obsidian-mcp-server MCP server

Read, write, search, and surgically edit Obsidian vault notes, tags, and frontmatter via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.

What obsidian-mcp-server does

Summarised from the project README; check the repository for the latest details.

Features

• Typed client for the Obsidian Local REST API plugin; section writes speak markdown-patch 2.0 to plugin v5.0 and later and 1.x to v4.x, chosen from the reported plugin version
• Folder-scoped read/write permissions, a read-only switch, and an opt-in command-palette pair (see Path policy); server-level `instructions` on `initialize` report the active policy
• Regex inputs are capped (`nameRegex` at 256 chars, `useRegex` at 1024) and rejected with `regexunsafe` when they nest quantifiers
• Recovery-guided errors: every declared failure carries a `reason`, a JSON-RPC code, and a `recovery.hint` written for that case
• Size deltas: every mutating tool returns `previousSizeInBytes` / `currentSizeInBytes`, so a caller can spot an accidental clobber without a follow-up read
• Ambiguity surfaced as data: shared heading names return `candidates`, and tag operations report `applied` vs. `skipped`

Tools exposed (14)

• obsidian_get_note – Read a note as raw content, full structured form, document map, or a single section
• obsidian_list_notes – List notes and folders under a vault path, recursively, with extension and name filters
• obsidian_list_tags – List vault tags with usage counts, most-used first
• obsidian_search_notes – Search by text, JSONLogic, or BM25-ranked Omnisearch when that plugin is reachable
• obsidian_write_note – Create a note, replace one section, or overwrite a whole file with `overwrite: true`
• obsidian_append_to_note – Append to a note (creating it if missing) or to one heading, block, or frontmatter field
• obsidian_patch_note – Append, prepend, or replace against one heading, block reference, or frontmatter field
• obsidian_replace_in_note – Literal or regex search-replace inside one note, body-only by default
• obsidian_manage_frontmatter – Get, set, or delete one frontmatter key
• obsidian_manage_tags – Add, remove, or list a note's tags in frontmatter, inline, or both
• obsidian_delete_note – Permanently delete a note, optionally after the user confirms (`OBSIDIANDELETEELICITATION`)
• obsidian_open_in_ui – Open a file in the Obsidian app, optionally in a new pane
• obsidian_list_commands – List command-palette commands (opt-in via `OBSIDIANENABLECOMMANDS`)
• obsidian_execute_command – Run a command-palette command by ID (opt-in via `OBSIDIANENABLECOMMANDS`)

Requirements

• Bun v1.4.0 or higher (or Node.js v24+).
• The Obsidian Local REST API plugin, v4.0.0 or later, enabled in your vault. Generate an API key under Settings → Community Plugins → Local REST API and set it as `OBSIDIANAPIKEY`.
• Periodic-note targets work natively on plugin v5.0.1 and earlier. From v5.0.2 they need the periodic-notes API extension; without it they fail with `periodicunsupported`.
• With `OBSIDIANDELETEELICITATION=true`, an MCP client that supports elicitation and renders its form, to use `obsidiandeletenote`. Every other tool, and the default delete, works without it.
• Environment variables: OBSIDIAN_API_KEY

How to install obsidian-mcp-server MCP in Claude Desktop, Cursor and VS Code

claude mcp add --env MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio --env MCP_LOG_LEVEL=info --env OBSIDIAN_API_KEY=your-local-rest-api-key --transport stdio obsidian-mcp-server -- bunx obsidian-mcp-server@latest

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": [
        "obsidian-mcp-server@latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "your-local-rest-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": [
        "obsidian-mcp-server@latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "your-local-rest-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "obsidian-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": [
        "obsidian-mcp-server@latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "your-local-rest-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

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