A modular Obsidian vault template for managing your professional identity, career history, and applications. Use it as a personal knowledge base with Obsidian's UI, and optionally connect it to LLM-powered tools for intelligent CV generation, application strategy, and profile management.

Researchers, engineers, consultants, and professionals who:

• Work across multiple domains (academic, technical, consulting)
• Need to generate tailored CVs, cover letters, and grant profiles
• Apply for jobs, grants, fellowships, PhDs, and conferences
• Want a structured, queryable knowledge base for their career data
• Want to optionally leverage AI assistants for application preparation

Profile/
├── Profile.md                    # Root overview — start here
├── Applications/                 # Track all applications
│   ├── Jobs/
│   ├── Grants/
│   ├── Fellowships/
│   ├── PhDs/
│   └── Conferences/
├── Experience/                   # Professional roles & positions
│   ├── Academic/
│   ├── Industry/
│   └── Freelance/
├── Education/                    # Degrees, certifications, courses
│   ├── Degrees/
│   ├── Certifications/
│   └── Courses/
├── Skills/                       # Categorized skill tracking
│   ├── Technical/
│   ├── Research/
│   ├── Consulting/
│   ├── Languages/
│   ├── Software-Tools/
│   └── Soft-Skills/
├── Publications/                 # All publication types
├── Projects/                     # Notable projects
├── Grants-Funding/               # Funded grant track record
├── Awards-Honors/                # Awards, prizes, scholarships
├── Talks-Workshops/              # Talks, presentations, panels
├── Professional-Service/         # Reviewing, mentoring, organizing
├── References/                   # Referee management
├── Identity/                     # Bios, statements, personal info
├── Archive/                      # Retired content
└── Templates/                    # Self-documenting templates for all of the above

Every folder has a corresponding template in Templates/ with:

• Folder structure blueprints
• YAML frontmatter field guides
• Rules and naming conventions
• Dataview dashboard queries
• How-to instructions

Each application (job, grant, fellowship, PhD, conference) follows a structured workflow:

1. Context/ — gather their information (description, requirements, research)
2. Strategy/ — map your profile to their needs (mapping table, gaps, highlights)
3. Outputs/ — generate tailored deliverables (CV, cover letter, etc.)

Every folder overview file includes Dataview queries that automatically display:

• All entries sorted by date, status, or type
• Active/current items
• Filtered views (by domain, priority, etc.)

Every entry uses structured YAML frontmatter for queryable, filterable data:

• Status tracking (active, completed, draft, etc.)
• Domain tagging (academic, technical, consulting)
• Cross-references via wikilinks
• Dates in ISO format

git clone https://github.com/nyinyinyanlin/profile-vault-obsidian.git

1. Open Obsidian
2. Click "Open folder as vault"
3. Select the Profile/ directory inside the cloned repo

Go to Settings → Community Plugins → Browse and install:

• Files & Links → Set "New link format" to "Shortest path when possible"
• Graph View → Add filter -path:Templates to exclude templates from default view

1. Open Profile.md — this is your vault's home page
2. Start with Identity/Personal-Info.md — fill in your basic details
3. Add your experience, education, and skills
4. When ready to apply for something, copy the relevant template from Templates/Applications/

This vault's structured Markdown files, consistent frontmatter, and modular design make it well-suited for use with LLM-powered tools and agents. Any AI assistant that can read and write Markdown files can:

• Search your vault for relevant experience, skills, and publications
• Generate tailored CVs by pulling from your modular profile data
• Help strategize applications by mapping your profile to requirements
• Create cover letters, research statements, and grant profiles
• Maintain and organize your vault structure

MCP is an open protocol that lets AI assistants connect to external tools and data sources. Any MCP-compatible client can connect to this vault.

Option 1: MCPVault (recommended — no plugins needed)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "profile-vault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@bitbonsai/mcpvault@latest", "/path/to/ProfileVault/Profile"]
    }
  }
}

Option 2: Filesystem MCP

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "profile-vault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/path/to/ProfileVault/Profile"]
    }
  }
}

Option 3: Obsidian MCP plugins

Various community plugins expose Obsidian vaults as MCP servers. Check the Obsidian community plugins directory for options compatible with your preferred AI tool.

Since the vault is just a folder of Markdown files, any tool that can read/write files can integrate with it — CLI tools, scripts, IDE extensions, or any LLM agent with filesystem access.

MIT License — feel free to use, modify, and share.

Contributions are welcome! If you have ideas for improving the vault structure, templates, or documentation:

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a pull request