Is it possible to use snippets with surround?

[LexiAgneboGudmunds]

Is it possible to add tabstops and similar snippet features to surround? If it isn't possible to achieve as part of a custom surround binding, is it possible to build a snippet that surrounds some word or selected text, and add tabstops that way?

[saberzero1]

Short answer: You can't add tabstops directly to surround definitions, but you can build snippets that wrap selected text — effectively achieving "surround with tabstops" — using the $TM_SELECTED_TEXT/$VISUAL variable. This is supported in version 0.100.0 and later.

How it works

The snippet system supports $TM_SELECTED_TEXT (and the vim alias $VISUAL), which resolves to whatever text is selected when the snippet is expanded. Combined with the :snippet ex command (which works in visual mode), this gives you surround-with-tabstops behavior.

Example: JSON snippet file

Create a .json file in your snippet directory (configured in Settings → Vim Motions → Snippets):

{
    "Wrap in link": {
        "prefix": "wraplink",
        "body": "[${1:$TM_SELECTED_TEXT}](${2:url})$0",
        "description": "Surround with markdown link, tabstop on URL"
    },
    "Wrap in callout": {
        "prefix": "wrapcallout",
        "body": [
            "> [!${1:info}] ${2:Title}",
            "> $TM_SELECTED_TEXT",
            "$0"
        ],
        "description": "Wrap selection in a callout with configurable type"
    }
}

Usage

1. Select text in visual mode
2. Type :snippet wraplink (or :snip wraplink)
3. The selection is replaced by the snippet — $TM_SELECTED_TEXT becomes the selected text, and you can Tab through the tabstops

Alternatively, :snippet with no argument (or :snippets) opens the picker where you can fuzzy-search your snippets.

Lua DSL alternative

In .obsidian.init.lua:

local s = vim.snippet.s
local t = vim.snippet.t
local i = vim.snippet.i
local fmt = vim.snippet.fmt

vim.snippet.add("wraplink", s("Wrap in link", fmt(
    "[{}]({}){}", { i(1, "$VISUAL"), i(2, "url"), i(0) }
)))

Same workflow — select text, :snippet wraplink, tab through stops.

What about Tab-triggered expansion?

Tab expansion requires an empty selection (you're typing a prefix and hitting Tab), so $TM_SELECTED_TEXT will always be empty in that context. The :snippet command is the correct trigger when you want to wrap selected text.

Why surround definitions can't have tabstops

Surround operates at the vim motion/operator level (it's implemented in the codemirror-vim fork), while tabstops are a CodeMirror snippet-expansion concept. They're separate systems with no bridge between them. Custom surround pairs (surroundmap/vim.obsidian.surround.set()) only accept static left/right delimiter strings — no tabstop syntax.

The snippet-based approach above is the intended way to get "surround + tabstops" behavior.