obsidian-cli

name	obsidian-cli
description	Use when running the `obsidian` CLI command, interacting with an Obsidian vault from the terminal, creating/appending/reading notes programmatically, searching vault content, managing daily notes, querying tags or backlinks, or automating any Obsidian vault operations. Requires Obsidian 1.12+, app running, CLI enabled in Settings → General → CLI.

Obsidian CLI

Built-in CLI in Obsidian 1.12+ — the binary is named obsidian, not obsidian-cli. Do NOT use shell file manipulation (echo, sed, cat). Use this CLI for standard vault operations; use Read/Edit tools for surgical in-file edits the CLI doesn't support (no search-replace or line-specific insertion).

Quick Setup

• macOS: modifies ~/.zprofile; binary inside /Applications/Obsidian.app/Contents/MacOS
• Linux: symlink at /usr/local/bin/obsidian
• Enable: Settings → General → CLI

Run obsidian (no args) for interactive TUI with autocomplete.

Sandbox

The CLI communicates with the running Obsidian app via IPC (Unix socket). Sandbox mode blocks this. Always use dangerouslyDisableSandbox: true for obsidian commands — they will fail silently or error within the sandbox.

Parameter Syntax — CRITICAL

obsidian <command> [parameter=value] [--flag]

• Parameters: bare parameter=value — NO dashes, NO --
• Flags: --flag (boolean, dashes only for these)
• Vault targeting: vault=<name> — must come first
• File targeting: file=<name> (wikilink resolution) or path=<exact/relative/path>
• Multiline text: use \n and \t within quoted strings
• Output format: format=json|tsv|csv|yaml|tree|md
• Copy to clipboard: --copy

Content Quoting

Be careful when passing Markdown in content=... through the shell.

• Backticks inside double-quoted shell strings trigger command substitution.
• Prefer single-quoted content='...' when the text contains backticks.
• A single-quoted heredoc such as <<'END' is a safe option for larger multiline content because the shell will not interpret backticks, $vars, or $(...) inside it.
• If the text contains both apostrophes and backticks, slow down and choose quoting deliberately instead of guessing.

Common Patterns

# Append task to today's daily note
obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] Review PR"

# Search vault, copy results to clipboard
obsidian search query="project alpha" --copy

# Read note by name (wikilink resolution)
obsidian read file="Meeting Notes 2026-02-15"

# Read note by exact vault-relative path
obsidian read path="Projects/Alpha/spec.md"

# Create note from template
obsidian create name="Sprint Planning" template=Weekly

# Prepend multiline header (use \n for newlines)
obsidian prepend file="Sprint Planning" content="## Goals\n"

# Create or overwrite a note safely when title collisions matter
obsidian create vault="knowledge-base" name="Skill Notes" overwrite content='## Notes'

# Shell-safe multiline content with a single-quoted heredoc
obsidian create vault="knowledge-base" name="Skill Notes" content="$(cat <<'END'
# Skill Notes

- Backticks like `SKILL.md` stay literal here.
END
)"

Mutation Pattern

For create, overwrite, rename, move, or delete operations where correctness matters:

1. Resolve the target note intentionally with vault=, file=, or path=.
2. Prefer idempotent flows such as create ... overwrite or read first, then append/prepend.
3. Read the note back after the mutation to verify the result.

Common Mistakes

Wrong	Right	Why
obsidian-cli ...	obsidian ...	It's a built-in binary, not third-party
--file="Note"	file="Note"	Parameters have NO dashes
--path="..."	path="..."	Parameters have NO dashes
daily append	daily:append	Subcommand uses colon separator
grep -r "..." vault/	obsidian search query="..."	Use CLI search; don't fall back to grep
echo "..." >> file	obsidian append content="..."	Use CLI for append/prepend; Read/Edit tools for surgical edits
... | pbcopy	... --copy	Use built-in clipboard flag
content="... \code` ..."`	content='... \code` ...'or a<<'END'` heredoc	Avoid shell command substitution from backticks
create name="Note" when Note.md may already exist	create name="Note" overwrite ... or read first	Prevent silent Note 1.md duplicates

Command Categories

See commands.md for full reference.

Category	Commands
File Management	create, read, append, prepend, move, rename, delete
Daily Notes & Tasks	daily, daily:append, daily:prepend, daily:read, daily:path, tasks, task
Search & Navigation	search, search:context, backlinks, links, orphans, deadends, unresolved
Metadata	tags, aliases, properties, property:read, property:set, bookmarks
Vault Info	vault, vaults, files, folders, file, outline, wordcount
Developer	devtools, dev:screenshot, eval, dev:dom, dev:css, plugin:reload, command