Obsidian CLI — Operate on Obsidian Vaults Skill

Obsidian CLI — Operate on Obsidian Vaults

Requires the obsidian CLI on $PATH and the Obsidian desktop app running.

obsidian <command> [options]

General Notes

To get the vault directory path, run obsidian vault info=path.
file=<name> resolves by name (like wikilinks); path=<path> is an exact path (e.g. folder/note.md).
Most commands default to the active file when file/path is omitted.
Quote values with spaces: name="My Note".
Use \n for newline, \t for tab in content values.
Target a specific vault: vault=<name>.
Many commands accept format=json|tsv|csv for structured output.

Security Rules

Confirm with the user before executing write/delete commands (create, append, prepend, delete, move, rename, property:set, property:remove).
Prefer reading before writing to verify the target file.

Vault & File Info

obsidian vault                           # vault info
obsidian vault info=name                 # vault name only
obsidian vaults                          # list known vaults
obsidian vaults verbose                  # include vault paths
obsidian files                           # list all files
obsidian files folder=Projects ext=md    # filter by folder/extension
obsidian files total                     # file count
obsidian folders                         # list folders
obsidian file file=MyNote                # show file info
obsidian folder path=Projects            # show folder info

Reading & Writing Notes

read — Read file contents

obsidian read file=MyNote
obsidian read path=folder/note.md

create — Create a new file

obsidian create name=MyNote content="Hello world"
obsidian create name=FromTemplate template=Daily open
obsidian create path=Projects/idea.md content="New idea" overwrite

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | name | File name | | path | File path | | content | Initial content | | template | Template to use | | overwrite | Overwrite if file exists | | open | Open file after creating | | newtab | Open in new tab |

WRITE command — confirm with the user before executing.

append / prepend — Add content to a file

obsidian append file=MyNote content="New paragraph"
obsidian append file=MyNote content=" inline text" inline
obsidian prepend path=inbox.md content="# New Section"

inline appends/prepends without a newline separator.

WRITE command — confirm with the user before executing.

delete — Delete a file

obsidian delete file=MyNote
obsidian delete path=old/note.md permanent   # skip trash

WRITE command — confirm with the user before executing.

move / rename

obsidian move file=MyNote to=Archive/
obsidian move path=inbox/note.md to=Projects/note.md
obsidian rename file=MyNote name="Better Name"

WRITE command — confirm with the user before executing.

open — Open a file in Obsidian

obsidian open file=MyNote
obsidian open path=Projects/idea.md newtab

Daily Notes

obsidian daily                              # open today's daily note
obsidian daily:read                         # read daily note contents
obsidian daily:path                         # get daily note path
obsidian daily:append content="- Task done"
obsidian daily:prepend content="## Morning"

daily:append and daily:prepend accept inline, open, and paneType=tab|split|window.

daily:append / daily:prepend — confirm with the user before executing.

Search

obsidian search query="meeting notes"
obsidian search query="TODO" path=Projects limit=10 case
obsidian search:context query="API key"           # includes matching line context
obsidian search:context query="bug" format=json
obsidian search:open query="meeting"              # open search in Obsidian UI

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | query | Search text (required) | | path | Limit to folder | | limit | Max files | | total | Return match count only | | case | Case sensitive | | format | text (default) or json |

Tags & Properties

Properties (frontmatter)

obsidian properties                         # list all properties in vault
obsidian properties file=MyNote format=yaml
obsidian property:read name=status file=MyNote
obsidian property:set name=status value=done file=MyNote
obsidian property:set name=priority value=1 type=number file=MyNote
obsidian property:remove name=draft file=MyNote

Property types: text, list, number, checkbox, date, datetime.

property:set / property:remove — confirm with the user before executing.

Tasks

obsidian tasks                              # list all tasks
obsidian tasks todo                         # incomplete tasks only
obsidian tasks done                         # completed tasks only
obsidian tasks file=MyNote verbose          # grouped by file with line numbers
obsidian tasks daily                        # tasks from daily note
obsidian tasks status=" " format=json       # filter by status character
obsidian task path=note.md line=5 toggle    # toggle task status
obsidian task file=MyNote line=3 done       # mark task done
obsidian task daily line=2 todo             # mark daily task as todo

task (toggle/done/todo) — confirm with the user before executing.

