Instinct TasksUnofficial guide

By category

Work · Community report

Build Obsidian templates for a second brain

An early beta tester reports that Instinct noticed their second-brain setup and, unasked, made four Obsidian templates with copy buttons. The post shows none of the templates, so this page offers an editorial prompt and checks for fitting them to your own vault.

What you can get

Illustration — suggested task flow, not an execution result
  1. Prepare

    Your vault's folder structure and what each folder is for

  2. Ask and review

    Write down your vault's top-level folders and one line on what each holds, so the templates match your structure rather than a generic one.

  3. Check the result

    Draft Markdown templates you review and paste into your vault yourself, not a finished system or a plugin install.

The source case

@draftandfocus reports that Instinct built them an Obsidian starter kit without being asked, after noticing they were setting up a second brain. By their account it made four ACE templates, each with a copy button so they paste straight into the vault. The author calls it early days of testing and describes the proactive help as pretty interesting. The post does not show the templates, say what ACE stands for in their setup, or say how well the templates worked once in use.

A public report by someone outside this library. Not independently reproduced here.

From the source

Source excerpt

My AI assistant @instinct built me an Obsidian starter kit without being asked. It noticed I was setting up a second brain and made four ACE templates, each with a copy button so they paste straight into my vault.

@draftandfocus · Read it at the source · checked

Quoted from the original posts. Not written by this guide, and not a result produced here.

Suggested prompt

Bring Your vault's folder structure and what each folder is for, Which template plugin you use (core Templates or Templater), The note types you want templates for and any tag or property conventions. Source community report, checked 2026-11-07.

Written by this guide as a starting point, not quoted from the source. Your edits stay in this browser.

What you need

You supply

  • Your vault's folder structure and what each folder is for
  • Which template plugin you use (core Templates or Templater)
  • The note types you want templates for and any tag or property conventions

How to try it

Editorial, not from the source

  1. Write down your vault's top-level folders and one line on what each holds, so the templates match your structure rather than a generic one.
  2. Check which template plugin you run; core Templates and Templater use different placeholder syntax for dates and titles.
  3. Ask for one template per note type, each in its own code block, with frontmatter properties named the way you already name them.
  4. Read each template before pasting: confirm the placeholders match your plugin and that no property clashes with ones you already use.
  5. Save each template into your templates folder, then create one test note from each and fix anything that renders wrong.
  6. Use the templates for a week and trim fields you never fill in before asking for revisions.

What the author describes

@draftandfocus was setting up a second brain in Obsidian when, by their account, Instinct noticed and built a starter kit on its own: four ACE templates, each with a copy button so the text could be pasted straight into the vault. The author frames it as "Early days of testing" and finds the proactive help interesting.

That is the whole report. It does not show the templates, which folders they were for, whether they used plugin placeholders, or whether the author kept using them. Treat it as a sign that the task is worth asking for, not as a description of what you will get.

Matching templates to your vault

In general, a template is only useful if it fits the folders and properties you already use. Many Obsidian users organise a second brain around a small set of top-level folders, and ACE is a folder scheme some people use; the post does not define it, so describe your own folders instead of relying on the label.

Placeholder syntax is the usual snag. The core Templates plugin uses simple tokens for date, time and title, while Templater uses its own tags; a template written for one will show raw text in the other. Say which you use, and keep property names identical across templates so searches and Dataview-style queries, if you run them, find every note.

Open Instinct to try it. That is the product's own site; this guide is not part of it.

Limits and confirmation points

  • The post does not include the four templates, so their fields, headings and syntax are unknown.
  • The author does not say what ACE means in their vault or which plugin, if any, the templates were written for.
  • The author describes this as early testing of a beta tool; there is no report on how the templates held up in daily use.
  • The post says the help came unprompted; this guide does not claim Instinct will offer templates on its own for every user.
  • This is an attributed community report, not reproduced by this guide. The suggested workflow and checks are editorial guidance, not a recovered conversation or guaranteed product capability.

Editorial, not from the source

Placeholders show up as raw text in a new note
The template was written for a different plugin's syntax. Tell the assistant which plugin you use and ask it to rewrite only the placeholders.
New notes create properties that do not match your older notes
Paste a few existing property names into the request and ask for the templates to reuse them exactly.
A template has headings you never fill in
Delete them after a week of use, or ask for a shorter version with only the sections you actually wrote in.

Common questions

Can Instinct build Obsidian templates?

One user reports that Instinct made four ACE templates for their Obsidian vault, each with a copy button. This guide has not reproduced it, and the post does not show the templates themselves.

Did the assistant put the templates into the vault?

The post says each template had a copy button so it would paste straight into the vault, which suggests the author pasted them in. It does not report any direct access to Obsidian files.

Will Instinct offer templates without being asked?

The author says it happened without being asked in their case. That is one report from early testing of a beta, so ask for the templates directly rather than waiting for it.

Which template plugin should I tell it about?

Name whichever you have enabled, core Templates or Templater, because their placeholder syntax differs and a template written for one will not fill in under the other.

Next

Related to this task

  • Build a personal CRM for intros A personal CRM you can query for a given ask, and a filtered, private contact list ready to send once you've reviewed it.
  • Make a morning brief A concise digest of today's calendar, unanswered messages and items needing a decision.

More in Work

  • Get texted about urgent emails An agreed definition of urgent emails, a text-alert template and a list of things the agent must ask before doing—not a guarantee that every important email is caught.
  • Find a halfway spot to meet a friend A shortlist of halfway spots with travel times from both sides and confirmed hours; you choose the place and send the message yourself, so it is not a booking or reservation.
  • Pick up a dropped thread A summary of unresolved points and a follow-up draft for your review.

Every work task

Get recurring task recommendations — ask your own agent to check for relevant updates.