cli

name

cli

description

Interact with Obsidian vaults using the Obsidian CLI to read, create, search, and manage notes, tasks, properties, and more. Also supports plugin and theme development with commands to reload plugins, run JavaScript, capture errors, take screenshots, and inspect the DOM. Use when the user asks to interact with their Obsidian vault, manage notes, search vault content, perform vault operations from the command line, or develop and debug Obsidian plugins and themes.

Obsidian CLI

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

REQUIRES: Obsidian 1.12+ with CLI enabled: Settings → General → Command line interface.

Syntax

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

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

Flags are boolean switches with no value:

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

Command Reference

File Operations

obsidian files folder=<path> ext=md          # list files (replaces: Glob *.md)
obsidian files folder=base/categories ext=md # list categories
obsidian folders folder=<path>               # list subdirectories
obsidian read file="My Note"                 # read file contents
obsidian read path="folder/note.md"          # read by exact path
obsidian create name="New Note" content="# Hello" template="Template" silent
obsidian append path="folder/note.md" content="New line"
obsidian prepend file="My Note" content="New line"
obsidian move path="old/note.md" to="new/folder"
obsidian rename file="My Note" name="New Name"
obsidian delete path="folder/note.md"
obsidian delete path="folder/note.md" permanent  # skip trash

Search

obsidian search query="search term" limit=10          # file paths with matches
obsidian search query="text" path=base/notes limit=10 # scoped to folder
obsidian search:context query="text" path=base/notes  # grep-style with matching lines
obsidian search query="#task/inbox" path=periodic/daily  # find inbox tasks

Properties (Frontmatter)

obsidian properties path=folder/note.md             # read all properties of a file
obsidian property:read name="status" file="My Note" # read single property
obsidian property:set name="status" value="🟦" file="My Note"
obsidian property:set name="updated" value="2026-02-28" type=date file="My Note"
obsidian property:set name="tags" value="note/basic/primary" type=list file="My Note"
obsidian property:remove name="draft" file="My Note"

Tags

obsidian tags                           # all tags in vault
obsidian tags sort=count counts         # sorted by frequency with counts
obsidian tags file="My Note"            # tags for a specific file
obsidian tag name="category/pkm" verbose # files using this tag

Tasks

obsidian tasks todo format=json               # all open tasks in vault, with metadata
obsidian tasks done format=json               # all completed tasks in vault
obsidian task ref="path/to/note.md:42" toggle # toggle a specific task

# Tasks in a folder — use search with Obsidian task operators (path= in tasks needs a file):
obsidian search:context query="task-todo:#task/inbox" path=periodic/daily   # open inbox tasks
obsidian search:context query="task-done:#task/inbox" path=periodic/daily   # completed inbox tasks
obsidian search query="- [ ]" path=periodic/daily       # open tasks (any, without tag filter)

Links & Graph

obsidian backlinks file="My Note"              # notes linking to this note
obsidian links file="My Note"                  # outgoing links from this note
obsidian unresolved                            # broken links in vault
obsidian orphans                               # notes with no incoming links
obsidian deadends                              # notes with no outgoing links
obsidian outline file="My Note" format=md      # headings structure

Recently Modified Files

obsidian recents                              # recently opened files (replaces: Glob sort by mtime)

DO NOT use base:query or other base:* commands — they require Obsidian UI rendering and return [] from CLI. Use obsidian search with [property: value] syntax instead.

Cross-Platform Date Calculations (replaces bash date / python3)

Use obsidian eval with JavaScript instead of OS-specific commands:

# Current date YYYY-MM-DD
obsidian eval code="new Date().toISOString().slice(0,10)"

# Current week ISO 8601 (replaces: date +%G-W%V)
obsidian eval code="(function(){const d=new Date();const dt=new Date(Date.UTC(d.getFullYear(),d.getMonth(),d.getDate()));const day=dt.getUTCDay()||7;dt.setUTCDate(dt.getUTCDate()+4-day);const y=dt.getUTCFullYear();const ys=new Date(Date.UTC(y,0,1));const w=Math.ceil(((dt-ys)/86400000+1)/7);return y+'-W'+String(w).padStart(2,'0')})()"

