command-palette

created	"2026-04-30T00:00:00.000Z"
modified	"2026-05-09T00:00:00.000Z"
reviewed	"2026-04-30T00:00:00.000Z"
name	command-palette
description	Run, list, and inspect Obsidian commands and hotkeys from the CLI. Use when triggering a command, enumerating commands, or checking hotkey bindings.
user-invocable	false
allowed-tools	Bash(obsidian *), Read, Grep, Glob

Obsidian Command Palette

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when...	Use the alternative instead when...
Triggering a command the user would normally pick from the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+P)	Running JavaScript via the developer API — use dev-tools
Discovering what commands a plugin registers	Enabling/disabling a plugin entirely — use plugins-themes
Looking up which hotkey is bound to a command	Setting up a workspace — use workspaces

The command palette is Obsidian's universal action surface — every built-in operation and every command registered by a plugin appears here. The CLI exposes the same surface, which is the leverage point for automation: any plugin command becomes scriptable without writing JavaScript.

Prerequisites

• Obsidian desktop v1.12.4+ with CLI enabled
• Obsidian must be running

List Commands

# All available command IDs
obsidian commands

# Filter by ID prefix (e.g. only Templater commands)
obsidian commands filter=templater

# Filter to a built-in family
obsidian commands filter=editor
obsidian commands filter=workspace

Command IDs follow the pluginid:action convention — e.g. editor:toggle-bold, workspace:split-vertical, dataview:dataview-rebuild-current-view.

Execute a Command

# Run a built-in command
obsidian command id=editor:toggle-bold

# Run a plugin-registered command
obsidian command id=templater-obsidian:insert-templater
obsidian command id=dataview:dataview-rebuild-current-view

# Open the command palette itself
obsidian command id=command-palette:open

command always operates against the active editor / active file — there is no file= parameter. To run a command against a specific note, open the note first (obsidian open file=Foo), then run command.

Hotkeys

# All bound hotkeys
obsidian hotkeys

# Mark which entries are user-customised vs default
obsidian hotkeys verbose

# Count of bound hotkeys
obsidian hotkeys total

# Lookup the hotkey for one command
obsidian hotkey id=editor:toggle-bold
obsidian hotkey id=editor:toggle-bold verbose

Common Patterns

"Run a Templater template against the current note"

obsidian open file="Notes/Today"
obsidian command id=templater-obsidian:replace-in-file-templater

"Find every Dataview command"

obsidian commands filter=dataview

"Discover what hotkeys conflict with a new binding"

obsidian hotkeys format=json | jq '[.[] | select(.hotkey == "Ctrl+Shift+P")]'

(Requires the user's installed jq; the CLI itself does not pipe.)

Agentic Optimizations

Context	Command
List all commands	obsidian commands
Filter commands by prefix	obsidian commands filter=PREFIX
Run a command	obsidian command id=PLUGIN:ACTION
List hotkeys (structured)	obsidian hotkeys format=json
Lookup one hotkey	obsidian hotkey id=PLUGIN:ACTION
Show user-customised hotkeys	obsidian hotkeys verbose

Related Skills

• plugins-themes — Enable the plugin before its commands become available
• workspaces — Set up an editor state, then run a command against it
• dev-tools — When a command doesn't exist for what you need