obsidian-cli

name	obsidian-cli
description	Use for managing Obsidian vaults from the CLI.

Obsidian CLI

Use the obsidian-cli CLI to interact with a running Obsidian instance. Requires Obsidian to be open.

Command reference

Run obsidian-cli help to see all available commands. This is always up to date. Full docs: https://help.obsidian.md/cli

Syntax

Parameters take a value with =. Quote values with spaces:

obsidian-cli create name="My Note" content="Hello world"

Flags are boolean switches with no value:

obsidian-cli create name="My Note" silent overwrite

For multiline content use \n for newline and \t for tab.

File targeting

Many commands accept file or path to target a file. Without either, the active file is used.

• file=<name> — resolves like a wikilink (name only, no path or extension needed)
• path=<path> — exact path from vault root, e.g. folder/note.md

Vault targeting

Commands target the most recently focused vault by default. Use vault=<name> as the first parameter to target a specific vault:

obsidian-cli vault="My Vault" search query="test"

Common patterns

obsidian-cli read file="My Note"
obsidian-cli create name="New Note" content="# Hello" template="Template" silent
obsidian-cli append file="My Note" content="New line"
obsidian-cli search query="search term" limit=10
obsidian-cli daily:read
obsidian-cli daily:append content="- [ ] New task"
obsidian-cli property:set name="status" value="done" file="My Note"
obsidian-cli tasks daily todo
obsidian-cli tags sort=count counts
obsidian-cli backlinks file="My Note"

Use --copy on any command to copy output to clipboard. Use silent to prevent files from opening. Use total on list commands to get a count.

Plugin development

Develop/test cycle

After making code changes to a plugin or theme, follow this workflow:

1. Reload the plugin to pick up changes:

   obsidian-cli plugin:reload id=my-plugin
   

2. Check for errors — if errors appear, fix and repeat from step 1:

   obsidian-cli dev:errors
   

3. Verify visually with a screenshot or DOM inspection:

   obsidian-cli dev:screenshot path=screenshot.png
   obsidian-cli dev:dom selector=".workspace-leaf" text
   

4. Check console output for warnings or unexpected logs:

   obsidian-cli dev:console level=error
   

Additional developer commands

Run JavaScript in the app context:

obsidian-cli eval code="app.vault.getFiles().length"

Inspect CSS values:

obsidian-cli dev:css selector=".workspace-leaf" prop=background-color

Toggle mobile emulation:

obsidian-cli dev:mobile on

Run obsidian-cli help to see additional developer commands including CDP and debugger controls.