Snippets

Snippets let you insert reusable text templates with interactive fields. Type a trigger prefix and press Tab to expand — cursor jumps between editable placeholders. The system supports the VS Code/LSP snippet format, ships with 60+ Obsidian-adapted templates, and can be extended with user-defined JSON files or a Lua DSL.

Trigger mechanisms

Snippets can be triggered three ways, controlled by the Trigger mode setting:

Trigger	How it works
Tab expansion	Type the snippet prefix in insert mode, press Tab. The prefix is replaced with the expanded template.
Completion menu	As you type, matching snippets appear in the CM6 autocomplete popup. Select one to expand.
Ex command	:snippet <name> expands by snippet name. :snippets opens the picker.

The picker (:snippets) provides fuzzy search across all loaded snippets with a preview pane showing the expanded body.

Tabstop navigation

After expansion, the cursor lands on the first tabstop. Navigate between fields:

Key	Action
Tab	Move to next tabstop
Shift+Tab	Move to previous tabstop
Escape	Exit snippet mode

Linked mirrors: When the same tabstop number appears multiple times in a template, editing one updates all instances simultaneously.

Bundled snippets

The plugin ships with Obsidian-specific snippets (enabled by default, toggle in settings):

Markdown formatting

Prefix	Name	Output
h1–h6	Headings	# Heading through ###### Heading
bold	Bold	**text**
italic	Italic	*text*
bi	Bold italic	***text***
strike	Strikethrough	~~text~~
hl	Highlight	==text==
ic	Inline code	`code`
cb	Code block	Fenced code block with language tabstop
link	Link	[text](url)
img	Image	
quote	Blockquote	> text
hr	Horizontal rule	---

Lists and tasks

Prefix	Name	Output
ol	Ordered list	Three numbered items
ul	Unordered list	Three bullet items
task	Task	- [ ] task

Obsidian-specific

Prefix	Name	Output
wl	Wikilink	[[page]]
wla	Wikilink with alias	[[page|alias]]
embed	Embed	![[file]]
comment	Comment	%%comment%%
fm	Frontmatter	YAML frontmatter with title, date, tags
math	Math block	Display math $$..$$
im	Inline math	Inline math $...$
table	Table 2×2	Two-column table with header
table3	Table 3×3	Three-column table with header

Callouts

All Obsidian callout types are available with a c prefix:

cnote, cabstract, csummary, ctldr, cinfo, ctodo, ctip, chint, cimportant, csuccess, ccheck, cdone, cquestion, chelp, cfaq, cwarning, ccaution, cattention, cfailure, cfail, cmissing, cdanger, cerror, cbug, cexample, cquote, ccite

Each expands to > [!type] Title with tabstops on the title and content.

Date and utility

Prefix	Name	Output
date	Date (ISO)	2026-07-13
datel	Date (long)	July 13, 2026
time	Time	14:30:00
datetime	Date and time	2026-07-13 14:30:00
diso	ISO 8601	2026-07-13T14:30:00
uuid	UUID v4	Random UUID

User-defined snippets

Point the Snippet directory setting to a folder containing .json files in VS Code snippet format:

{
    "My Snippet": {
        "prefix": "mysnip",
        "body": ["Hello ${1:World}!", "$0"],
        "description": "A greeting snippet"
    }
}

User snippets override bundled snippets when they share the same prefix — the bundled entry is removed from the completion menu, picker, and Tab expansion. The override priority order is user > lua > bundled: user JSON snippets always win, Lua snippets override bundled but yield to user JSON, and bundled snippets are defaults that yield to any explicit definition. When a multi-prefix bundled snippet is partially overridden (e.g., user overrides prefix a but not prefix b), the bundled snippet remains accessible via the non-overridden prefix. The directory supports absolute paths (with ~ expansion) and vault-relative paths.

Snippet body syntax

Syntax	Description
$1, $2	Tabstops (navigate with Tab/Shift+Tab)
$0	Final cursor position
${1:default}	Tabstop with default text
${1|a,b,c|}	Choice node (cycle with Ctrl+N/Ctrl+P)
${1:${2:nested}}	Nested placeholders
$CURRENT_YEAR	Variable (resolved at expansion)

Supported variables

Selection and content

Variable	Value
$TM_SELECTED_TEXT	Currently selected text
$VISUAL	Alias for $TM_SELECTED_TEXT (vim convention)
$TM_CURRENT_LINE	Contents of the current line
$TM_CURRENT_WORD	Word under cursor
$WORD	Alias for $TM_CURRENT_WORD (vim convention)
$TM_LINE_NUMBER	Line number (1-based)
$TM_LINE_INDEX	Line number (0-based)
$CLIPBOARD	Clipboard contents

File and path

Variable	Value
$TM_FILENAME	Current filename with extension
$TM_FILENAME_BASE	Current filename without extension
$TM_FILEPATH	Full vault path
$TM_DIRECTORY	Parent directory path
$RELATIVE_FILEPATH	Vault-relative path (same as $TM_FILEPATH in Obsidian)

Workspace and cursor

Variable	Value
$WORKSPACE_NAME	Vault name
$WORKSPACE_FOLDER	Vault name (absolute path not available in Obsidian)
$CURSOR_INDEX	Cursor index (0-based, always 0)
$CURSOR_NUMBER	Cursor number (1-based, always 1)

