Recommended Obsidian Plugins — PUMA Vault
Overview
Complete setup guide for getting the most out of this vault.
🔧 Essential Plugins (Install First)
1. Dataview
ID: blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview
Purpose: Query your vault like a database. Powers all dynamic tables and dashboards.
Key queries used in this vault:
TABLE status, deadline, priority
FROM "90 - GTD/91 Tasks"
WHERE status != "done"
SORT deadline ASCSetup: Enable “Enable JavaScript Queries” in settings.
2. Templater
ID: SilentVoid13/Templater
Purpose: Advanced template engine with JavaScript support and date functions.
Configuration:
Template folder: 00 - Meta/Templates
Trigger Templater on new file creation: ON
Enable JavaScript templating: ON
Key templates in this vault:
Template-Literature-Note-Paper.md→ for all papersTemplate-Permanent-Note.md→ for Zettelkasten atomsTemplate-Experiment-Note.md→ for each PUMA experiment runTemplate-Prompt-Note.md→ for all promptsTemplate-Daily-Review.md→ daily GTD reviewTemplate-Weekly-Review.md→ weekly GTD review
3. Tasks
ID: obsidian-tasks-group/obsidian-tasks
Purpose: Track tasks across the entire vault with due dates, priorities, and filters.
Key shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+T to toggle task status.
Example query for PUMA dashboard:
```tasks
not done
due before in two weeks
path includes "40 - Projects/PUMA"
sort by due
```
4. Calendar + Periodic Notes
IDs: liamcain/obsidian-calendar-plugin + liamcain/obsidian-periodic-notes
Purpose: Daily/weekly note navigation from a calendar view.
Configuration:
Daily notes folder: 90 - GTD/95 Reviews
Daily template: 00 - Meta/Templates/Template-Daily-Review.md
Weekly notes folder: 90 - GTD/95 Reviews
Weekly template: 00 - Meta/Templates/Template-Weekly-Review.md
5. Kanban
ID: mgmeyers/obsidian-kanban
Purpose: Visual Kanban board for project task management.
Create a PUMA Kanban board:
---
kanban-plugin: board
---
## 📥 Backlog
- [ ] Implement heuristic baseline classifier
- [ ] Download TAWOS dataset
- [ ] Set up Docker Compose
## 🔄 In Progress
- [ ] Write Chapter 2 literature review
- [ ] Implement TriageAgent class
## ✅ Done
- [x] PEC1 submitted
- [x] Environment verified6. Obsidian Git
ID: Vinzent03/obsidian-git
Purpose: Auto-commit vault to GitHub repository.
Configuration:
Auto pull on startup: ON
Auto push after auto commit: ON
Auto commit interval: 30 minutes
Commit message: "vault: auto-save "{{date}}"
Setup commands:
# In vault directory (before opening Obsidian)
git init
git remote add origin https://github.com/[username]/PUMA-Vault
git add .
git commit -m "Initial vault structure"
git push -u origin main7. QuickAdd
ID: chhoumann/quickadd
Purpose: Fast note creation from keyboard shortcut using templates.
Configure macros:
Alt+F→ Create Fleeting Note (in10 - Inbox/Fleeting-Notes/)Alt+L→ Create Literature Note (in20 - Literature/)Alt+P→ Create Permanent Note (in30 - Permanent/)Alt+E→ Create Experiment Note (in40 - Projects/PUMA/41.7 Experiments/)
8. Smart Connections
ID: brianpetro/obsidian-smart-connections
Purpose: AI-powered note recommendations — shows semantically related notes automatically.
Note: Requires API key (OpenAI) or can use local models. Helpful for discovering connections between Zettelkasten notes.
9. Zotero Integration (Citations)
IDs: mgmeyers/obsidian-zotero-integration OR hans/obsidian-citation-plugin
Purpose: Import Zotero references directly into Obsidian as literature notes.
Workflow:
- Add paper to Zotero
- In Obsidian:
Ctrl+Shift+Z→ search Zotero library - Select paper → inserts formatted citation and creates literature note from template
Zotero connector setup:
- Install Better BibTeX in Zotero
- Export library as
Better BibTeX JSONto00 - Meta/zotero-library.json - Point citation plugin to this file
🟡 Highly Recommended Plugins
Excalidraw
ID: zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin
Purpose: Embedded whiteboard drawing for architecture diagrams and concept maps.
PUMA use: Drawing the PUMA architecture (Figura 1 equivalent), experiment design diagrams.
Tag Wrangler
ID: pjeby/tag-wrangler
Purpose: Rename, merge, and manage tags across the entire vault.
Auto Link Title
ID: zolrath/obsidian-auto-link-title
Purpose: Automatically fetches page title when pasting a URL.
Better Word Count
ID: lukeleppan/better-word-count
Purpose: Shows word count per section and overall — useful for tracking chapter progress.
Table Editor (Advanced Tables)
ID: tgrosinger/advanced-tables-obsidian
Purpose: Easy table editing with Tab navigation and formula support.
Footnotes
ID: MichaBrugger/obsidian-footnotes
Purpose: Quickly insert footnotes with Ctrl+Shift+F — useful for academic writing.
Front Matter Title
ID: snezhig/obsidian-front-matter-title
Purpose: Display title from YAML frontmatter as the note title in file explorer.
📋 Vault Configuration Settings
Obsidian Core Settings
Default new note location: 10 - Inbox
New note template: (handled by Templater + QuickAdd)
Attachments folder: 00 - Meta/Attachments
Use Wikilinks: ON (not Markdown links)
Always update internal links: ON
Graph View Configuration
- Node colour: by folder (colour-code 30-Permanent green, 20-Literature blue, 40-Projects orange)
- Filter: exclude
70 - Archive,00 - Meta - Forces: Link strength 1, Repel force 10
🔌 Plugin Startup Checklist
First-Time Setup — Complete in Order
After installing all plugins, verify each item below before using the vault.
- Dataview: Enable JS queries
- Templater: Set template folder + hotkeys
- Tasks: Configure global task format
- Periodic Notes: Set daily/weekly template paths
- Calendar: Show week numbers ON
- Git: Set remote + auto-commit interval
- QuickAdd: Configure all 4 macros
- Zotero: Export library + configure path
- Test: Create one note of each type using hotkeys