philoserf/skills/obsidian-cli

Use the obsidian CLI to interact with a running Obsidian instance. Requires Obsidian to be open.

Troubleshooting

If commands fail with a connection error or no output, check:

1. Obsidian is running — the CLI talks to a live Obsidian process. If Obsidian is closed, every command fails silently or with a connection refused error.
2. Correct vault — if multiple vaults exist, the CLI targets the most recently focused one. Use vault=<name> to be explicit.

Gotchas

• Metadator and similar plugins: each file must be opened in Obsidian before running commands on it. Batch operations require iterating files individually — there is no bulk mode.
• The silent flag prevents notes from opening in the UI. Always use it for batch/automated operations to avoid tab explosion.

Command reference

Run obsidian help to see all available commands. This is always up to date. Full docs: https://help.obsidian.md/cli

Syntax

Parameters take a value with =. Quote values with spaces:

obsidian create name="My Note" content="Hello world"

Flags are boolean switches with no value:

obsidian create name="My Note" silent overwrite

For multiline content use \n for newline and \t for tab.

File targeting

Many commands accept file or path to target a file. Without either, the active file is used.

• file=<name> — resolves like a wikilink (name only, no path or extension needed)
• path=<path> — exact path from vault root, e.g. folder/note.md

Vault targeting

Commands target the most recently focused vault by default. Use vault=<name> as the first parameter to target a specific vault:

obsidian vault="My Vault" read file="My Note"

Global flags

Use --copy on any command to copy output to clipboard. Use silent to prevent files from opening. Use total on list commands to get a count. Many list commands support format=json|tsv|csv.

The active flag on aliases, properties, tags, and tasks scopes the output to the currently active file.

Notes

obsidian read file="My Note"
obsidian create name="New Note" content="# Hello" template="Template" silent
obsidian append file="My Note" content="New line"
obsidian append file="My Note" content="more" inline   # no leading newline
obsidian prepend file="My Note" content="Top line"
obsidian open file="My Note" newtab
obsidian delete file="Old Note"                   # add `permanent` to skip trash
obsidian move file="My Note" to="Archive/My Note.md"
obsidian rename file="My Note" name="Better Name"
obsidian random folder="Inbox" newtab             # open a random note
obsidian random:read                              # read a random note

Search

obsidian search query="needle" path="Notes" limit=20
obsidian search:context query="needle" case format=json   # results with matching lines
obsidian search:open query="needle"                       # open Obsidian's search view

Verifying operations

After creating or modifying notes, confirm the result:

obsidian read file="My Note"          # verify content after create/append
obsidian property:read name="status" file="My Note"  # verify after property:set

More topics

Load the topical reference for the area you need — don't preload all of them.

• content.md — properties, tasks, tags & links, bookmarks
• structure-sync.md — vault structure (files/folders), history, sync
• extensions.md — templates, bases, plugins, themes, CSS snippets, QuickAdd, tabs/workspace, app control
• plugin-development.md — develop/test cycle, dev commands, debugging

Do not use when

• Working directory is not an Obsidian vault — use direct file tools (Read, Edit, Write)
• Editing source files in a code project — use Read/Edit/Write directly