obsidian-cli

name	obsidian-cli
description	Use the Obsidian CLI to interact with the vault natively—search, read, create, manage tasks, properties, and daily notes. 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. Fall back to shell tools (ls, find, grep) only if the 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., overwrite, newtab). Commands are silent by default; add open where supported to open the result in Obsidian.
• 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., Projects/Initiative/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, open, 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 a file to another folder	file, path, to
rename	Rename a file in place	file, path, name
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
folder	Show folder info	path, info=files|folders|size
folders	List folders	folder, total

Daily Notes

[!IMPORTANT] Requires the Daily Notes core plugin. Check with obsidian plugins:enabled filter=core; enable with obsidian plugin:enable id=daily-notes filter=core.

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
daily	Open today's daily note	paneType=tab|split|window
daily:read	Read today's daily note	—
daily:append	Append to today's daily note	content, inline, open
daily:prepend	Prepend to today's daily note	content, inline, open

Search

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
search	Search vault content (returns files)	query, path, limit, total, case, format=text|json
search:context	Search with matching lines in context	query, path, limit, case, format=text|json

Tasks

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

Properties and Metadata

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
properties	List properties for a file or vault	file, path, counts, sort=count, format=yaml|json|tsv
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	file, path, counts, sort=count, total
aliases	List aliases	file, path, total, verbose

Bases

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
bases	List base files in vault	—
base:query	Query a base and return results	file, path, view, format=json|csv|tsv|md|paths
base:views	List views in a base file	file, path

Plugins

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
plugins	List installed plugins	filter=core|community, versions
plugins:enabled	List enabled plugins	filter=core|community
plugin:install	Install a community plugin	id, enable
plugin:enable	Enable a plugin	id, filter=core|community
plugin:disable	Disable a plugin	id, filter=core|community

Command Palette (escape hatch)

When no dedicated CLI command exists, any Obsidian command can be executed by ID:

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
commands	List available Obsidian commands	filter=<prefix>
command	Execute an Obsidian command by ID	id=<command-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
vaults	List known vaults	verbose, total
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
version	Show Obsidian version	—

More command families exist (sync, themes, snippets, tabs, hotkeys) — run obsidian help for the full list.

Practical Examples

Daily workflow

# Read today's daily note (requires Daily Notes plugin)
obsidian daily:read

# Add a task to today's note
obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] Review the pricing proposal"

# Check open tasks across the vault
obsidian tasks todo

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

File operations

# Create a doc with frontmatter
obsidian create path="Projects/New Initiative/README.md" content="---\ntags: [project, active]\nstatus: discovery\n---\n\n# New Initiative\n\n## Problem Statement\n"

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

# Read a file by name (wikilink-style, no extension)
obsidian read file="Discovery"

# Append a decision to a log
obsidian append path="Projects/New Initiative/decisions.md" content="\n## 2026-07-05: Pricing model\n- **Decision**: ...\n- **Rationale**: ...\n"

Search and discovery

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

# See the matching lines in context
obsidian search:context query="pricing logic" limit=10

# Find a file by name
obsidian search query="file:README.md"

# Search within a folder, JSON output for structured processing
obsidian search query="risk" path="Projects" format=json

Properties and metadata

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

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

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

[!NOTE] Command reference verified against Obsidian 1.13. The CLI is still evolving: if a command errors unexpectedly, run obsidian help <command> to check current syntax before falling back to shell tools.