Obsidian (Linux)

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

Obsidian

Obsidian vault = a normal folder on disk with Markdown files.

Vault structure (typical):

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

Setup

Find active vault(s)

Obsidian desktop tracks vaults in a config file (source of truth):

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json
• Linux: ~/.config/obsidian/obsidian.json

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

Verify default vault

Always check before running commands:

notesmd-cli print-default --path-only 2>/dev/null && echo "OK" || echo "NOT_SET"

If NOT_SET, configure it:

notesmd-cli set-default "VAULT_NAME"

Don't guess vault paths — read the config file or use print-default.

notesmd-cli quick reference

Vault info

notesmd-cli print-default              # show default vault name + path
notesmd-cli print-default --path-only  # path only
notesmd-cli list                       # list notes and folders in vault
notesmd-cli list "Folder"              # list inside a folder

Search

notesmd-cli search "query"             # fuzzy search note names
notesmd-cli search-content "query"     # search inside notes (shows snippets + lines)

Read

notesmd-cli print "path/note"          # print note contents
notesmd-cli frontmatter "path/note"    # view or modify note frontmatter

Create & edit

notesmd-cli create "Folder/Note" --content "..." --open    # create note
notesmd-cli create "Folder/Note" --content "..." --append  # append to existing note
notesmd-cli create "Folder/Note" --content "..." --overwrite  # overwrite note

Note: create requires Obsidian URI handler (Obsidian must be installed). Avoid hidden dot-folder paths.

Move / delete

notesmd-cli move "old/path/note" "new/path/note"  # rename/move (updates [[wikilinks]])
notesmd-cli delete "path/note"

Multi-vault

Add --vault "Name" to any command:

notesmd-cli print "2025-01-10" --vault "Work"
notesmd-cli search "meeting" --vault "Personal"

Daily notes

notesmd-cli daily                      # open/create today's daily note
notesmd-cli daily --vault "Work"       # for a specific vault

Get current date (cross-platform)

date +%Y-%m-%d                         # today
# Yesterday (GNU first, BSD fallback):
date -d yesterday +%Y-%m-%d 2>/dev/null || date -v-1d +%Y-%m-%d
# Last Friday:
date -d "last friday" +%Y-%m-%d 2>/dev/null || date -v-friday +%Y-%m-%d
# N days ago:
date -d "3 days ago" +%Y-%m-%d 2>/dev/null || date -v-3d +%Y-%m-%d

Append to daily note

# Journal entry
notesmd-cli create "$(date +%Y-%m-%d)" --content "- Did the thing" --append

# Task
notesmd-cli create "$(date +%Y-%m-%d)" --content "- [ ] Buy groceries" --append

# Timestamped log
notesmd-cli create "$(date +%Y-%m-%d)" --content "- $(date +%H:%M) Meeting notes here" --append

# With custom folder (e.g. Daily Notes plugin folder)
notesmd-cli create "Daily Notes/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)" --content "- Entry" --append

Read a daily note

notesmd-cli print "$(date +%Y-%m-%d)"  # today
notesmd-cli print "$(date -d yesterday +%Y-%m-%d 2>/dev/null || date -v-1d +%Y-%m-%d)"  # yesterday
notesmd-cli print "2025-01-10"         # specific date

Common patterns

Create a new note with content:

notesmd-cli create "Projects/My Project" --content "# My Project\n\nNotes here." --open

Find and read a note:

notesmd-cli search "meeting"
notesmd-cli print "path/from/search/result"

Safe rename preserving links:

notesmd-cli move "old/note name" "new/folder/note name"

Search inside notes:

notesmd-cli search-content "TODO"
notesmd-cli search-content "project alpha"

Prefer direct file edits when appropriate (just edit the .md file); Obsidian picks them up automatically.