obsidian-cli

name	obsidian-cli
description	Use the Obsidian CLI to interact with the vault natively—search, read, create, manage tasks, properties, daily notes, and more. Prefer CLI over raw file I/O for vault-aware operations.

Obsidian CLI

The Obsidian CLI lets you interact with the vault through Obsidian itself, meaning operations respect plugins, templates, properties, wikilinks, and vault settings.

[!IMPORTANT] Obsidian must be running for the CLI to work. If it isn't, the first command will launch it (which takes a few seconds).

When to Use CLI vs Raw File I/O

Use CLI when…	Use raw file I/O when…
Creating files that should use Obsidian templates	Bulk-editing file content with precise line targeting
Reading/writing daily notes (respects daily note settings)	Viewing file outlines or code structure
Searching vault content (respects excludes, understands links)	Programmatic multi-file transformations
Managing properties/frontmatter	Reading files you'll immediately edit with replace tools
Listing/querying tasks across the vault	Operations on non-markdown files
Appending/prepending to files (respects frontmatter)	When Obsidian isn't running and you don't want to launch it
Getting file metadata (size, dates, links)

Rule of thumb: If the operation is about the vault (search, tasks, properties, daily notes), use CLI. If it's about the file content (editing specific lines), use file tools.

Agent Guidelines / Best Practices

• Prefer obsidian search over find or grep for locating files within the vault. It is context-aware and handles strict pathing better.
  • Example: "Find GEMINI.md" -> obsidian search query="file:GEMINI.md"
• Fallback Behavior: Only use standard shell tools (ls, find) if obsidian-cli fails (e.g., Obsidian is not running).

Syntax

obsidian [vault=<name>] <command> [parameter=value] [flags]

• Parameters: key=value — quote values with spaces: name="My Note"
• Flags: Boolean switches, no value needed (e.g., silent, overwrite, newtab)
• Vault targeting: If the terminal's working directory is inside a vault, it's used automatically. Otherwise specify vault=<name>.
• File targeting:
  • file=<name> — matches by filename (like a wikilink, no extension needed)
  • path=<path> — exact path from vault root (e.g., 01. Projects/Work/README.md)
• Output: Add --copy to any command to copy output to clipboard.

Command Reference

Files and Folders

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
open	Open a file in Obsidian	file, path, newtab
create	Create or overwrite a file	name, path, content, template, overwrite, silent, newtab
read	Read file contents	file, path
append	Append content to a file	file, path, content, inline
prepend	Prepend content after frontmatter	file, path, content, inline
move	Move or rename a file	file, path, to
delete	Delete a file (trash by default)	file, path, permanent
file	Show file info (size, dates, links)	file, path
files	List files in vault	folder, ext, total
folders	List folders	folder, total

Daily Notes

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
daily	Open today's daily note	silent
daily:read	Read today's daily note	—
daily:append	Append to today's daily note	content, inline
daily:prepend	Prepend to today's daily note	content, inline

Search

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
search	Search vault content	query, path, limit, format=text|json, matches, case

Tasks

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
tasks	List tasks (use all for vault-wide)	all, daily, done, todo, verbose, status="char"
task	Show or update a specific task	ref=path:line, toggle, done, todo

Properties and Metadata

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
properties	List properties for a file or vault	file, path
property:read	Read a specific property value	file, path, name
property:set	Set a property value	file, path, name, value, type
property:remove	Remove a property	file, path, name
tags	List tags	all, counts, sort=count
aliases	List aliases	—

Plugins and Themes

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
plugins	List installed/enabled plugins	—
plugin:install	Install a community plugin	id, enable
plugin:enable	Enable a plugin	id
plugin:disable	Disable a plugin	id

Links and Graph

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
links	List outgoing links from a file	file, path, total
backlinks	List backlinks to a file	file, path, counts, total
orphans	List files with no incoming links	total, all
deadends	List files with no outgoing links	total, all
unresolved	List unresolved (broken) links	total, counts, verbose

History and Versions

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
history	List file history versions	file, path
history:read	Read a specific history version	file, path, version=<n>
history:restore	Restore a previous version	file, path, version=<n>
diff	Compare file versions	file, path, from=<n>, to=<n>

Vault Utilities

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
vault	Show vault info	info=name|path|files|folders|size
wordcount	Count words and characters	file, path, words, characters
bookmarks	List bookmarks	total, verbose
recents	List recently opened files	total
random:read	Read a random note	folder

Practical Examples

Daily workflow

# Read today's daily note
obsidian daily:read

# Add a task to today's note
obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] Review PRD for Obsidian CLI agent skill"

# Check open tasks across the vault
obsidian tasks todo all

# Check tasks in today's daily note only
obsidian tasks todo daily

File operations

# Create a new discovery doc
obsidian create path="01. Projects/Work/New Initiative/Discovery.md" content="# Discovery\n\n## Problem Statement\n\n## Hypotheses\n"

# Create from a template
obsidian create name="Sprint Retro" template="Meeting Notes"

# Read a specific file
obsidian read file="PRD-Obsidian-CLI-skill"

# Append a decision to a file
obsidian append path="01. Projects/Work/Project/decisions/log.md" content="\n## 2026-02-11: Skill Approach\n- **Decision**: Use Obsidian CLI...\n- **Rationale**: Better results than native command line tools"

Search and discovery

# Find all mentions of a topic
obsidian search query="obsidian cli" limit=10

# Search within a specific folder
obsidian search query="parameters" path="01. Projects/Work"

# Get JSON results for structured processing
obsidian search query="parameters" format=json

Properties and metadata

# Set status on a document
obsidian property:set path="01. Projects/Work/Initiative/README.md" name=status value=active

# Add tags
obsidian property:set file="Discovery Doc" name=tags value="[discovery, h2]" type=list

# List all tags in the vault with counts
obsidian tags counts sort=count

Project scaffolding

# Create project files
obsidian create path="01. Projects/Work/new-initiative/README.md" content="---\ntags: [project, active]\nstatus: discovery\ncreated: 2026-02-11\n---\n\n# New Initiative\n\n## Status\n🟡 Discovery\n\n## Problem Statement\n\n## Success Criteria\n\n## Open Questions\n"

obsidian create path="01. Projects/Work/new-initiative/.gemini/GEMINI.md" content="# New Initiative\n\n## Overview\n\n## Key Documents\n\n## Stakeholders\n"

[!NOTE] The CLI is in early access (Obsidian 1.12+). Commands and syntax may change. Run obsidian help to check the latest available commands.