Obsidian Graph Traversal

Status: Active Author: Richard Fremmerlid Domain: Obsidian Integration Depends On: obsidian-markdown-mastery (WP05, obsidian-parser)

Purpose

This skill transforms static vault notes into a queryable semantic graph. It answers questions like "What connects to Note X?" and "What are the 2nd-degree connections of Concept A?" — instantly, without rescanning the vault.

Performance Target: < 2 seconds for deep queries across 1000+ notes.

Available Commands

Build the Graph Index

python ./scripts/graph_ops.py build --vault-root <path>

Get Forward Links (outbound)

python ./scripts/graph_ops.py forward --note "Note Name"

Get Backlinks (inbound)

python ./scripts/graph_ops.py backlinks --note "Note Name"

Get N-Degree Connections

python ./scripts/graph_ops.py connections --note "Note Name" --depth 2

Find Orphaned Notes

python ./scripts/graph_ops.py orphans --vault-root <path>

Architecture

In-Memory Graph Index

• On build, every .md file in the vault is parsed using the obsidian-parser
• Wikilinks are extracted; embeds (![[...]]) are filtered out
• A bidirectional adjacency map is built: {source: [targets], ...} and {target: [sources], ...}
• The index is cached as .graph-index.json at the vault root
• Invalidation uses file mtime — if a file changed since last build, only that file is re-indexed

The Primary Agent as Librarian

The graph index enables the agent to:

• Detect blind spots: Orphaned notes indicate areas where agents act without historical context
• Resolve conflicts: If two agents update the same note, the graph shows the impact radius
• Enforce schema: Frontmatter metadata (status, trust_score) tracked across linked notes