Obsidian via notesmd-cli (obsidian-cli)

Work with Obsidian vaults (plain Markdown notes) and automate via notesmd-cli.

Security Scan

The skill's requests and instructions match its stated purpose (working with Obsidian vaults via notesmd-cli); main caution is a third‑party Homebrew tap — verify the formula before installing.

Purpose & Capability

The skill is an instruction-only wrapper for notesmd-cli and only requires the notesmd-cli binary (installed via a brew formula). Required binaries and the described operations (search, create, move, read Obsidian metadata files) align with the stated purpose.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md instructs reading Obsidian state files (~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json) and vault-local .obsidian/*.json files and running notesmd-cli commands that operate on Markdown files. These actions are consistent with operating on Obsidian vaults and do not instruct access to unrelated files or external endpoints.

Install Mechanism

Installation is via a Homebrew formula from the yakitrak/yakitrak tap (creates a notesmd-cli binary). Using a third-party tap increases risk compared with an official/homebrew-core formula — recommend reviewing the tap/formula and the project's source before installing.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables, credentials, or config paths beyond reading standard Obsidian state files. This is proportionate to the task of locating and manipulating vault files.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not set to always: true and does not request elevated or persistent platform privileges. It relies on a user-installed binary and standard file access; autonomous invocation is allowed by default but is not combined with other privilege escalations.

Assessment

This skill appears coherent for automating Obsidian with notesmd-cli, but take these precautions before installing: 1) Verify the Homebrew tap and the notesmd-cli project (review the formula and source) because the tap is a third‑party repository. 2) Back up your vaults before running commands that modify or delete files (move/delete). 3) Note the SKILL.md references the macOS Obsidian path (~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json); behavior may differ on other OSes. 4) Run notesmd-cli manually first to confirm what it does and that it only touches your vault. 5) No cloud credentials are requested by the skill itself, so you won't be handing secrets to the skill, but exercise normal caution when installing third‑party packages.

Obsidian

Obsidian vault = a normal folder on disk.

Vault structure (typical)

• Notes: *.md (plain text Markdown; edit with any editor)
• Config: .obsidian/ (workspace + plugin settings; usually don’t touch from scripts)
• Canvases: *.canvas (JSON)
• Attachments: whatever folder you chose in Obsidian settings (images/PDFs/etc.)

Find the active vault(s)

Obsidian desktop tracks vaults here (source of truth):

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

notesmd-cli resolves vaults from that file; vault name is typically the folder name (path suffix).

Fast “what vault is active / where are the notes?”

• If you’ve already set a default: notesmd-cli print-default --path-only
• Otherwise, read ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json and use the vault entry with "open": true.

notesmd-cli quick start

Pick a default vault and open behavior (once):

• notesmd-cli set-default "<vault-folder-name>"
• notesmd-cli set-default --open-type editor (Sets default to use your terminal/GUI $EDITOR instead of opening the Obsidian app)
• notesmd-cli print-default / notesmd-cli print-default --path-only

Search

• notesmd-cli search (Interactive fuzzy search for notes; respects Obsidian's excluded files)
• notesmd-cli search-content "query" (Searches inside notes; shows snippets + lines)

Create

• notesmd-cli create "Folder/New note" --content "..."
• notesmd-cli create "New note" --open (Opens in Obsidian, or $EDITOR if --editor flag is passed)
• Note: Works directly on disk (headless supported); Obsidian does not need to be running. Reads .obsidian/app.json for default new file locations.

Daily Notes

• notesmd-cli daily (Creates or opens today's daily note directly on disk)
• Automatically reads your .obsidian/daily-notes.json for folder, format, and template configurations.

Frontmatter (YAML Metadata)

• notesmd-cli frontmatter "NoteName" --print
• notesmd-cli frontmatter "NoteName" --edit --key "status" --value "done"
• notesmd-cli frontmatter "NoteName" --delete --key "draft"

Move/rename (safe refactor)

• notesmd-cli move "old/path/note" "new/path/note"
• Updates [[wikilinks]] and common Markdown links across the vault (this is the main win vs standard mv).

Delete

• notesmd-cli delete "path/note"

Prefer direct edits when appropriate: open the .md file in any editor (notesmd-cli open "note" --editor) and change it; Obsidian will automatically pick it up.