Obsidian UI Skills

Opinionated constraints for building Obsidian-style interfaces with AI agents.

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Building dark-mode interfaces

• Creating Obsidian-inspired design systems

• Implementing UIs with Inter font and 4px grid

Colors

• MUST use dark backgrounds (lightness < 20) for primary surfaces - detected lightness: 0

• MUST use #000000 as page background (surface-base )

• MUST use #6930C7 for primary actions and focus states (accent )

• SHOULD reduce color palette (currently 24 colors detected)

• MUST maintain text contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for accessibility

Semantic Tokens

Token HEX RGB Usage

surface-base

#000000 rgb(0,0,0) Page background

surface-raised

#FEFEFD rgb(254,254,253) Cards, modals, raised surfaces

surface-overlay

#151027 rgb(21,16,39) Overlays, tooltips, dropdowns

text-primary

#858585 rgb(133,133,133) Headings, body text

text-secondary

#3A2F66 rgb(58,47,102) Secondary, muted text

text-tertiary

#555555 rgb(85,85,85) Additional text

border-default

#2F2F2F rgb(47,47,47) Subtle borders, dividers

warning

#FEFEFD rgb(254,254,253) Warning states, cautions

accent

#6930C7 rgb(105,48,199) Primary actions, links, focus

Typography

• MUST use Inter as primary font family

• SHOULD use single font family for consistency

• MUST use 78px / 700 for primary headings

• MUST use 14px / 400 for body text

• SHOULD reduce font weights (currently 5 detected)

• MUST use text-balance for headings and text-pretty for body text

• SHOULD use tabular-nums for numeric data

• NEVER modify letter-spacing unless explicitly requested

Text Styles

Style Font Size Weight Color Count

heading-1

Inter 78px 700 #CDCDCD 1

text-41px

Inter 41px 500 #8D8D8D 1

text-24px

Inter 24px semi_bold #393939 1

text-20px

Inter 20px 400 #695C94 1

text-19px

Inter 19px 500 #939393 1

text-19px

Inter 19px 400 #DDB5F8 1

text-16px

Inter 16px 500 #666666 1

text-16px

Inter 16px semi_bold #B8B8B8 1

body

Inter 14px 400 #707070 1

body-secondary

Inter 14px 400 #747474 1

Typography Reference

Font Families:

• Inter (used 71x)

Font Sizes: 7px, 8px, 9px, 10px, 11px, 12px, 13px, 14px, 16px, 19px, 20px, 24px, 41px, 78px

Spacing

• MUST use 4px grid for spacing

• SHOULD use spacing from scale: 1px, 2px, 3px, 4px, 5px, 6px, 7px, 8px

• SHOULD use 2px as default gap between elements

• NEVER use arbitrary spacing values (use design scale)

• SHOULD maintain consistent padding within containers

Borders

• MUST use border-radius from scale: 3px, 4px, 5px, 6px, 8px, 11px, 23px

• SHOULD use 23px+ radius for pill-shaped elements

• SHOULD limit border widths to: 1px, 2px

• SHOULD use 4px as default border-radius

• NEVER use arbitrary border-radius values (use design scale)

• SHOULD use subtle borders (1px) for element separation

Border Radius Reference

Scale: 3px, 4px, 5px, 6px, 8px, 11px, 23px

Layout

• MUST design for 1920px base viewport width

• SHOULD use consistent element widths: 8px, 11px, 10px, 12px, 9px

• SHOULD maintain text-heavy layout with clear hierarchy

• NEVER use h-screen , use h-dvh for full viewport height

• MUST respect safe-area-inset for fixed elements

• SHOULD use size-* for square elements instead of w-*

• h-*

Detected Layout Patterns

• Main Content: width: 1920px, height: 1080px

• Main Content: width: 1920px, height: 643px

Components

• MUST use 0px height for input fields

Buttons

Variant Background Text Border Height Radius

Ghost transparent #3A2F66 none

Inputs

• Height: 0px

Interactive States

Focus

• MUST use 2px outline with accent color (#6930C7 )

• MUST use 2px outline-offset

• NEVER remove focus indicators

Hover

• Buttons (primary): lighten background by 10%

• Buttons (secondary): use #FEFEFD background

• List items: use #FEFEFD background

Disabled

• MUST use opacity: 0.5

• MUST use cursor: not-allowed

Interaction

• MUST use an AlertDialog for destructive or irreversible actions

• SHOULD use structural skeletons for loading states

• MUST show errors next to where the action happens

• NEVER block paste in input or textarea elements

• MUST add an aria-label to icon-only buttons

Animation

• NEVER add animation unless it is explicitly requested

• MUST animate only compositor props (transform , opacity )

• NEVER animate layout properties (width , height , top , left , margin , padding )

• SHOULD use ease-out on entrance animations

• NEVER exceed 200ms for interaction feedback

• SHOULD respect prefers-reduced-motion

Performance

• NEVER animate large blur() or backdrop-filter surfaces

• NEVER apply will-change outside an active animation

• NEVER use useEffect for anything that can be expressed as render logic