Obsidian CLI

Official Obsidian CLI for terminal vault operations. Requires Obsidian running (headless via xvfb works) with CLI enabled and insider/early access mode.

All parameters use key=value syntax: obsidian read path="folder/note.md". On headless Linux, prefix with DISPLAY=:5 (or whatever your xvfb display is).

Core Commands

Daily Notes

obsidian daily                           # Open today's daily note
obsidian daily:read                      # Print today's note content
obsidian daily:append content="text"     # Append to today's note
obsidian daily:prepend content="text"    # Prepend to today's note

Reading and Writing Files

obsidian read path="folder/note.md"                          # Read note
obsidian create path="folder/note" content="# Title"         # Create note (path without .md)
obsidian create path="folder/note" template="templatename"    # Create from template
obsidian append path="folder/note.md" content="text"          # Append to note
obsidian prepend path="folder/note.md" content="text"         # Prepend to note
obsidian move path="old/note.md" name="new-name"              # Move/rename
obsidian delete path="folder/note.md"                         # Delete (to trash)
obsidian delete path="folder/note.md" permanent               # Permanent delete

File Discovery

obsidian files                      # List all files
obsidian files ext=md               # Only markdown files
obsidian files folder="subfolder"   # Files in specific folder
obsidian files total                # Just the count
obsidian folders                    # List all folders
obsidian file path="folder/note.md" # File info (size, dates)

Search

obsidian search query="search text"                    # Search vault
obsidian search query="text" path="folder" limit=10    # Scoped search
obsidian search query="text" format=json               # JSON output
obsidian search query="text" matches                   # Show match context
obsidian search query="text" case                      # Case-sensitive

Links and Graph

obsidian backlinks path="note.md"      # Backlinks to a note
obsidian backlinks path="note.md" counts  # With link counts
obsidian links path="note.md"          # Outgoing links (requires plugin)
obsidian unresolved                    # Unresolved [[links]]
obsidian orphans                       # Notes with no links in or out
obsidian deadends                      # Notes with no outgoing links

Properties (Frontmatter)

obsidian properties path="note.md"                          # All properties
obsidian property:read path="note.md" name="status"         # Read one property
obsidian property:set path="note.md" name="status" value="draft"  # Set property
obsidian property:remove path="note.md" name="status"       # Remove property
obsidian aliases path="note.md"                             # List aliases

Tasks

obsidian tasks                              # All incomplete tasks
obsidian tasks all                          # All tasks (done + todo)
obsidian tasks done                         # Only completed tasks
obsidian tasks path="note.md"               # Tasks in specific file
obsidian tasks daily                        # Tasks in today's daily note
obsidian task path="note.md" line=5 toggle  # Toggle task status

Sync

obsidian sync                                  # Show sync status
obsidian sync on                               # Resume sync
obsidian sync off                              # Pause sync
obsidian sync:status                           # Detailed status
obsidian sync:history path="note.md"           # Version history
obsidian sync:read path="note.md" version=3    # Read specific version
obsidian sync:restore path="note.md" version=3 # Restore version
obsidian sync:deleted                          # Deleted files in sync

Templates

obsidian templates                          # List templates
obsidian template:read name="weekly-review" # Read template content
obsidian template:read name="weekly-review" resolve title="My Note"  # Render with variables
obsidian template:insert name="weekly-review"  # Insert into active file

Other Useful Commands

obsidian vault                         # Vault info (name, path, file count, size)
obsidian vaults                        # List all known vaults
obsidian outline path="note.md"        # Heading structure
obsidian wordcount path="note.md"      # Word/character count
obsidian recents                       # Recently opened files
obsidian version                       # Obsidian version
obsidian reload                        # Reload vault

Plugins

obsidian plugins                    # List all plugins
obsidian plugins:enabled            # List enabled plugins
obsidian plugin:enable id="canvas"  # Enable plugin
obsidian plugin:disable id="canvas" # Disable plugin
obsidian plugin:install id="name"   # Install from community
obsidian plugin:reload id="name"    # Reload plugin

Developer Commands

obsidian dev:screenshot path="screenshot.png"   # Screenshot
obsidian eval code="app.vault.getFiles().length" # Run JS in Obsidian
obsidian dev:console limit=20                    # Recent console output
obsidian dev:errors                              # Recent errors

Common Agent Patterns

Append to Daily Note with Linking

obsidian daily:append content="
## Reports
- [[reports/2026-02-10-morning|Morning Report]]
"

Create Note and Cross-Link

obsidian create path="reports/morning-report" content="# Morning Report"
obsidian daily:append content="- [[reports/morning-report|Morning Report]]"

Set Properties Programmatically

obsidian property:set path="note.md" name="status" value="draft"
obsidian property:set path="note.md" name="date" value="2026-02-10"

Setup

Requirements

Obsidian desktop app installed and running (v1.12.0+ with insider/early access)
CLI enabled: Settings > General > CLI toggle
insider and cli set to true in global config (~/.config/obsidian/obsidian.json on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json on macOS)

Headless Linux

Use deb package (not snap - snap confinement breaks CLI IPC). Run under xvfb. See references/headless-setup.md for config transfer details.

Multi-Vault

Use vault="Vault Name" parameter: obsidian vault="Notes" daily:read

Tips

Parameter syntax: Always key=value, not positional. Quote values with spaces: content="hello world"
Pipe-friendly: Plain text output, works with grep/awk/jq
JSON output: format=json on search and other commands
Headless prefix: DISPLAY=:5 obsidian <command> on headless Linux
Paths are vault-relative, not filesystem-relative
Stderr noise: GPU errors on headless are harmless, filter with 2>/dev/null or grep

obsidian-cli