Obsidian Canvas Automation: Drawing Guide with Claude Code Skills

2026-01-23 1208 words 6 minutes

You will learn:
How to install the Obsidian Skills plugin
Methods to generate Canvas via natural language instructions
Practical Case: Auto-generating a historical knowledge graph
Canvas file format and custom styling
More practical scenarios and best practices

What is Obsidian Canvas Automation?

Obsidian Canvas Automation refers to using Claude Code’s Agent capabilities and the obsidian-skills plugin to automatically research materials, organize logical relationships, and generate structured Canvas knowledge graphs via natural language instructions. This workflow combines AI search capabilities, logical reasoning, and Canvas visualization, reducing the time from “idea to knowledge graph” from hours to minutes.

Obsidian’s Canvas feature provides an excellent space for organizing complex knowledge. By combining it with Claude Code’s Agent capabilities, you can automatically research materials and draw a logically clear Canvas with a single instruction, not only generating structure from text but also greatly improving research efficiency. This article will teach you how to configure the obsidian-skills plugin to achieve this magic.

Prerequisites

Before starting, please ensure:

Claude Code Client Installed: Your terminal environment must be able to run the claude command.
Obsidian Vault: You have an existing Obsidian note vault.

1. Start Claude Code

First, verify that we start Claude Code in the root directory of your Obsidian vault. This allows Claude to access your file system and perform plugin installation.

Open Terminal.
Use cd command to enter your Obsidian vault directory:
```
cd /path/to/your/obsidian/vault
```
Start Claude Code:
```
claude
```

2. Install Skills Plugin

We will use Claude Code’s /plugin system to install Obsidian Skills support provided by the community (kepano).

In the Claude interaction interface, enter the following commands in order:

Step 1: Add Marketplace Source (If needed)

/plugin marketplace add kepano/obsidian-skills

Note: This adds kepano’s skill library source from GitHub.

Step 2: Install Obsidian Skills

/plugin install obsidian@obsidian-skills

This command installs the toolset named obsidian, giving Claude the ability to manipulate Obsidian files (especially Canvas).

Step 3: Verify Installation

Enter the following command to check installed plugins:

/plugin

If you see obsidian Plugin · obsidian-skills in the returned list, the installation was successful.

3. Practical Case: One-Click Historical Knowledge Graph Generation

After installation, Claude masters the “drawing” skill. We can now give complex research and drawing tasks directly using natural language.

Example Instruction:

“Please help me search for major emperors of the Ming Dynasty and their related stories, organize their relationships and historical context, and finally generate a Canvas file directly in the current directory.”

Claude’s Execution Process:

Web Search: Claude automatically calls search tools to find the list of Ming emperors, biographies, and anecdotes.
Logic Organization: It understands relationships like father-son, brotherhood, and key historical event nodes.
File Generation: Utilizing obsidian-skills capabilities, it constructs JSON data conforming to Obsidian Canvas format and saves it as a .canvas file (e.g., Ming_Dynasty_Emperors.canvas).

4. View Results

Return to the Obsidian interface, and you will find a new .canvas file in the directory. Open it to see:

Cards for each emperor arranged neatly.
Cards connected by arrows indicating relationships (e.g., “Father-Son”, “Successor”).
Key historical events may be interspersed as note cards.

Advanced Usage

Custom Canvas Styling

By editing the generated .canvas JSON file, you can customize node colors, sizes, and connection styles:

{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "id": "node1",
      "type": "text",
      "text": "Ming Dynasty Founder - Zhu Yuanzhang",
      "x": 0,
      "y": 0,
      "width": 250,
      "height": 120,
      "color": "3"  // 1-6 corresponds to different color themes
    }
  ],
  "edges": [
    {
      "id": "edge1",
      "fromNode": "node1",
      "toNode": "node2",
      "label": "Father-Son"  // Connection label
    }
  ]
}

Color Code Reference:

"1" - Red
"2" - Orange
"3" - Yellow
"4" - Green
"5" - Blue
"6" - Purple

Batch Generate Series Canvas

You can ask Claude to generate multiple related Canvas files at once:

“Please help me generate knowledge graphs for Chinese dynasties, with a separate Canvas file for each dynasty, including major emperors, significant events, and cultural achievements. Name files as Dynasty_Name.canvas.”

