Create Obsidian Canvas files from text content, supporting both MindMap and freeform layouts. Use this skill when users want to visualize content as an interactive canvas, create mind maps, or organize information spatially in Obsidian format.
Obsidian Canvas Creator transforms text content into structured Obsidian Canvas files, generating valid Canvas JSON for either radial MindMap layouts or flexible freeform arrangements. It addresses the tedious manual work of positioning nodes, drawing edges, and avoiding overlaps when turning articles, notes, or outlines into a spatial, interactive diagram that opens directly in Obsidian.
The workflow analyzes the input to find topics and hierarchical relationships, infers or asks for a layout type, plans the node/edge/group structure, and then emits Canvas JSON with unique hex IDs, content-length-based node sizing, consistent preset or hex color schemes, and validated non-overlapping coordinates. It bundles reference material for the Canvas specification and detailed layout algorithms, including collision detection, radial branch positioning, top-down tree layout, and grid-based zone layout for freeform grouping, plus starter templates for mindmap and grouped-freeform canvases. It also encodes careful rules for quote escaping (including Chinese full-width quotes), z-index ordering of groups versus nodes, and minimum spacing constants.
It targets Obsidian users, knowledge workers, and note-takers who want to visualize content as mind maps or concept networks without hand-editing JSON. Typical use cases include brainstorming and topic exploration, converting structured notes into visual overviews, and building spatial diagrams of complex, non-hierarchical relationships.
A complete, valid JSON Canvas file that is directly importable into Obsidian, containing nodes, edges, and optional groups with no extra explanatory text around the JSON.
Two: a radial MindMap layout for hierarchical parent-child content, and a freeform layout with custom positioning and grouped zones for non-hierarchical or networked content.
It applies minimum spacing constants (320px horizontal, 200px vertical between centers) and a collision-detection routine described in the layout-algorithms reference, iterating to push apart nodes that are too close.
Node dimensions scale with text length (from 220x100 up to 320x180), and colors use Obsidian's six preset numbers or uppercase custom hex values for brand consistency.
No. The output is a standard .canvas JSON file; you just open it in Obsidian's Canvas feature, with no additional dependencies.
Quick Setup:
.claude/skills/Repository
axtonliu/axton-obsidian-visual-skills