obsidian

Obsidian CLI Skill

Interact with Obsidian vaults through the obsidian command-line interface.

General Syntax

obsidian <command> [options]

• vault=<name> targets a specific vault when multiple are open.
• File resolution: file=<name> resolves like wikilinks; path=<path> is an exact path (e.g., folder/note.md).
• Most commands default to the active file when file/path is omitted.
• Quote values with spaces: name="My Note".
• Use \n for newline, \t for tab in content values.

Reading and Writing Notes

Read a note

obsidian read file="Note Name"
obsidian read path="folder/note.md"

Create a note

obsidian create name="New Note" content="# Heading\nBody text"
obsidian create path="folder/note.md" template="My Template" open

Options: overwrite, open, newtab.

Append to a note

obsidian append file="Note Name" content="New paragraph"
obsidian append path="folder/note.md" content="Inline addition" inline

inline appends without a preceding newline.

Prepend to a note

obsidian prepend file="Note Name" content="Added to top"

Move or rename

obsidian move file="Old Name" to="new/folder/"
obsidian rename file="Old Name" name="New Name"

Delete

obsidian delete file="Note Name"
obsidian delete path="folder/note.md" permanent

Without permanent, files go to trash.

Daily Notes

obsidian daily                                    # Open today's daily note
obsidian daily:read                               # Read daily note contents
obsidian daily:path                               # Get daily note file path
obsidian daily:append content="- Task done"       # Append to daily note
obsidian daily:prepend content="## Morning"       # Prepend to daily note

Append/prepend accept open and inline options.

Search

Text search

obsidian search query="search term"
obsidian search query="search term" path="subfolder" limit=10 case

Search with context (shows matching lines)

obsidian search:context query="search term" format=json

Open search in Obsidian UI

obsidian search:open query="search term"

Output formats: text (default), json.

Properties (Frontmatter)

Read a property

obsidian property:read name="status" file="Note Name"

Set a property

obsidian property:set name="status" value="done" file="Note Name"
obsidian property:set name="rating" value="5" type=number file="Note Name"

Types: text, list, number, checkbox, date, datetime.

Remove a property

obsidian property:remove name="status" file="Note Name"

List properties in vault

obsidian properties                          # All properties in vault
obsidian properties file="Note Name"         # Properties for one file
obsidian properties counts sort=count        # Sorted by frequency
obsidian properties format=json

Tags

obsidian tags                                # All tags in vault
obsidian tags counts sort=count              # Sorted by frequency
obsidian tags file="Note Name"               # Tags for one file
obsidian tag name="project" verbose          # Tag details with file list
obsidian tags format=json

Tasks

List tasks

obsidian tasks                               # All tasks in vault
obsidian tasks todo                          # Incomplete tasks only
obsidian tasks done                          # Completed tasks only
obsidian tasks file="Note Name"              # Tasks from one file
obsidian tasks daily                         # Tasks from daily note
obsidian tasks active                        # Tasks from active file
obsidian tasks verbose                       # Grouped by file with line numbers
obsidian tasks format=json

Update a task

obsidian task path="folder/note.md" line=15 done     # Mark complete
obsidian task path="folder/note.md" line=15 todo     # Mark incomplete
obsidian task path="folder/note.md" line=15 toggle   # Toggle status
obsidian task daily line=8 done                       # Complete task in daily note
obsidian task ref="folder/note.md:15" toggle         # Using ref shorthand

Files and Folders

List files

obsidian files                               # All files
obsidian files folder="subfolder"            # In specific folder
obsidian files ext=md                        # By extension
obsidian files total                         # Count only

File info

obsidian file file="Note Name"
obsidian file path="folder/note.md"

List folders

obsidian folders
obsidian folders folder="parent" total

Open a file

obsidian open file="Note Name"
obsidian open file="Note Name" newtab

Links and Graph

Outgoing links from a file

obsidian links file="Note Name"
obsidian links file="Note Name" total

Backlinks to a file

obsidian backlinks file="Note Name"
obsidian backlinks file="Note Name" counts format=json

Orphans and dead ends

obsidian orphans                             # Files with no incoming links
obsidian deadends                            # Files with no outgoing links
obsidian unresolved                          # Broken links in vault
obsidian unresolved counts verbose format=json

