obsidian-cli

name

obsidian-cli

description

Interact with Obsidian vaults using the Obsidian CLI (`obsidian` command). Use for any Obsidian-related task that can be accomplished from the terminal: creating/reading/editing notes, searching vaults, managing daily notes, working with properties/tags/links, managing tasks, handling plugins/themes, syncing, publishing, file history, and vault automation. Triggers when user mentions Obsidian, vaults, notes (in Obsidian context), daily notes, or wants to automate Obsidian workflows.

Obsidian CLI

Control Obsidian vaults from the terminal using the obsidian command.

Prerequisites

• Obsidian 1.12.4+ with CLI enabled (Settings > General > CLI)
• Obsidian app must be running (first command launches it if needed)
• For setup help, see references/setup.md

Command Syntax

obsidian [vault=<name>] <command> [params] [flags]

• Parameters: key=value (quote values with spaces: content="Hello world")
• Flags: boolean switches like open, overwrite, total
• Vault targeting: vault=<name> before command, or cd into vault dir
• File targeting: file=<name> (wikilink/fuzzy) or path=<path> (exact from vault root)
• Multiline: \n for newlines, \t for tabs
• Clipboard: append --copy to any command

Common Workflows

Create and edit notes

obsidian create name="Meeting Notes" content="# Meeting\n\n- Topic:" open
obsidian create path="Projects/idea.md" template="Project Template"
obsidian read file="My Note"
obsidian append file="Journal" content="\n## New Entry\nContent here"
obsidian prepend file="Tasks" content="- [ ] New task"

Daily notes

obsidian daily                              # Open today's daily note
obsidian daily:read                         # Read daily note contents
obsidian daily:append content="- Did X"     # Append to daily note
obsidian daily:path                         # Get path (even if not created)

Search

obsidian search query="meeting" limit=10
obsidian search:context query="TODO" format=json
obsidian search query="keyword" path=Projects total

Properties and tags

obsidian property:set name=status value=done file="Note"
obsidian property:read name=tags file="Note"
obsidian tags sort=count counts
obsidian tag name=project verbose

Tasks

obsidian tasks todo                         # All incomplete tasks
obsidian tasks daily                        # Today's daily note tasks
obsidian task file=Recipe line=8 done       # Mark task complete
obsidian task daily line=3 toggle           # Toggle task status

Links and graph analysis

obsidian backlinks file="Note"
obsidian links file="Note"
obsidian orphans                            # Files with no backlinks
obsidian deadends                           # Files with no outgoing links
obsidian unresolved counts                  # Broken links

Plugins

obsidian plugins filter=community versions
obsidian plugin:install id=dataview enable
obsidian plugin:reload id=my-plugin

Files and folders

obsidian files folder=Projects ext=md
obsidian folders
obsidian move file="Old" to="Archive/Old.md"
obsidian delete file="Trash Me"

Full Command Reference

For complete command documentation with all parameters and flags, see references/commands.md.

Command categories: General, Files/Folders, Daily Notes, Search, Properties, Tags, Links, Tasks, Templates, Outline, Bookmarks, Bases, Plugins, Themes/Snippets, Sync, Publish, Vault, Workspaces/Tabs, Unique Notes, Word Count, Web Viewer, Random Notes, File History, Developer.

Important Notes

• Always use obsidian as the command (not obs or other aliases)
• The Obsidian desktop app must be running for CLI commands to work
• When targeting a specific vault, place vault=<name> before the command
• Use file= for fuzzy/wikilink matching, path= for exact paths
• format=json is useful when parsing output programmatically
• total flag returns only the count instead of listing items
• --copy on any command copies output to system clipboard