Links & Graph Analysis

obsidian links file=MyNote                  # outgoing links
obsidian backlinks file=MyNote              # incoming links
obsidian backlinks file=MyNote counts       # with link counts
obsidian orphans                            # files with no incoming links
obsidian deadends                           # files with no outgoing links
obsidian unresolved                         # unresolved links in vault
obsidian unresolved verbose                 # include source files

Bookmarks

obsidian bookmarks                          # list bookmarks
obsidian bookmark file=Projects/idea.md title="Read later"
obsidian bookmark search="TODO" title="Todo search"
obsidian bookmark url="https://example.com" title="Reference"

bookmark — confirm with the user before executing.

Templates

obsidian templates                          # list available templates
obsidian template:read name=Daily
obsidian template:read name=Daily resolve title="Today's Note"
obsidian template:insert name=Daily         # insert into active file

Outline & Word Count

obsidian outline file=MyNote                # heading tree
obsidian outline file=MyNote format=md      # markdown format
obsidian wordcount file=MyNote
obsidian wordcount file=MyNote words        # word count only

Plugins

obsidian plugins                            # list installed plugins
obsidian plugins filter=community versions
obsidian plugins:enabled filter=core
obsidian plugin id=dataview                 # plugin info
obsidian plugin:enable id=dataview
obsidian plugin:disable id=dataview
obsidian plugin:install id=dataview enable  # install and enable
obsidian plugin:uninstall id=dataview
obsidian plugin:reload id=my-plugin         # for development
obsidian plugins:restrict on               # enable restricted mode

plugin:enable/disable/install/uninstall — confirm with the user before executing.

Sync & History

Sync

obsidian sync:status                        # show sync status
obsidian sync on                            # resume sync
obsidian sync off                           # pause sync
obsidian sync:history file=MyNote           # sync version history
obsidian sync:read file=MyNote version=2    # read a sync version
obsidian sync:restore file=MyNote version=2 # restore a sync version
obsidian sync:deleted                       # list deleted files in sync

Local History

obsidian history file=MyNote                # list history versions
obsidian history:list                       # list files with history
obsidian history:read file=MyNote version=1 # read a history version
obsidian history:restore file=MyNote version=3

sync:restore / history:restore — confirm with the user before executing.

Themes & CSS Snippets

obsidian themes                             # list installed themes
obsidian theme                              # show active theme
obsidian theme:set name="Minimal"
obsidian theme:install name="Minimal" enable
obsidian theme:uninstall name="Minimal"
obsidian snippets                           # list CSS snippets
obsidian snippet:enable name=custom
obsidian snippet:disable name=custom

Commands & Hotkeys

obsidian commands                           # list all commands
obsidian commands filter=editor             # filter by prefix
obsidian command id=editor:toggle-bold      # execute a command
obsidian hotkeys                            # list hotkeys
obsidian hotkey id=editor:toggle-bold       # get hotkey for command

Other Commands

obsidian aliases                            # list aliases in vault
obsidian recents                            # recently opened files
obsidian random                             # open a random note
obsidian random:read folder=Ideas           # read a random note from folder
obsidian unique name="Zettel" content="..."  # create unique note (with timestamp)
obsidian diff file=MyNote                   # list local/sync versions
obsidian diff file=MyNote from=1 to=3       # diff between versions
obsidian tabs                               # list open tabs
obsidian workspace                          # show workspace tree
obsidian reload                             # reload the vault
obsidian version                            # show Obsidian version

QuickAdd Plugin

If the QuickAdd community plugin is installed:

obsidian quickadd:list                      # list choices
obsidian quickadd:run choice="Add Task" vars='{"task":"Buy milk"}'
obsidian quickadd:check choice="Add Task"   # check missing inputs

Output Format Tips

Use format=json for structured output that can be piped to jq:

obsidian search:context query="TODO" format=json | jq '.[].file'
obsidian tags counts format=json | jq '.[] | select(.count > 5)'
obsidian tasks format=json | jq '.[] | select(.status == " ")'

Agent Skills: Obsidian CLI — Operate on Obsidian Vaults

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