How I use Obsidian — Steph Ango

Takeaways

• Vault = folder of files (file over app); bottom-up, chaos-tolerant organization that lets structure emerge rather than forcing taxonomy upfront.
• Personal rules reduce decision fatigue: few folders, profuse wikilinks, pluralized tags, YYYY-MM-DD dates, one weekly todo list, avoid non-standard Markdown.
• Uses Minimal + Flexoki, Web Clipper, Sync, Bases, and Maps — categories/tags/properties over deep folder hierarchies because entries span multiple areas.
• Notes are typed via categories (journal, people, events, places, things, sources) with properties and Bases views rather than folder silos.
• Public vault template on GitHub (kepano-obsidian) — useful reference, not dogma; take parts that fit.
• Consistent style guide collapses hundreds of future micro-decisions into one upfront choice.

Notes

Steph Ango (Obsidian CEO) models a minimalist PKM system — contrasts with Ben’s richer agentic vault (Daily/SoM/Projects) but shares link-first, few-folder philosophy.

Open questions

• Which Ango rules (plural tags, date format, single weekly todo) already match this vault vs should stay distinct for agent routing?