ProfileVault

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.

Who Is This For?

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

Vault Structure

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

Key Features

Self-Documenting Templates

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

Application Workflow

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.)

Dataview-Powered Dashboards

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.)

Rich Frontmatter

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

Getting Started

1. Clone or Download

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

2. Open in Obsidian

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

3. Install Recommended Plugins

Go to Settings → Community Plugins → Browse and install:

Plugin	Purpose
Dataview	Powers all dashboard queries
Templater	Advanced template insertion
Tasks	Task tracking across notes
Calendar	Calendar view for deadlines
Obsidian Git	Version control from within Obsidian

4. Configure Obsidian Settings

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

5. Start Populating

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/

Using with AI / LLM Tools

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

Connecting via MCP (Model Context Protocol)

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.

Other Integration Methods

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.

Conventions

Convention	Rule
Folder overview files	Named to match folder (e.g., Skills/Skills.md)
Application entry points	Always Index.md
Dates	ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD)
Internal links	Wikilinks ([[Note Name]])
Never delete	Move to Archive/ instead
Templates	Never edit directly — copy first

Naming Conventions

Type	Pattern	Example
Job application	YYYY-MM-Organization-Role	2026-03-Google-SeniorMLE
Grant application	YYYY-MM-Funder-Title	2026-04-FWF-AIMonitoring
Fellowship	YYYY-MM-Organization-Program	2026-05-Humboldt-Fellowship
PhD application	YYYY-MM-University-Topic	2026-06-ETH-MachineLearning
Conference	YYYY-MM-Conference-Topic	2026-06-NeurIPS-GraphOpt
Experience	Role-Organization-Title	Role-Google-SeniorEngineer
Publication	Pub-YYYY-Venue-Title	Pub-2024-NeurIPS-GraphOpt
Project	Proj-YYYY-ShortName	Proj-2024-SmartCityPlatform
Grant record	Grant-YYYY-Funder-Title	Grant-2024-FWF-AIMonitoring
Award	Award-YYYY-ShortName	Award-2024-BestPaper-NeurIPS
Talk	Talk-YYYY-Venue-Topic	Talk-2024-NeurIPS-GraphOpt
Service	Service-Type-Organization	Service-Reviewer-NeurIPS
Reference	Ref-FirstnameLastname	Ref-MariaSchmidt
Skill	Skill-Name	Skill-Python

License

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

Contributing

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