| name | obsidian-cli |
| description | Interact with Obsidian vaults via the CLI (v1.12.6+). Search, read, create, manage files, tags, properties, tasks, plugins, and more. Use when the user wants to query or manipulate their Obsidian vault programmatically. Requires Obsidian app running with CLI enabled. |
| triggers | ["obsidian cli","obsidian search","obsidian tags","obsidian properties","vault search","vault stats","backlinks","orphan notes"] |
Obsidian CLI Skill
Comprehensive reference for Obsidian's built-in CLI (80+ commands). Enables programmatic vault management, search, tag/property operations, link graph queries, and more.
Prerequisites
Usage Pattern
timeout 5 obsidian <command> [params] [flags]
timeout 5 obsidian vault=<name> <command>
| Syntax | Description | Example |
|---|
key=value | Parameter | query="search term" |
key="val spaces" | Quoted parameter | file="My Note" |
flagname | Boolean flag | total, verbose, counts |
file=<name> | Target file (wikilink-style) | file="Daily Note" |
path=<exact> | Target file (exact path) | path="folder/note.md" |
--copy | Copy output to clipboard | search query="x" --copy |
\n / \t | Newline / tab in content | content="line1\nline2" |
Output Formats
| Context | Formats |
|---|
| Most list commands | format=json|tsv|csv |
| Search | format=text|json |
| Outline | format=tree|md|json |
| Properties | format=yaml|json|tsv |
| Base query | format=json|csv|tsv|md|paths |
Command Reference
General
timeout 5 obsidian version
timeout 5 obsidian help
timeout 5 obsidian help search
timeout 5 obsidian reload
timeout 5 obsidian restart
Files And Folders
| Command | Key Params | Description |
|---|
file | file/path | Show file info |
files | folder, ext, total | List vault files |
folder | path, info | Show folder info |
folders | folder, total | List vault folders |
open | file/path, newtab | Open a file in Obsidian GUI |
create | name/path, content, template, overwrite, open | Create or overwrite file |
read | file/path | Read file contents |
append | file/path, content, inline | Append to file |
prepend | file/path, content, inline | Prepend after frontmatter |
move | file/path, to | Move or rename file |
rename | file/path, name | Rename file and preserve ext |
delete | file/path, permanent | Delete file |
timeout 5 obsidian files total
timeout 5 obsidian files folder="Udacity" ext=md
timeout 5 obsidian read file="My Note"
timeout 5 obsidian create name="New Note" content="# Title\n\nContent"
timeout 5 obsidian append file="Daily" content="\n- New item" inline
timeout 5 obsidian move file="Old Name" to="new-folder"
timeout 5 obsidian open file="My Note" newtab
Daily Notes
timeout 5 obsidian daily
timeout 5 obsidian daily:path
timeout 5 obsidian daily:read
timeout 5 obsidian daily:append content="- Task done"
timeout 5 obsidian daily:prepend content="## Morning"
Search
timeout 5 obsidian search query="keyword"
timeout 5 obsidian search query="keyword" path="folder"
timeout 5 obsidian search query="keyword" limit=5 total
timeout 5 obsidian search query="keyword" case
timeout 5 obsidian search:context query="keyword"
timeout 5 obsidian search:open query="keyword"
Tags
timeout 5 obsidian tags total
timeout 5 obsidian tags total counts
timeout 5 obsidian tags file="My Note"
timeout 5 obsidian tag name="project" total
timeout 5 obsidian tag name="resume" verbose
Tasks
timeout 5 obsidian tasks total
timeout 5 obsidian tasks todo
timeout 5 obsidian tasks done
timeout 5 obsidian tasks file="Project"
timeout 5 obsidian task file="Note" line=5 toggle
timeout 5 obsidian task file="Note" line=5 done
Properties
timeout 5 obsidian properties total counts
timeout 5 obsidian properties file="My Note"
timeout 5 obsidian property:read name="status" file="Note"
timeout 5 obsidian property:set name="status" value="complete" file="Note"
timeout 5 obsidian property:set name="tags" value="tag1,tag2" type=list file="Note"
timeout 5 obsidian property:remove name="draft" file="Note"
timeout 5 obsidian aliases total
Links
timeout 5 obsidian backlinks file="My Note"
timeout 5 obsidian backlinks file="My Note" total
timeout 5 obsidian links file="My Note" total
timeout 5 obsidian unresolved total
timeout 5 obsidian unresolved counts verbose
timeout 5 obsidian orphans total
timeout 5 obsidian deadends total
Outline
timeout 5 obsidian outline file="My Note"
timeout 5 obsidian outline file="My Note" format=md
timeout 5 obsidian outline file="My Note" format=json
timeout 5 obsidian outline file="My Note" total
Bookmarks
timeout 5 obsidian bookmarks
timeout 5 obsidian bookmarks total verbose
timeout 5 obsidian bookmark file="My Note" title="Fav"
Templates
timeout 5 obsidian templates total
timeout 5 obsidian template:read name="daily" resolve title="Test"
timeout 5 obsidian template:insert name="daily"
Bases
timeout 5 obsidian bases
timeout 5 obsidian base:query file="projects" format=json
timeout 5 obsidian base:query file="tasks" format=csv
timeout 5 obsidian base:create file="projects" name="New Item" content="..."
