obsidian-mcp-server

Overview

The obsidian-mcp-server provides comprehensive access to Obsidian vaults through 14 tools and 3 resources. It supports reading notes in multiple formats, including raw content, full structured documents, and document maps. The server enables surgical editing through tools like patch, replace, and append operations, with fine-grained control over notes, tags, and frontmatter. It also offers search capabilities with text, Dataview DQL, and JSONLogic modes, making it versatile for different query needs. The server implements robust permission controls through environment variables, allowing path-scoped access and read-only configurations for secure deployments.

Try asking AI

After installing, here are 5 things you can ask your AI assistant:

• obsidian_get_note

  Read a note in various formats (raw content, structured form, document map, or specific section).

  Try:Get the full content of my daily noteTry:Show me the document map for my project notesTry:Retrieve the frontmatter from my meeting notes
• obsidian_list_notes

  List notes and subdirectories at a vault path with filtering options.

  Try:List all notes in my projects folderTry:Show me all markdown files in my vaultTry:Find notes with 'review' in their name
• obsidian_list_tags

  List all tags found across the vault with usage counts.

  Try:Show me all tags in my vaultTry:Which tags are used most frequently?Try:List all tags in my 'work' folder
• obsidian_search_notes

  Search the vault by text, Dataview DQL, or JSONLogic with context windows.

  Try:Search for notes about project deadlinesTry:Find all mentions of 'Q3 planning' in my notesTry:Search using Dataview to find all tasks marked as urgent
• obsidian_write_note

  Create a note or replace a specific section, with protection against accidental overwrites.

  Try:Create a new note called 'meeting-notes.md'Try:Replace the 'Action Items' section in my project notesTry:Overwrite the entire weekly note with new content
• obsidian_append_to_note

  Append content to a note or create the note if it doesn't exist.

  Try:Add these action items to my meeting notesTry:Append today's tasks to my todo listTry:Create a new daily note with today's date and content
• obsidian_patch_note

  Surgically edit a specific section of a note (append, prepend, or replace).

  Try:Add this agenda item before the 'Discussion' sectionTry:Replace the entire 'Summary' section in my project notesTry:Prepend this context to the top of my research notes
• obsidian_replace_in_note

  Perform body-wide search-replace operations in a single note.

  Try:Replace all instances of 'old-name' with 'new-name' in my project notesTry:Fix typos throughout my documentTry:Replace every occurrence of 'deadline' with 'due date'
• obsidian_manage_frontmatter

  Get, set, or delete frontmatter keys in a note.

  Try:Set the 'status' frontmatter field to 'completed'Try:Get the value of the 'project' field from my notesTry:Delete the 'draft' frontmatter tag
• obsidian_manage_tags

  Add, remove, or list tags on a note, reconciling frontmatter and inline syntax.

  Try:Add the 'urgent' tag to my task notesTry:Remove the 'archived' tag from this noteTry:List all tags on my current note
• obsidian_delete_note

  Permanently delete a note with confirmation when supported.

  Try:Delete the old version of my project notesTry:Remove this outdated meeting noteTry:Permanently delete the 'draft-ideas' file
• obsidian_open_in_ui

  Open a file in the Obsidian app UI.

  Try:Open my current project notes in ObsidianTry:Show me the monthly note in the UITry:Open the 'research' folder in a new pane

Comparable tools

Installation

npm install -g obsidian-mcp-server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "command": "obsidian-mcp-server",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

FAQ

What is required to use this MCP server?

The server requires Obsidian with the Local REST API plugin installed. It also needs Node.js or Bun runtime.

How are file permissions controlled?

Through environment variables: OBSIDIAN_READ_PATHS, OBSIDIAN_WRITE_PATHS, and OBSIDIAN_READ_ONLY for restricting access to specific vault paths.

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