []
status: draft
tags: [meeting-notes]
---

# <% tp.system.prompt("Meeting topic") %> — <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>

## Attendees
- 

## Context
Why is this meeting happening? What do we want to achieve?

## Agenda
1. 
2. 
3. 

## Notes

## Decisions
- 

## Action items
- [ ] **[name]** — [what to do] — by [date]

## Next steps
- 

## Links
-

What happens:

On creation — a popup asks “Meeting topic?”, we type — the file name and heading fill in immediately.
Same structure for every meeting — months later, searching for “what did we decide with [client X] in July” — click, “Decisions” section — it’s all there.

Template 3 — Project Setup

The most useful template. When I start a new project, I don’t create one note. I want a folder with 4 files at once:

README.md — project overview
Tasks.md — current tasks
Decisions.md — log of key decisions
Notes.md — running notes

Templater lets us do this via scripted templates — a template that runs JavaScript and creates several files at once. It’s a bit more complex than the previous two, but configure it once — use it for years.

A simplified version — create a template that asks for the project name and generates README.md, while we create the rest of the files by hand in a minute. Like this:

---
project: <% tp.system.prompt("Project name") %>
status: active
start_date: <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
tags: [project]
---

# <% tp.frontmatter.project %>

## Context and goal
[why this project, what we want to get]

## Definition of success
[what the finished project looks like — concretely]

## Stakeholders
- 

## High-level plan
- [ ] 
- [ ] 
- [ ] 

## Deadline
[Date] — [what should be ready]

## Risks
- 

## Links
- [[Tasks]]
- [[Decisions]]
- [[Notes]]

How to use it: we create a folder 10_Projects/[Project name]/, inside — a new file, pick this template (via the Templater command in the Command Palette), it asks for the name, generates the file. The other 3 files — by hand in a minute.

If we want — we can ask Claude:

In my vault at the path 99_Meta/Templates there's a template
project-setup.md. Create a new folder 10_Projects/[Name],
inside — 4 files (README from the template + empty Tasks.md,
Decisions.md, Notes.md). Show me the result.

The AI will build the structure in one move.

Template 4 — Weekly Review

Once a week, on Friday evening or Sunday — a note summing things up. Without it, the vault quickly turns into a junkyard, because nothing gets closed.

---
week: <% tp.date.now("YYYY-[W]ww") %>
date_start: <% tp.date.weekday("YYYY-MM-DD", 1) %>
date_end: <% tp.date.weekday("YYYY-MM-DD", 7) %>
tags: [weekly-review]
---

# Week <% tp.date.now("YYYY-[W]ww") %>

## What happened — main events

## What got done (by category)
### Work
- 

### Personal
- 

### Health
- 

## What didn't get done and why
- 

## Lessons of the week
- 

## Focus for next week — top 3
1. 
2. 
3. 

## Links to daily notes
-

If we have Periodic Notes — it’ll create this file automatically on Friday/Sunday, whichever we pick.

How I build a new template — the process

Do it by hand 3-5 times. Don’t start with a template. The first weeks we do daily/meeting/project by hand. We’ll notice what repeats.
Capture the common elements. What’s always there? What do we always forget and regret later? What’s structurally important?
Create the template — minimal. 5-7 sections max to start. No heroics.
Use it for 2 weeks. We’ll figure out what to add and what’s unnecessary.
Iteration. Every 2-3 months we review our templates. Toss sections that are always empty. Add what always shows up.

Common mistakes

1. A template with 50 sections. Oversized templates have the opposite effect — we don’t fill them in at all, because it’s a 30-minute task. Keep it under 10 sections.

2. Copying someone else’s YouTube template without adapting. Other people’s templates are other people’s questions. Work with our own.

3. Template in 00_Inbox/ instead of 99_Meta/Templates/. Templater looks for templates in a defined folder. Don’t scatter them across the vault — that’s chaos.

4. Forgetting about Folder Template. We can configure it so that creating a file in a specific folder automatically applies a template. Without that, we have to pick it manually every time — and often we forget.

What’s next

Now we have templates — the vault isn’t just a “note base,” it’s a working system. The last thing left is the ritual that keeps this system alive. Without 10 min a day and 30 min a week, even the best structure turns into a notes graveyard within a month.

If we don’t want to miss it — follow me on LinkedIn, I announce each next piece there.