# Parent month of current week (replaces: date -j macOS-specific)
obsidian eval code="const d=new Date();d.getFullYear()+'-'+String(d.getMonth()+1).padStart(2,'0')"

# Current quarter + months (replaces: python3 quarter script)
obsidian eval code="const d=new Date();const q=Math.ceil((d.getMonth()+1)/3);const m1=(q-1)*3+1;const months=[0,1,2].map(i=>d.getFullYear()+'-'+String(m1+i).padStart(2,'0'));d.getFullYear()+'-Q'+q+' '+months.join(' ')"

# Days since a date
obsidian eval code="Math.floor((Date.now()-new Date('2026-01-01'))/86400000)"

Note: eval uses JavaScript without return keyword — the last expression is the result.

Daily Notes

obsidian daily:path                           # expected path for today's daily note
obsidian daily:read                           # read today's daily note
obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] New task"
obsidian daily:prepend content="New content"

Vault Info

obsidian vault                                # vault info
obsidian vaults                               # list all known vaults
obsidian version                              # Obsidian version

Common Patterns for Skills

Listing available categories (replaces: Glob base/categories/*.md)

obsidian files folder=base/categories ext=md
obsidian files folder=base/_meta-notes ext=md
obsidian files folder=base/_problems ext=md

Finding active projects (replaces: Grep "status: 🟦" in projects/)

# Combine tag: operator with [property: value] — searches entire vault, no path needed:
obsidian search query="tag:#project [status: 🟦]"
obsidian search query="tag:#project [status: 🟥]"

# IMPORTANT: bare #tag + [property: value] returns 0 — always use tag: operator
# tag: supports nested tags: tag:#project matches project/single, project/longform, etc.

# Without tag filter (includes subfolders recursively — may include longform scenes):
obsidian search query="[status: 🟦]" path=projects
obsidian search query="[status: 🟩]" path=projects

Finding inbox tasks across daily notes (replaces: Grep #task/inbox)

# Use task-todo:/task-done: operators to filter by checkbox status:
obsidian search:context query="task-todo:#task/inbox" path=periodic/daily   # open only
obsidian search:context query="task-done:#task/inbox" path=periodic/daily   # completed only
obsidian search:context query="#task/inbox" path=periodic/daily             # all (open + done)

Reading recently modified notes (replaces: Glob sorted by mtime)

obsidian recents

Updating a property after creating a note (replaces: Edit YAML manually)

obsidian property:set name="addition" value="[[My Addition|➕]]" type=list file="Parent Note"

Counting notes/tasks/sources by date (replaces: Grep "YYYY-MM-" in frontmatter)

# Notes created this month (works as partial date match in [property: value] syntax):
obsidian search query="[created: 2026-02]" path=base/notes total
obsidian search query="[created: 2026-02]" path=base/additions total

# Multiple property filters combined with space (AND logic):
obsidian search query="[status: 🟩] [end: 2026-02]" path=sources total

# Tasks completed this month (text search for ✅ date marker):
obsidian search query="✅ 2026-02" total

# Projects by status — use tag: to exclude longform scenes:
obsidian search query="tag:#project [status: 🟦]"   # in progress
obsidian search query="tag:#project [status: 🟥]"   # todo
obsidian search query="tag:#project [status: 🟩]"   # done

IMPORTANT: [property: value] syntax supports partial matching:

• [created: 2026-02] — finds all files with created: starting with 2026-02
• [status: 🟩] [end: 2026] — two property conditions combined (space = AND)
• property: value (without brackets) → error "Operator not recognized"
• #tag [property: value] combined → returns 0 (not supported)

Getting files by tag (replaces: Grep "#source/book" in sources/)

obsidian tag name="source/book" verbose      # all files with this tag + count
obsidian tag name="source/article/paper" verbose
obsidian tags sort=count counts              # all vault tags sorted by frequency

Plugin Development

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

1. Reload the plugin to pick up changes:

   obsidian plugin:reload id=my-plugin
   

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

   obsidian dev:errors
   

3. Verify visually with a screenshot or DOM inspection:

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

4. Check console output for warnings or unexpected logs:

   obsidian dev:console level=error
   

Additional developer commands

Run JavaScript in the app context:

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

Inspect CSS values:

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

Toggle mobile emulation:

obsidian dev:mobile on