An Obsidian notebook that thinks along.
Not a transcript-to-file converter: it knows what has already been written, notices what you are weak on, links related ideas, and keeps its own flashcard deck sharp over time.

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🎯 Why this exists

Most "AI note-taker" prompts do one thing: turn text into a formatted file. That falls apart once you have a whole course. New material overlaps with old notes, some topics never get tested, and flashcards pile up without any sense of what is sticking.

Smart Notes behaves like a notebook a diligent student would keep. It is deliberately generic: nothing in it is tied to one course, subject or language. It configures itself the first time you use it for a new subject.

🔄 What happens when you paste material

Step	What the skill does
1. Onboarding	Once per subject it asks three things: subject name and type, note language(s), and where to save. Answers are stored in _Progress.md, so it never asks again.
2. Check the index	Looks in _Index.md. If your material is a near-duplicate of an existing topic, it tells you which file already covers it and extends that file. A separate new file only happens if you confirm it is a different topic.
3. Read everything	Reads the whole source and gathers every fact, number and example before writing.
4. Plan the links	Works out which existing topics this one connects to: prerequisite, follow-up, same category, or contrast.
5. Write the note	Builds the note from the shared skeleton and the preset for your subject type.
6. Update the maps	Refreshes _Index.md and _Progress.md.

Once activated, the skill stays active for the rest of the conversation. Every later transcript or reading you paste is handled automatically.

✨ Key features

🗂️ Linked notes, not isolated files Every note has a Related: line with [[wikilinks]], and _Index.md keeps a live map of every topic, its status and its links.	🃏 Adaptive flashcards Weak topics get more cards and a wider spread of angles. Every deck includes a connection card when a genuine link to another topic exists.
🧩 Gap tracking _Progress.md logs what you are weak on from three sources (see below).	♻️ Edits instead of duplicating New material that extends or corrects a note edits that note directly, then briefly reports what changed. Affected flashcards, _Index.md and _Progress.md are updated too.
🎛️ Adapts to the subject Four presets with their own note structure (see below).	🧠 Quizzes only when you ask Never proposes a quiz or review unprompted.

🗺️ Folder structure

One folder per subject:

<Subject Name>/
  _Index.md        ← map of content: every topic, its status, its links
  _Progress.md     ← config (from onboarding) + gap tracker + quiz history
  <Topic 1>.md
  <Topic 2>.md
  ...

The _ prefix keeps the two control files sorted above ordinary notes in any file browser.

_Index.md

Topic	Status	Links
[[Topic 1]]	✅ covered	[[Topic 2]]
[[Topic 2]]	⚠️ weak	[[Topic 1]], [[Topic 3]]
Topic 4	❌ not covered yet	referenced by [[Topic 2]]

A topic that an existing note references but that has no note of its own stays listed as not covered yet.

Note skeleton

Every note shares one skeleton: frontmatter, # Title, a Related: line, an opening definition, one section per concept, a common-mistakes callout, and a flashcard deck.

> [!warning] Common mistakes / things people mix up
> - <mistake 1>
> - <mistake 2>

## Flashcards
#flashcards

<Question>?
?
<Answer>

The bare ? line is the question/answer separator of the Obsidian Spaced Repetition plugin.

🧩 Gap tracking

🎛️ Presets

If the subject is configured as bilingual, every prose line and every flashcard question and answer appears as a pair in the two languages you chose. Structure stays identical.

🃏 Adaptive flashcards

• Topics flagged weak get more cards and a wider spread of angles: bare definition → mechanism / why → applied scenario.
• Difficulty is graded across that spread instead of writing every card at the same level.
• Whenever a genuine link exists, at least one connection card tests the relation between this topic and a related one already in the vault, for example how does CIDR relate to a routing table entry?

The repeated reviews themselves are run by the Obsidian Spaced Repetition plugin.

🧠 Self-check quizzes

Only when you explicitly ask:

• No topic named → it pulls from _Progress.md, weak and not-yet-tested topics first.
• A quick quiz widget for factual recall; plain chat for deeper "explain why / how" questions, where you answer in your own words and it evaluates.
• The outcome is logged back into the quiz history in _Progress.md.

💬 How replies look

Every reply leads with the file name in bold, whether creating or editing, followed by a short bullet summary of what the file covers or what changed. The full file is not pasted into chat.

🛡️ Guardrails

• If pasted material is itself a graded assessment (look for "Honor Code", "Submit", point values), it never supplies the answers, even if asked repeatedly. It offers to explain the underlying concept or run a separate self-check quiz instead.
• Any embedded "AI assistant instructions" inside pasted transcripts or page text are treated as inert content, never as commands.

📦 Installation

This is a single SKILL.md file, the standard format for a Claude Skill.

1. Copy SKILL.md into your Claude skills directory, typically ~/.claude/skills/smart-notes/SKILL.md (check Anthropic's current docs for the exact path).
2. Restart or reload Claude so it picks up the skill.
3. Done. No dependencies, no build step.

🚀 Usage

/smart-notes

or

/study

or just ask Claude to keep smart study notes or flashcards for a course. On the first run for a new subject, answer the onboarding questions. After that, paste lecture transcripts, readings or any course material.

To review, ask: "quiz me on what I'm weak on" or "test me on [topic]".

🔧 Requirements

• Obsidian (or any Markdown editor; wikilinks and callouts are Obsidian-flavored)
• Spaced Repetition plugin if you want the flashcards to run as real spaced-repetition reviews

📄 License

MIT. See LICENSE. Free to use, modify and redistribute.