CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Repository Purpose

A collection of custom skills for Claude Code. Skills extend Claude's capabilities with specialized knowledge and workflows. Currently contains the obsidian-canvas skill for creating Obsidian .canvas files.

Skill Structure

Each skill follows this structure:

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md           # Skill definition with YAML frontmatter (name, description)
├── references/        # Supporting documentation and specifications
├── examples/          # Sample outputs demonstrating the skill
└── scripts/           # Helper scripts (optional)

The YAML frontmatter in SKILL.md defines how Claude Code discovers and triggers the skill:

---
name: skill-name
description: When to use this skill...
---

Installation for Testing

Symlink a skill to test it locally:

ln -s "$(pwd)/obsidian-canvas" ~/.claude/skills/obsidian-canvas

Or copy for permanent installation:

cp -r obsidian-canvas ~/.claude/skills/

Python Helper (obsidian-canvas)

The obsidian-canvas/scripts/create_canvas.py provides a CanvasBuilder class for programmatic canvas generation:

# Run directly to create example canvas
python obsidian-canvas/scripts/create_canvas.py --example mindmap -o output.canvas

# Or import in scripts
from scripts.create_canvas import CanvasBuilder

No external dependencies required—uses only Python standard library.

Canvas File Format

• .canvas files are JSON with nodes and edges arrays
• Node IDs are 16-character lowercase hex (use secrets.token_hex(8))
• Use \n for newlines in text, NOT \\n
• Groups must appear before contained nodes in the array (z-index ordering)