Generation Result:

Dynasty_Qin.canvas
Dynasty_Han.canvas
Dynasty_Tang.canvas
...

More Practical Scenarios

1. Project Architecture Diagram

“Analyze my current Next.js project and generate a Canvas architecture diagram showing component hierarchy and data flow.”

2. Reading Notes

“I am reading Chapter 1 of ‘Sapiens’, please help extract core points and generate a mind map Canvas.”

3. Learning Roadmap

“Generate a complete learning roadmap Canvas for React, including dependencies for basics, advanced topics, and practical projects.”

FAQ

Q1: Which Claude Code versions does obsidian-skills support?

A: Requires Claude Code CLI v0.8.0 or higher. Check version:

claude --version

If the version is too low, please update to the latest version.

Q2: Can the generated Canvas be manually edited?

A: Absolutely. Once generated, you can open and manually adjust it in Obsidian:

Drag nodes to re-layout
Modify text content
Add/Delete connections
Adjust colors and styles
Insert images or note links

AI-generated Canvas is just a starting point; you can refine it further.

Q3: What if the generated Canvas is too complex?

A: Control complexity with more precise prompts:

# ❌ Too vague
"Generate Ming Dynasty history knowledge graph"

# ✅ Limited scope
"Generate inheritance relationship chart for the first 5 Ming emperors, including only names, reign periods, and major achievements."

You can also generate in stages: generate the main framework first, then refine step-by-step.

A: Several ways:

Git Sync: Commit .canvas files to Git repository
Export Image: Obsidian supports exporting Canvas as PNG/SVG
Obsidian Publish: If using Publish service, Canvas syncs too
File Sharing: Share the .canvas JSON file directly

Q5: What if generation fails or format errors occur?

A: Troubleshooting steps:

# 1. Confirm obsidian-skills is correctly installed
claude
> /plugin
# Should show obsidian Plugin · obsidian-skills

# 2. Check if current directory is inside Obsidian vault
pwd
# Should be under your Obsidian repository path

# 3. Check Claude's error message
# Usually indicates specifically what went wrong

# 4. Manually verify generated JSON
cat generated.canvas | python3 -m json.tool

Q6: Can I generate Canvas with Chinese nodes?

A: Absolutely. Claude supports any language:

> "Please generate a software development process Canvas in Chinese, including requirements analysis, design, development, testing, and deployment stages."

Generated node text and connection labels will be in Chinese.

Q7: How to make generated Canvas more beautiful?

A: Optimization prompt tips:

# Specify layout
"Generate timeline layout Canvas for history events, arranged left to right by time."

# Specify visual elements
"Use different colors for categories: Blue for people, Yellow for events, Green for locations."

# Specify node size
"Use larger cards for important nodes, small cards for secondary info."

Summary

With obsidian-skills, we bridge the last mile from “text generation” to “structured knowledge generation”. Whether organizing historical context, building project architecture diagrams, or taking reading notes, this workflow can greatly unleash your productivity.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Use /plugin install to install obsidian-skills
✅ Start Claude Code in Obsidian vault directory
✅ Generate Canvas via clear natural language instructions
✅ Can manually edit and beautify generated Canvas
✅ Supports batch generation and custom styling

Want to boost Obsidian + Claude Code productivity further? Recommended reading:

Obsidian Claudian Integration Guide - Use Claude Code directly in Obsidian
Claude Code Skills Complete Guide - Understand Skills underlying principles
OpenCode Skills Installation Guide - OpenCode’s skill package system
Claude Agent SDK Tutorial - Build custom AI Agent workflows

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