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