Bookmarks

obsidian bookmarks                           # List bookmarks
obsidian bookmark file="note.md"             # Bookmark a file
obsidian bookmark file="note.md" subpath="#heading"  # Bookmark a heading
obsidian bookmark search="query" title="Saved Search"
obsidian bookmark url="https://example.com" title="Link"

Templates

obsidian templates                           # List available templates
obsidian template:read name="My Template"    # Read template content
obsidian template:read name="My Template" resolve title="New Note"  # With variables resolved
obsidian template:insert name="My Template"  # Insert into active file

Outline (Headings)

obsidian outline                             # Headings of active file
obsidian outline file="Note Name"
obsidian outline format=tree                 # Tree view (default)
obsidian outline format=md                   # Markdown
obsidian outline format=json                 # JSON

Aliases

obsidian aliases                             # All aliases in vault
obsidian aliases file="Note Name"            # Aliases for one file
obsidian aliases verbose                     # Include file paths

Vault Info

obsidian vault                               # Vault name, path, stats
obsidian vault info=name                     # Just the name
obsidian vault info=path                     # Just the path
obsidian vaults                              # List all known vaults
obsidian vaults verbose                      # With paths

Plugins

obsidian plugins                             # List installed plugins
obsidian plugins filter=community versions   # Community plugins with versions
obsidian plugins:enabled                     # Only enabled plugins
obsidian plugin id="plugin-id"               # Plugin details
obsidian plugin:enable id="plugin-id"
obsidian plugin:disable id="plugin-id"
obsidian plugin:install id="plugin-id" enable
obsidian plugin:uninstall id="plugin-id"

Commands and Hotkeys

Execute a command

obsidian command id="editor:toggle-bold"
obsidian commands                            # List all commands
obsidian commands filter="editor"            # Filter by prefix

Hotkeys

obsidian hotkeys                             # List all hotkeys
obsidian hotkey id="editor:toggle-bold"      # Hotkey for specific command

Bases (Database Views)

obsidian bases                               # List all base files
obsidian base:views                          # List views in current base
obsidian base:query file="My Base" format=json
obsidian base:query file="My Base" view="Active" format=md
obsidian base:create file="My Base" name="New Entry" content="Details"

Output formats: json (default), csv, tsv, md, paths.

Sync

obsidian sync:status                         # Check sync status
obsidian sync on                             # Resume sync
obsidian sync off                            # Pause sync
obsidian sync:deleted                        # Files deleted in sync
obsidian sync:history file="Note Name"       # Sync versions
obsidian sync:read file="Note Name" version=1
obsidian sync:restore file="Note Name" version=1

File History (Local)

obsidian history:list                        # Files with history
obsidian history file="Note Name"            # List versions
obsidian history:read file="Note Name" version=1
obsidian history:restore file="Note Name" version=1

Diff (Local and Sync Versions)

obsidian diff file="Note Name"               # List versions
obsidian diff file="Note Name" from=1 to=2   # Diff between versions
obsidian diff file="Note Name" filter=local   # Only local versions
obsidian diff file="Note Name" filter=sync    # Only sync versions

Other Utilities

obsidian recents                             # Recently opened files
obsidian random                              # Open random note
obsidian random:read                         # Read random note
obsidian wordcount file="Note Name"          # Word and character count
obsidian wordcount file="Note Name" words    # Word count only
obsidian tabs                                # List open tabs
obsidian workspace                           # Show workspace tree
obsidian reload                              # Reload vault

Themes and Snippets

obsidian themes                              # List installed themes
obsidian theme                               # Active theme
obsidian theme:set name="Minimal"
obsidian theme:install name="Minimal" enable
obsidian snippets                            # List CSS snippets
obsidian snippet:enable name="my-snippet"
obsidian snippet:disable name="my-snippet"

Output Formats

Many commands support format=json|tsv|csv (and sometimes md, yaml, text).

Recommendation: Use format=json when processing data programmatically.

Notes

• Obsidian must be running for the CLI to work.
• The CLI communicates with the running Obsidian instance.
• file=<name> resolves like wikilinks (by display name); path=<path> uses the exact vault-relative path.
• Commands that modify files (append, prepend, create, delete, move, rename, property:set) change the actual vault files.
• Use obsidian daily:read and obsidian daily:append for daily-note workflows instead of direct file operations, so the path is resolved automatically.