obsidian

Work with Obsidian vaults using the official obsidian CLI: read/search/create/edit notes, tasks, links, properties, plugins.

Use the official obsidian CLI for Obsidian vault work. Vault files are plain Markdown, so direct file edits are still fine when safer/faster.

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.12.7+ installed.
• Settings -> General -> Command line interface enabled.
• obsidian registered on PATH.
• Obsidian app running; the CLI connects to the running app.

Check:

bash

obsidian version
obsidian help

macOS registration creates /usr/local/bin/obsidian pointing at the app-bundled CLI. Linux registration copies the binary to ~/.local/bin/obsidian.

Vault model

• Notes: *.md.
• Config: .obsidian/; avoid editing unless asked.
• Canvases: *.canvas JSON.
• Attachments: vault-configured folder.
• Multiple vaults are common; pass vault="<name>" when ambiguous.

Obsidian desktop tracks vaults here:

• ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json

Command pattern

bash

obsidian <command> [name=value] [flag]
obsidian vault="Notes" search query="meeting notes" format=json

Parameter values with spaces need quotes. Add --copy to copy output where useful.

Common commands

Open/read:

bash

obsidian open file=Recipe
obsidian open path="Inbox/Idea.md" newtab
obsidian read
obsidian read file=Recipe

Search:

bash

obsidian search query="TODO" matches
obsidian search query="status::active" format=json
obsidian search:open query="project notes"

Create/modify:

bash

obsidian create name="New Note"
obsidian create path="Inbox/Idea.md" content="# Idea"
obsidian append file=Note content="New line"
obsidian prepend file=Note content="After frontmatter"

Move/delete:

bash

obsidian move file=Note to=Archive/
obsidian move path="Inbox/Old.md" to="Projects/New.md"
obsidian delete file=Note

Daily/tasks:

bash

obsidian daily
obsidian daily:read
obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] Review inbox"
obsidian tasks all todo
obsidian task file=Note line=8 done

Properties/links:

bash

obsidian tags all counts
obsidian property:read file=Note name=status
obsidian property:set file=Note name=status value=done
obsidian backlinks file=Note
obsidian unresolved verbose counts

Developer/debug:

bash

obsidian plugin:reload my-plugin
obsidian dev:errors
obsidian dev:screenshot file=shot.png
obsidian eval "app.vault.getFiles().length"

Notes

• file=<name> uses Obsidian-style file resolution; path=<vault-relative.md> is exact.
• Prefer CLI move/delete/property commands for Obsidian-aware updates.
• Prefer direct Markdown edits for bulk text changes after locating the vault path.
• Do not rely on third-party obsidian-cli unless user explicitly asks for it.