Thanks everyone for the suggestions. akaalias your proof of concept looks very promising!
I am realizing I could have been more clear with my original post and could have clarified that I am aware of tools like TextExpander/expanso/etc and that I do not think those are good solutions for how I envision this to work.
- I really like the command palette, no need to change anything there. This is in addition to that. This would serve a different function focused on editing the page content. There is only one item I could find in the command palette that edits page content: insert link. This should move to this new tool.
- To clarify /insert would be focused on editing page content. It could include some default built in options but would also provide a way for plugins to insert content. It is beneficial to separate these edit functions from the command palette
- I do not believe tools like TextExpander can achieve what I am envisioning would be possible with this. One additional example: /insertfile could open up a file browser for you to find a file on your computer, import that into obsidian and insert the link in your current document all in one go.
- Long term, I would love to see Obsidian bend towards the arc of becoming more accessible to novice users and requiring people to have separate apps installed on their machines creates an uphill battle that would reduce adoption.
Final thought: none of this is required and is possible with external tools. That is not the point hopefully. This could really unlock new possibilities and dramatically streamline workflows. If people prefer their external tool, nothing will stop them from using that. This suggestion is probably not for the advanced users who are already on this forum and more targeted for new users who have yet to adopt Obsidian.