Obsidian Notes Creator

Transform source material into genuinely excellent study notes — with analogies that make hard things click, diagrams that show structure at a glance, and layouts that scale from a single concept to an entire subject.

Workflow

flowchart LR
    A[Source Material] --> B[Understand & Extract]
    B --> C{Single topic or multi-file?}
    C -->|Single| D[Write Note]
    C -->|Multi| E[Plan Structure]
    E --> D
    D --> F[Enrich with Components]
    F --> G[Quality Check]

Step 1: Understand the Source

Read the source material and identify:

• The core concepts (theory, definitions, formulas)
• The mechanisms (how things work, algorithms, processes)
• The tricky parts (things a student would get confused by)
• Where analogies and examples would help most

The tricky parts are the most important — they're where the note earns its value.

Step 2: Decide Scope

Single note (one .md file) when the topic is self-contained and under ~400 lines. → Use template in [references/structure/single-note.md](references/structure/single-note.md)

Multi-file when the topic has 3+ major sub-concepts, or when sub-concepts are reused by other notes. → See rules and folder layouts in [references/structure/multi-file.md](references/structure/multi-file.md) → Write a hub note last: [references/structure/index-note.md](references/structure/index-note.md)

Step 3: Write Content

Order matters. Always: motivation → intuition → analogy → formal definition → confirmation. Never open with a formula. See [references/writing/intuition-first.md](references/writing/intuition-first.md).

For every hard concept, choose an analogy pattern: → [references/writing/analogies.md](references/writing/analogies.md) — 5 patterns: step-down, before/after, object, pseudocode, direction-flip

For every concept, add at least one example: → [references/writing/examples.md](references/writing/examples.md) — Concept→Example→Variation, Problem→Solution→Why

When two things are similar, compare them immediately: → [references/writing/comparisons.md](references/writing/comparisons.md) — tables, hierarchy views, similarities + key difference

Step 4: Add Obsidian Components

Use callouts to signal special content (warnings, analogies, tips, questions) — not for decoration: → [references/components/callouts.md](references/components/callouts.md) — all 13 types with a decision guide

Choose the right diagram type for the content: → [references/components/diagrams.md](references/components/diagrams.md) — Mermaid (6 types) + ASCII patterns + embedded SVG/PNG for data visuals

Fill frontmatter with tags and date: → [references/components/frontmatter.md](references/components/frontmatter.md)

Link related notes with wikilinks: → [references/components/wikilinks.md](references/components/wikilinks.md)

Step 5: Quality Check

Before finishing, run through: → [references/quality-checklist.md](references/quality-checklist.md)

Key gates: every hard concept has an analogy, every concept has an example, every note has a diagram, callouts are used purposefully, frontmatter is filled.