Obsidian CLI Skill

The user has the obsidian CLI installed, which communicates with a running Obsidian instance over a local REST API. Use it to search, read, create, modify, and analyze notes without touching files directly on disk.

When to Use CLI vs Direct File Access

Use CLI	Use Direct Read/Edit	Use Both
Search (`search`, `search:context`)	Large content edits requiring precise line-level changes	Find notes with CLI, then Read/Edit their files
Graph analysis (backlinks, orphans, deadends, unresolved)	Multi-line insertions at specific positions	Get vault path with `vault info=path`, then Glob/Grep
Properties/tags (read, set, list, count)	Complex regex replacements	List tasks with CLI, edit file to restructure
Tasks (list, toggle, filter)	Reading very large files with offset/limit
Daily notes (read, append, prepend)
Templates (list, read, insert)
Vault-wide counts and statistics
Opening files in Obsidian UI

Key principle: Use CLI for discovery and metadata; use direct file access for surgical edits. Combine them for find-then-edit workflows.

CLI Syntax Conventions

obsidian <command> [key=value ...] [bare-flags]

file= resolves by name like wikilinks (no extension needed): file=Meeting Notes
path= is an exact vault-relative path: path=Journal/2024-01-15.md
Quote values with spaces: file="Project Planning", content="Hello World"
Newlines in content: Use \n — e.g., content="Line 1\nLine 2"
Bare boolean flags have no value: total, verbose, counts, done, todo
vault= targets a specific vault: vault="Work Vault"
format=json for structured/parseable output (prefer this for programmatic use)
Most commands default to the active file when file=/path= is omitted

Safe vs Destructive Operations

Safe (no confirmation needed)

All read commands: read, search, search:context, file, files, folders, outline, wordcount, recents
All list commands: tags, properties, tasks, backlinks, links, orphans, deadends, unresolved, aliases, bookmarks, templates, bases, plugins, themes, snippets, hotkeys, commands, tabs, workspace
Single-value reads: tag, property:read, daily:read, daily:path, template:read, random:read, vault, vaults, version, history, history:list, history:read, diff, publish:list, publish:site, publish:status, base:query, base:views
UI navigation: open, daily, search:open, tab:open, web

Mutating (use with normal judgment)

Content modification: append, prepend, create, daily:append, daily:prepend
Properties: property:set, property:remove
Tasks: task with toggle/done/todo/status=
Bookmarks: bookmark
Templates: template:insert
Bases: base:create

Destructive (confirm with user first)

delete — moves to trash (or permanent with permanent flag)
move, rename — changes file location/name
history:restore — overwrites current file with historical version
plugin:install, plugin:uninstall, plugin:enable, plugin:disable — changes plugin state
theme:install, theme:uninstall, theme:set — changes theme
snippet:enable, snippet:disable — changes CSS snippets
plugins:restrict — toggles restricted mode
publish:add, publish:remove — affects published site
reload, restart — disrupts the running app
command — executes arbitrary Obsidian commands

Core Command Patterns

Search & Discovery

# Full-text search
obsidian search query="project planning" format=json

# Search with line context (shows matching lines)
obsidian search:context query="TODO" path=Projects limit=10

# Count matches
obsidian search query="meeting" total

# List all markdown files in a folder
obsidian files folder=Projects ext=md

# Recently opened files
obsidian recents

Reading Notes

# Read by wikilink name
obsidian read file="Meeting Notes"

# Read by exact path
obsidian read path="Journal/2024-01-15.md"

# Get file metadata
obsidian file file="My Note"

# Show heading outline
obsidian outline file="My Note" format=json

# Word count
obsidian wordcount file="My Note"

Writing & Modifying Notes

# Create a new note
obsidian create name="New Note" content="# New Note\n\nContent here"

# Create from template
obsidian create name="Meeting 2024-01-15" template="Meeting Template"

# Append to a note
obsidian append file="My Note" content="\n## New Section\n\nAdded content"

# Prepend to a note
obsidian prepend file="My Note" content="Important update at the top\n"

Properties (Frontmatter)