Date and time

Variable	Value
$CURRENT_YEAR	Full year (e.g. 2026)
$CURRENT_YEAR_SHORT	Last 2 digits of year
$CURRENT_MONTH	Month 01–12
$CURRENT_MONTH_NAME	Month name (e.g. July)
$CURRENT_MONTH_NAME_SHORT	Month name abbreviation (e.g. Jul)
$CURRENT_DATE	Day 01–31
$CURRENT_DAY_NAME	Weekday name (e.g. Monday)
$CURRENT_DAY_NAME_SHORT	Weekday abbreviation (e.g. Mon)
$CURRENT_HOUR	Hour 00–23
$CURRENT_MINUTE	Minute 00–59
$CURRENT_SECOND	Second 00–59
$CURRENT_MILLISECOND	Millisecond 000–999
$CURRENT_SECONDS_UNIX	Unix timestamp (seconds)
$CURRENT_MILLISECONDS_UNIX	Unix timestamp (milliseconds)
$CURRENT_TIMEZONE_OFFSET	UTC offset (e.g. +0200)
$CURRENT_TIMEZONE_NAME	Timezone name (e.g. Central European Summer Time)

Random

Variable	Value
$RANDOM	6-digit random number
$RANDOM_HEX	6-digit random hex
$UUID	Random UUID v4

$TM_SELECTED_TEXT / $VISUAL resolve to the visual selection when expanding via the :snippet command. Select text in visual mode, then type :snippet <name> to wrap or transform the selection. In tab-expand mode, selection is not available (tab expansion requires an empty selection). On mobile, $CLIPBOARD may resolve to empty due to browser clipboard API restrictions.

Context filtering

Snippets can be restricted to specific editing contexts with the "context" field:

{
    "JS Function": {
        "prefix": "fn",
        "body": ["function ${1:name}(${2:args}) {", "\t$0", "}"],
        "context": "code:js"
    }
}

Context value	Active when cursor is in
"prose"	Normal markdown text (not in code block or frontmatter)
"code:*"	Any fenced code block
"code:js"	A ```js code block (language-specific)
"frontmatter"	YAML frontmatter block
(omitted)	Available everywhere

Lua snippet DSL

Define snippets in .obsidian.init.lua using a LuaSnip-inspired DSL:

local s = vim.snippet.s
local t = vim.snippet.t
local i = vim.snippet.i
local c = vim.snippet.c
local fmt = vim.snippet.fmt
 
-- Simple snippet
vim.snippet.add("greet", s("Greeting", {
    t("Hello, "), i(1, "world"), t("!")
}))
 
-- Using fmt (most common pattern)
vim.snippet.add("fn", s("Function", fmt([[
function {}({})
    {}
end
]], { i(1, "name"), i(2, "args"), i(0) })))
 
-- With choices
vim.snippet.add("log", s("Console Log", {
    t("console."), c(1, { t("log"), t("warn"), t("error") }),
    t("("), i(2, "msg"), t(")"),
}))
 
-- With context
vim.snippet.add("ret", s("Return", {
    t("return "), i(1),
}, { context = "code:*" }))

DSL functions

Function	Description
vim.snippet.s(name, nodes, opts?)	Define a snippet
vim.snippet.t(text)	Static text node
vim.snippet.i(index, default?)	Editable tabstop
vim.snippet.c(index, choices)	Choice node (list of t() nodes)
vim.snippet.rep(index)	Mirror/repeat a tabstop
vim.snippet.fmt(str, nodes, opts?)	Format string with {} placeholders
vim.snippet.f(fn, deps)	Function node — computes text from dependency field values
vim.snippet.d(index, fn, deps)	Dynamic node — generates sub-snippet based on field values
vim.snippet.sn(index, nodes, opts?)	Snippet node — wraps nodes for use as d() return value
vim.snippet.r(index, type_name?)	Restore node — preserves user input across d() regeneration
vim.snippet.add(trigger, snippet)	Register a snippet
vim.snippet.add_all(table)	Register multiple snippets

Static snippets (t, i, c, rep, fmt) compile to VS Code JSON at load time. Dynamic snippets (f, d, r) execute Lua functions reactively during snippet editing.

Dynamic snippets

Dynamic snippets update in real time as you edit fields.

f() — function node: Computes text from other field values. Updates automatically when dependency fields change.

vim.snippet.add("mirror", s("Mirror", {
    i(1, "hello"),
    t(" → "),
    f(function(args) return string.upper(args[1]) end, { 1 }),
}))
-- Typing "world" in field 1 → output: "world → WORLD"

d() — dynamic node: Generates an entire sub-snippet based on field values. Regenerates when dependencies change.

vim.snippet.add("list", s("List", {
    i(1, "3"),
    d(2, function(args)
        local n = tonumber(args[1]) or 1
        local nodes = {}
        for j = 1, n do
            table.insert(nodes, t("\n- "))
            table.insert(nodes, i(j, "item " .. j))
        end
        return sn(nil, nodes)
    end, { 1 }),
}))
-- Typing "3" in field 1 → generates 3 editable list items

r() — restore node: Used inside d() to preserve user edits when the dynamic node regenerates.

d(2, function(args, parent, old_state)
    return sn(nil, {
        t("\n"),
        i(1, "editable"),  -- restored from old_state if available
    }, { stored = old_state })
end, { 1 })

Dynamic snippets have a 50ms debounce on recomputation to avoid UI jank. Lua functions are time-guarded at 100ms — if a function exceeds this limit, recomputation is skipped for that cycle.

Settings

Settings → Vim Motions → Snippets

Setting	Default	Description
Enable snippets	true	Master toggle for snippet expansion
Bundled snippets	true	Include built-in Obsidian markdown snippets
Snippet directory	(empty)	Path to user snippet JSON directory
Trigger mode	both	completion, tab, or both

Vimrc options

set snippets        " Enable/disable snippets (boolean)
set snippetbundled  " Enable/disable bundled snippets (boolean)
set snippetdir=path " Set user snippet directory
set snippettrigger=both " Set trigger mode (completion/tab/both)