| name | nexus |
| description | Read, search, and edit the user's Obsidian vault (notes, folders, canvas, tasks, memory/workspaces, saved prompts) from the shell via the `nexus` CLI — no MCP connection needed. Use whenever the user refers to their vault, notes, daily notes, second brain, or Obsidian, or asks you to find/read/change something stored there. |
| when_to_use | The task involves the user's Obsidian vault or notes and the `nexus` command is on PATH. Not for editing files in the current code repo — use normal file tools for those. |
Nexus vault CLI
nexus drives a running Nexus (Obsidian) vault from the shell over a local
socket — no MCP config. It has two verbs: discover what you can do, then
execute.
Start here
Run nexus --help first. It is the authoritative, always-current manual —
commands, the context contract, CLI syntax, gotchas, and the tool catalog. It's
offline and instant (no socket), so read it before your first real command
instead of guessing.
For a common task, nexus playbook <name> gives you a ready-to-run recipe
plus your workspaces and the exact tools it needs, in one call. Run
nexus playbook to see what's available (typically: vault-work, organize,
tasks, prompt).
The mindset (this is what --help can't teach you)
- Explore → inspect → exploit. Search/list find locations;
content read
gets contents; then you write. A search hit is a {path, score}, not the
note — never quote, summarize, or edit from a hit without reading it first.
nexus tools returns schemas, not data. It's discovery. Don't loop it
hoping for vault content — that comes from nexus use --memory … --goal … -- content read ….
--memory and --goal are real and enforced. You're operating a person's
live vault; pass a genuine running summary and objective, not placeholders.
- You can't escape the vault. Paths are vault-relative;
.., ~, and
absolute paths are rejected. That's a guardrail, not a bug.
- Nothing is destroyed. The AI gets archive (reversible), not delete.
- Windows:
nexus vaults discovers local named pipes. If policy blocks
enumeration, pass --vault <name> or set NEXUS_VAULT.
The shape
nexus tools [selector] # discover — tool schemas (never vault data)
nexus use --memory "<what you're doing>" --goal "<objective>" -- \
<agent command --flags> # execute — runs one tool, prints the result
The -- delimiter is canonical: context belongs before it; the tool command
belongs after it. This avoids nested command-string quoting, especially in
Windows PowerShell. The legacy one-string form remains supported.
Everything else — the flag table, per-tool schemas, syntax rules, the live
per-vault catalog (including any enabled app agents) — comes from nexus --help,
nexus tools <tool>, and nexus playbook <name>. Prefer those over guessing;
they're always current.