# List all properties across the vault with counts
obsidian properties counts sort=count format=json

# Read a specific property from a file
obsidian property:read name=status file="My Project"

# Set a property
obsidian property:set name=status value=active file="My Project"

# Set a date property
obsidian property:set name=due value=2024-03-15 type=date file="My Task"

# Set a list property
obsidian property:set name=tags value="[work, urgent]" type=list file="My Note"

# Remove a property
obsidian property:remove name=draft file="Published Post"

# Show properties for a specific file
obsidian properties file="My Note" format=yaml

Graph & Links

# Find what links TO a note (backlinks)
obsidian backlinks file="My Note" counts format=json

# Find what a note links TO (outgoing)
obsidian links file="My Note"

# Find orphan notes (nothing links to them)
obsidian orphans

# Count orphans
obsidian orphans total

# Find dead-end notes (they link to nothing)
obsidian deadends

# Find broken/unresolved links
obsidian unresolved counts verbose format=json

Tasks

# List all incomplete tasks
obsidian tasks todo

# List completed tasks
obsidian tasks done

# Tasks in a specific file
obsidian tasks file="Project Plan" verbose

# Tasks from daily note
obsidian tasks daily todo

# Count incomplete tasks
obsidian tasks todo total

# Tasks as JSON for processing
obsidian tasks todo format=json

# Toggle a task (by file and line number)
obsidian task file="My Note" line=15 toggle

# Mark a task done
obsidian task file="My Note" line=15 done

# Mark a daily note task done
obsidian task daily line=5 done

Daily Notes

# Read today's daily note
obsidian daily:read

# Get the daily note's file path
obsidian daily:path

# Append to today's daily note
obsidian daily:append content="\n- [ ] New task for today"

# Prepend to daily note
obsidian daily:prepend content="## Morning Update\n\nStarting the day with..."

# Open daily note in Obsidian
obsidian daily

Templates

# List available templates
obsidian templates

# Read a template's content
obsidian template:read name="Meeting Template"

# Read with variables resolved
obsidian template:read name="Meeting Template" resolve title="Q1 Planning"

# Insert template into active file
obsidian template:insert name="Meeting Template"

Bookmarks

# List all bookmarks
obsidian bookmarks format=json

# Bookmark a file
obsidian bookmark file="Important Note"

# Bookmark a heading within a file
obsidian bookmark file="Project Plan" subpath="## Timeline"

# Bookmark a search query
obsidian bookmark search="TODO urgent"

History & Versions

# List history versions for a file
obsidian history file="My Note"

# List all files that have history
obsidian history:list

# Read a specific version
obsidian history:read file="My Note" version=2

# Diff two versions
obsidian diff file="My Note" from=1 to=3

Bases (Obsidian Databases)

# List all base files
obsidian bases

# List views in a base
obsidian base:views file="Tasks DB"

# Query a base view
obsidian base:query file="Tasks DB" view="Active Tasks" format=json

# Create a new item in a base
obsidian base:create file="Tasks DB" name="New Task" content="Task description"

Plugins, Themes, Snippets

# List community plugins with versions
obsidian plugins filter=community versions format=json

# Get info about a specific plugin
obsidian plugin id=dataview

# List enabled plugins
obsidian plugins:enabled

# List installed themes
obsidian themes versions

# Show active theme
obsidian theme

# List CSS snippets
obsidian snippets

Vault Info

# Full vault info
obsidian vault

# Just the vault path
obsidian vault info=path

# Just vault name
obsidian vault info=name

# File and folder counts
obsidian vault info=files
obsidian vault info=folders

# List all known vaults
obsidian vaults verbose

# Obsidian version
obsidian version

Opening Files in Obsidian UI

# Open a file
obsidian open file="My Note"

# Open in new tab
obsidian open file="My Note" newtab

# Open daily note
obsidian daily

# Open search with query
obsidian search:open query="project"

# Execute any Obsidian command
obsidian command id=graph:open

Best Practices

Use format=json for structured output — easier to parse and process programmatically
Use total for counts — returns just a number instead of listing everything
Batch appends — combine multiple items into one content= with \n separators rather than making multiple CLI calls
Check before mutating — read the current state before setting properties or modifying content
Get vault path dynamically — use obsidian vault info=path rather than hardcoding paths, then combine with Read/Edit for file operations
Use file= for convenience, path= for precision — file= is shorter but may be ambiguous if multiple files share a name
Use verbose for detailed output — many list commands support verbose for extra context (file paths, counts, types)

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
"Obsidian is not running" or connection refused	Obsidian desktop app must be open. Start it first.
"No active file" error	Some commands default to the active file. Specify `file=` or `path=` explicitly.
"File not found"	Check the name with `obsidian search query="partial name"` or `obsidian files`. Use `path=` for exact match.
Spaces in file/folder names	Always quote: `file="My Note"`, `path="My Folder/note.md"`
Multi-vault	Specify `vault="Vault Name"` to target a specific vault
Command returns nothing	The file may be empty, or the query had no matches. Use `total` to confirm zero results.

Full Command Reference

For the complete catalog of all 80+ commands with all options, read: references/command-reference.md (relative to this skill's directory)

obsidian-cli