Obsidian Search & Discovery
Full-text search, tag operations, and link graph traversal using the official Obsidian CLI.
Prerequisites
- Obsidian desktop v1.12.4+ with CLI enabled
- Obsidian must be running
When to Use
Use this skill automatically when:
- User wants to search vault content or metadata
- User asks about tags, tag counts, or tag management
- User wants to explore note links or backlinks
- User needs to find orphaned or unlinked notes
- User asks about broken/unresolved wikilinks
Search
Full-Text Search
# Basic search
obsidian search query="project roadmap"
# JSON output for parsing
obsidian search query="architecture" format=json
# Limit results
obsidian search query="meeting" limit=10
# Open results in Obsidian
obsidian search:open query="review needed"
Property-Based Search
# Search by property value
obsidian search query="[status:active]"
# Search by tag
obsidian search query="[tag:publish]"
# Combined
obsidian search query="[status:draft] [tag:blog]"
Tags
List Tags
# All tags in vault
obsidian tags
# Tags sorted by frequency
obsidian tags sort=count
# Tags sorted by name
obsidian tags sort=name
Find Notes by Tag
# Notes with a specific tag
obsidian tag tagname=pkm
# Notes with nested tag
obsidian tag tagname=project/active
Rename Tags
# Bulk rename across vault (updates all notes)
obsidian tags:rename old=meeting new=meetings
Links
Outgoing Links
# Links from a note
obsidian links file="Architecture Overview"
Backlinks (Incoming Links)
# Notes that link to this note
obsidian backlinks file="API Design"
Unresolved Links
# Broken wikilinks (targets don't exist)
obsidian unresolved
Orphaned Notes
# Notes with no incoming or outgoing links
obsidian orphans
Common Flags
| Flag | Description |
|------|-------------|
| format=json | JSON output for machine parsing |
| format=csv | CSV output |
| limit=N | Limit result count |
| sort=count\|name\|date | Sort order |
| --copy | Copy result to clipboard |
Agentic Optimizations
| Context | Command |
|---------|---------|
| Search (structured) | obsidian search query="term" format=json |
| Tag frequency analysis | obsidian tags sort=count |
| Find tagged notes | obsidian tag tagname=X |
| Broken link audit | obsidian unresolved |
| Orphan detection | obsidian orphans |
| Link graph for note | obsidian links file="X" then obsidian backlinks file="X" |
Related Skills
- vault-files — Read, create, and manage notes
- properties — Search and filter by frontmatter properties