Obsidian Vault

Graph Guide

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tagsnote/guide

4 min read

Graph Guide

How to build the graph by hand — one note, one [[link]], at a time.

The one-sentence version

The graph is nothing but your links. No links → lonely dots. Links → edges. Everything below is a way of adding more edges.

1. A note is just a file

Every note is a plain .md file in this folder. That’s it. Rename the file, the note changes. Delete it, the note’s gone.

  • New note: Ctrl+N
  • Or: click any [[link]] to a note that doesn’t exist yet — Obsidian creates it for you (this is the fastest way to grow).

2. The link syntax — this is the whole trick

You typeYou get
[[Note Name]]A link to that note (and an edge in the graph)
[[Note Name|shown text]]Same link, displays “shown text”
[[Note Name#Heading]]Jumps to a heading inside that note
[[Note Name^block-id]]Jumps to a specific block
![[Note Name]]Embeds the whole note inline (transclusion)
[[Brand New Note]]Doesn’t exist? Click it → creates the note

3. Making an edge

Two ways links happen:

  1. You write it. Type [[ anywhere in a note and Obsidian pops an autocomplete of every note you can link to.
  2. Backlinks (automatic). You only ever write one direction. If A links to B, Obsidian automatically shows A in B’s Backlinks panel (right sidebar). So:
    • Outgoing links = what this note points to.
    • Backlinks = what points to this note. You never have to write the reverse link yourself.

4. The build loop (do this on repeat)

open a note  →  ask "what does this connect to?"  →  type [[target]]
     ↑                                                        │
     └──────────  click it, create it if missing  ←───────────┘

That’s the entire craft. Open Inbox. Think “what’s this related to?” — type [[. Pick or create. Move to the new note. Repeat. Ten minutes of this and your graph looks alive.

5. The graph view

  • Ctrl+G → whole-vault graph.
  • Local graph → Ctrl+P → “Open local graph”. Shows only this note’s neighborhood. This one is actually useful; the big one is eye candy.
  • Color it: top-right of graph → Groups → + → type a query, pick a color. Examples:
    • tag:#project
    • tag:#guide
    • path:Daily
  • Filters: the graph panel can also filter by search text, hide orphans, show tags.

6. Tags & frontmatter — structure the graph

Tags let you color, filter, and query. Put them in the frontmatter at the very top:

---
tags:
  - project
  - guide
created: 2026-10-15
---

Or inline, anywhere in the text: #project.

Tags are how the color Groups know what to paint. Link = edge; tag = category. Together they turn a hairball into a map.

7. Hygiene — the two things to watch

  • Dangling links (show up in a different color, “unresolved”): you linked to a note that doesn’t exist. Either click to create it, or delete the link. Not an error — a to-do.
  • Orphans: notes with no links in or out. They float alone. Fix by linking them into something. (Frontmatter/tags don’t count as links.)

8. Naming rules (save yourself pain)

  • Filenames must be unique for short [[links]] to work.
  • Spaces are fine — [[Graph Guide]] works.
  • Renaming a note: Obsidian can auto-update every link pointing to it (enable Options → Files & Links → Automatically update internal links).

9. Practice — go do it now

  1. Make a note (Ctrl+N), name it anything. Add the line See also: [[Graph Guide]] and save. Watch the edge appear in the graph.
  2. Open two notes you care about and link them together.
  3. Hit Ctrl+G, then open the local graph of the note with the most links.

The trap

The graph is the most fun part of Obsidian and the least valuable. Pretty dots aren’t knowledge — links are. A thousand linked notes is a brain; a thousand colored dots is a screensaver. Play for five minutes, then go write.

Inbox

Graph View

Backlinks