Obsidian CLI

Official Obsidian CLI for terminal vault operations. Requires Obsidian running (headless via xvfb works) with CLI enabled and insider/early access mode.

All parameters use key=value syntax: obsidian read path="folder/note.md" . On headless Linux, prefix with DISPLAY=:5 (or whatever your xvfb display is).

Core Commands

Daily Notes

obsidian daily # Open today's daily note obsidian daily:read # Print today's note content obsidian daily:append content="text" # Append to today's note obsidian daily:prepend content="text" # Prepend to today's note

Reading and Writing Files

obsidian read path="folder/note.md" # Read note obsidian create path="folder/note" content="# Title" # Create note (path without .md) obsidian create path="folder/note" template="templatename" # Create from template obsidian append path="folder/note.md" content="text" # Append to note obsidian prepend path="folder/note.md" content="text" # Prepend to note obsidian move path="old/note.md" name="new-name" # Move/rename obsidian delete path="folder/note.md" # Delete (to trash) obsidian delete path="folder/note.md" permanent # Permanent delete

File Discovery

obsidian files # List all files obsidian files ext=md # Only markdown files obsidian files folder="subfolder" # Files in specific folder obsidian files total # Just the count obsidian folders # List all folders obsidian file path="folder/note.md" # File info (size, dates)

Search

obsidian search query="search text" # Search vault obsidian search query="text" path="folder" limit=10 # Scoped search obsidian search query="text" format=json # JSON output obsidian search query="text" matches # Show match context obsidian search query="text" case # Case-sensitive

Links and Graph

obsidian backlinks path="note.md" # Backlinks to a note obsidian backlinks path="note.md" counts # With link counts obsidian links path="note.md" # Outgoing links (requires plugin) obsidian unresolved # Unresolved [[links]] obsidian orphans # Notes with no links in or out obsidian deadends # Notes with no outgoing links

Properties (Frontmatter)

obsidian properties path="note.md" # All properties obsidian property:read path="note.md" name="status" # Read one property obsidian property:set path="note.md" name="status" value="draft" # Set property obsidian property:remove path="note.md" name="status" # Remove property obsidian aliases path="note.md" # List aliases

Tags

obsidian tags # All tags obsidian tags counts sort=count # Tags sorted by frequency obsidian tags path="note.md" # Tags in specific file obsidian tag name="tagname" # Notes with specific tag

Tasks

obsidian tasks # All incomplete tasks obsidian tasks all # All tasks (done + todo) obsidian tasks done # Only completed tasks obsidian tasks path="note.md" # Tasks in specific file obsidian tasks daily # Tasks in today's daily note obsidian task path="note.md" line=5 toggle # Toggle task status

Sync

obsidian sync # Show sync status obsidian sync on # Resume sync obsidian sync off # Pause sync obsidian sync:status # Detailed status obsidian sync:history path="note.md" # Version history obsidian sync:read path="note.md" version=3 # Read specific version obsidian sync:restore path="note.md" version=3 # Restore version obsidian sync:deleted # Deleted files in sync

Templates

obsidian templates # List templates obsidian template:read name="weekly-review" # Read template content obsidian template:read name="weekly-review" resolve title="My Note" # Render with variables obsidian template:insert name="weekly-review" # Insert into active file

Other Useful Commands

obsidian vault # Vault info (name, path, file count, size) obsidian vaults # List all known vaults obsidian outline path="note.md" # Heading structure obsidian wordcount path="note.md" # Word/character count obsidian recents # Recently opened files obsidian version # Obsidian version obsidian reload # Reload vault

Plugins

obsidian plugins # List all plugins obsidian plugins:enabled # List enabled plugins obsidian plugin:enable id="canvas" # Enable plugin obsidian plugin:disable id="canvas" # Disable plugin obsidian plugin:install id="name" # Install from community obsidian plugin:reload id="name" # Reload plugin

Developer Commands

obsidian dev:screenshot path="screenshot.png" # Screenshot obsidian eval code="app.vault.getFiles().length" # Run JS in Obsidian obsidian dev:console limit=20 # Recent console output obsidian dev:errors # Recent errors

Common Agent Patterns

Append to Daily Note with Linking

obsidian daily:append content="

Reports

• [[reports/2026-02-10-morning|Morning Report]] "

Create Note and Cross-Link

obsidian create path="reports/morning-report" content="# Morning Report" obsidian daily:append content="- [[reports/morning-report|Morning Report]]"

Set Properties Programmatically

obsidian property:set path="note.md" name="status" value="draft" obsidian property:set path="note.md" name="date" value="2026-02-10"

Setup

Requirements

• Obsidian desktop app installed and running (v1.12.0+ with insider/early access)

• CLI enabled: Settings > General > CLI toggle

• insider and cli set to true in global config (~/.config/obsidian/obsidian.json on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json on macOS)

Headless Linux

Use deb package (not snap - snap confinement breaks CLI IPC). Run under xvfb. See references/headless-setup.md for config transfer details.

Multi-Vault

Use vault="Vault Name" parameter: obsidian vault="Notes" daily:read

Tips

• Parameter syntax: Always key=value , not positional. Quote values with spaces: content="hello world"

• Pipe-friendly: Plain text output, works with grep/awk/jq

• JSON output: format=json on search and other commands

• Headless prefix: DISPLAY=:5 obsidian <command> on headless Linux

• Paths are vault-relative, not filesystem-relative

• Stderr noise: GPU errors on headless are harmless, filter with 2>/dev/null or grep