Plugins
timeout 5 obsidian plugins
timeout 5 obsidian plugins filter=community versions
timeout 5 obsidian plugins:enabled
timeout 5 obsidian plugin id="dataview"
timeout 5 obsidian plugin:enable id="dataview"
timeout 5 obsidian plugin:disable id="dataview"
timeout 5 obsidian plugin:install id="dataview" enable
timeout 5 obsidian plugin:uninstall id="dataview"
Themes And Snippets
timeout 5 obsidian themes
timeout 5 obsidian theme
timeout 5 obsidian theme:set name="Minimal"
timeout 5 obsidian snippets
timeout 5 obsidian snippet:enable name="custom"
Command Palette And Hotkeys
timeout 5 obsidian commands
timeout 5 obsidian command id="editor:toggle-bold"
timeout 5 obsidian hotkeys total
timeout 5 obsidian hotkey id="editor:toggle-bold"
Vault And Workspace
timeout 5 obsidian vault
timeout 5 obsidian vaults verbose
timeout 5 obsidian workspace
timeout 5 obsidian workspaces
timeout 5 obsidian workspace:save name="coding"
timeout 5 obsidian workspace:load name="coding"
timeout 5 obsidian tabs
timeout 5 obsidian recents total
Sync And History
timeout 5 obsidian sync:status
timeout 5 obsidian sync off
timeout 5 obsidian sync on
timeout 5 obsidian sync:history file="Note" total
timeout 5 obsidian history file="Note"
timeout 5 obsidian history:restore file="Note" version=3
timeout 5 obsidian diff file="Note" from=1 to=3
Other
timeout 5 obsidian random
timeout 5 obsidian random:read
timeout 5 obsidian wordcount file="Note"
timeout 5 obsidian web url="https://example.com"
Developer
timeout 5 obsidian devtools
timeout 5 obsidian dev:errors
timeout 5 obsidian dev:screenshot path="/tmp/shot.png"
timeout 5 obsidian eval code="app.vault.getFiles().length"
Common Workflows
Vault Health Check
timeout 5 obsidian vault
timeout 5 obsidian unresolved total
timeout 5 obsidian orphans total
timeout 5 obsidian deadends total
Tag-Based Queries
timeout 5 obsidian tags total counts
timeout 5 obsidian tag name="resume" verbose
timeout 5 obsidian search query="#project"
Property Bulk Operations
timeout 5 obsidian property:read name="status" file="Project"
timeout 5 obsidian property:set name="status" value="complete" file="Project"
timeout 5 obsidian property:set name="tags" value="done,archived" type=list file="Project"
Daily Note Workflow
timeout 5 obsidian daily:append content="\n## $(date +%H:%M) Update\n- Task completed"
timeout 5 obsidian daily:read
CLI Vs Direct File Access
| Operation | Best Tool | Reason |
|---|
| Create or edit notes | Direct file write | Faster, no timeout risk |
| Batch file ops | Direct file system | More reliable for bulk |
| Search content | CLI search or grep | CLI uses Obsidian's index |
| Tag queries | CLI tags or tag | Only CLI has tag index |
| Property CRUD | CLI property:* | Atomic, no parse errors |
| Backlinks or orphans | CLI backlinks or orphans | Only CLI has link graph |
| Open in GUI | CLI open | Opens specific file |
| Plugin management | CLI plugin:* | Only way from terminal |
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Fix |
|---|
Unable to connect to main process | killall Obsidian && sleep 2 && open -a Obsidian && sleep 5 |
| CLI hangs | Always use timeout 5 prefix |
| Wrong vault | Use vault=<name> as first param |
| Command not found | Check obsidian help for latest commands |
| Empty output | Some commands return empty on success; check with total flag |
