Note Tools

Note tools are the heart of Atlas’s file capabilities. With them, Atlas can create new notes, read existing ones, update content, organize your vault, and inspect the structure of your files — all from within a conversation.

Creating Notes

create_note

The most-used tool in Atlas. Creates a new markdown file in your vault.

Key parameters:

title — the note’s title (becomes the filename)
content — the note body (supports full markdown)
folder — where to put it (defaults to vault root if not specified)
tags — frontmatter tags to attach
note_type — note, idea, meeting, journal, or reference

Try saying:

“Create a note about today’s meeting with Sarah”
“Write up an idea note about using AI for weekly reviews”
“Create a reference note on the new API we discussed, save it in the Projects folder”

Reading Notes

read_note

Reads the full content of a specific note and brings it into the conversation context.

Key parameters:

file_path — the path to the note within your vault

Try saying:

“Read my note on the Henderson project”
“What does my meeting note from yesterday say?”
“Pull up the contents of Projects/Q1 Goals.md”

Atlas will often call read_note automatically when it needs to give you a detailed answer about a specific file.

Updating Notes

update_note

Modifies an existing note without requiring you to open it.

Key parameters:

file_path — the note to update
content — the new content to write
mode — controls how the update is applied:
- append — adds to the end of the note
- prepend — adds to the beginning
- replace — replaces the entire note content

Try saying:

“Add a summary section to my Q1 Goals note”
“Prepend a status update to the Henderson project note”
“Replace the content of my scratch pad with these new notes”

append_section

Appends new content under a specific heading in a note. More surgical than update_note — it won’t touch the rest of the file.

Key parameters:

file_path — the note to update
heading — the exact heading to append under
content — text to add below that heading

Try saying:

“Add today’s decisions under the ## Decisions heading in my meeting note”
“Append a new action item to the ## Next Steps section of the project note”

Listing and Navigating Files

list_files

Lists files in your vault, optionally filtered by path prefix or name pattern.

Key parameters:

prefix — folder prefix to filter by (e.g., Projects/)
pattern — filename pattern (e.g., *.md)
limit — maximum number of results

Try saying:

“What notes do I have in the Projects folder?”
“List all my markdown files”
“Show me what’s in my Daily Notes folder”

list_folders

Lists all folders in your vault.

Key parameters:

include_hidden — whether to include folders starting with .

Try saying:

“What folders do I have in my vault?”
“Show me my vault structure”

navigate_folder

Browses the contents of a specific folder, showing both files and subfolders.

Key parameters:

folder_path — the folder to browse (defaults to vault root)

Try saying:

“What’s in my Archive folder?”
“Browse the Work/Projects directory”

get_directory_tree

Shows your entire vault as a hierarchical tree, useful when you want a broad overview.

Key parameters:

path — root path to start from (defaults to vault root)
max_depth — how many levels deep to show

Try saying:

“Show me the structure of my vault”
“Give me a tree view of my Projects folder”
“What does my vault hierarchy look like?”

Organizing Files

move_file

Moves or renames a file within your vault.

Key parameters:

old_path — current location
new_path — destination location (use the same name to keep it, or change it to rename)

Try saying:

“Move my scratch pad note into the Archive folder”
“Rename Projects/old-idea.md to Projects/new-direction.md”
“Put the meeting note from last week into the 2024/Q1 folder”

delete_file

Moves a file to trash. This is recoverable — Atlas doesn’t permanently delete files.

Key parameters:

file_path — the file to delete
reason — optional note explaining why it was deleted (goes into audit log)

Try saying:

“Delete my scratch pad note”
“Remove that outdated reference file”
“Trash the draft I was working on”

Analyzing Note Structure

extract_frontmatter

Parses and returns the YAML frontmatter from a note — tags, dates, custom fields, etc.

Key parameters:

file_path — the note to inspect

Try saying:

“What tags does my project note have?”
“Show me the frontmatter from my meeting template”

parse_links

Extracts all wikilinks ([[like this]]), markdown links ([like](this)), and tags from a note.

Key parameters:

file_path — the note to analyze

Try saying:

“What notes does my Q1 Goals file link to?”
“Find all the tags in my project note”
“What references does this note contain?“

get_markdown_syntax

Returns a formatting reference — useful when you want Atlas to create a note with specific markdown elements and want to be sure the formatting is correct.

Try saying:

“Show me how to format a table in markdown”
“What markdown syntax does Atlas support?”

Knowledge Graph Tools

These tools help Atlas understand how your notes connect to each other.

suggest_links

Finds other notes in your vault that are semantically similar and worth linking to.

Key parameters:

note_path — the note to find links for
limit — how many suggestions to return

Try saying:

“What notes should I link to from my Henderson project note?”
“Suggest related notes for my Q1 Goals”

find_orphans

Finds notes that no other note links to — potentially forgotten or disconnected ideas.

Key parameters:

limit — maximum number of orphans to return

Try saying:

“Are there any orphaned notes in my vault?”
“Find notes that nothing links to”

get_note_graph

Returns data about the connections between notes in your vault — useful for understanding the overall shape of your knowledge base.

Key parameters:

include_stats — whether to include statistics like total notes, total links, most-connected notes

Try saying:

“Give me an overview of my note connections”
“What are my most connected notes?“

find_related_notes

Finds notes semantically similar to a given note, using embedding-based similarity.

Key parameters:

file_path — the reference note
threshold — minimum similarity score (0.0–1.0)
limit — maximum results

Try saying:

“What notes are most similar to my AI Research note?”
“Find notes related to Project Henderson”

add_semantic_links

Adds a ## Related Notes section to a note with links to semantically similar notes that Atlas has identified.

Key parameters:

file_path — the note to update
links — list of {target_path, reason} objects

Try saying:

“Add related note links to my research note”
“Link similar notes to my project overview”

Next: Memory Tools