The plugin holds only WHEN, the vault holds HOW — designing a format-agnostic Claude Code plugin

The Claude Code plugin operates independently of the formatting conventions within an Obsidian vault. It reads the vault's README.md file to understand the vault's specific formatting rules. This design choice allows the plugin to be flexible and work with various vault formats without being limited by hardcoded conventions within the plugin itself.

Existing plugins that attempt to format the vault according to a predefined structure (like eugeniughelbur/obsidian-second-brain or AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian) can cause conflicts if the vault has different formatting rules. The plugin's design focuses on "WHEN" to CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) the vault based on the vault's own conventions, rather than imposing a specific format.

This separation of concerns between the plugin's actions and the vault's structure enables the plugin to adapt to different vault formats by simply reading the vault's README.md. If the vault's conventions are unclear, the plugin stops and asks for clarification instead of silently assuming a default format. This approach helps prevent format drift and ensures that the plugin produces consistent, high-quality notes.

The plugin's modular implementation, with each operational skill handling its own CRUD action, makes it easy to add new features without worrying about format-related decisions. Overall, the key takeaway is that the vault defines the format (HOW) and the plugin determines when to interact with the vault (WHEN), allowing for a flexible and adaptable system.