obsidian-cli

Obsidian CLI Integration

Overview

Obsidian CLI enables terminal-based control of Obsidian for note management, knowledge search, and vault automation. The obsidian command communicates with a running Obsidian instance to execute operations on vaults.

Prerequisites:

• Obsidian 1.12+ running (CLI communicates with the app)
• obsidian binary in PATH (auto-configured on install)
• Catalyst license for early access

Core Concepts

Command Syntax

Execute commands in single-shot mode:

obsidian <command> [parameters] [flags]

• Parameters: name=value format (quote values with spaces)
• Flags: Boolean switches (no value needed)
• File targeting: file=<name> (wikilink resolution) or path=<exact-path>
• Vault selection: vault=<name> to target specific vault
• Newlines: Use \n for line breaks, \t for tabs in content

Output Handling

CLI output is plain text. Parse results directly from stdout. Errors go to stderr. Exit code 0 indicates success.

Command Categories

File Management

Core CRUD operations on vault notes:

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
create	Create new note	file=, content=, template=
read	Read note content	file= or path=
append	Add content to end	file=, content=
prepend	Add content to start	file=, content=
move	Rename/relocate note	file=, to=
delete	Remove note	file=, permanent (flag)
open	Open in Obsidian editor	file=

# Create a note
obsidian create file="meeting-notes/2024-01-15" content="# Meeting Notes\n\nAttendees: ..."

# Read a note
obsidian read file="project-plan"

# Append to existing note
obsidian append file="log" content="\n## Update\nNew progress..."

Daily Notes

Shorthand commands for daily note operations:

Command	Purpose
daily	Open/create today's daily note
daily:read	Read today's daily note content
daily:append	Append to today's daily note
daily:prepend	Prepend to today's daily note

# Add a log entry to today's daily note
obsidian daily:append content="\n- 14:30 Completed feature implementation"

# Read today's daily note
obsidian daily:read

Search & Navigation

Query vault content and analyze note relationships:

Command	Purpose	Key Parameters
search	Text search across vault	query=
tags	List all tags with counts	-
tasks	List/filter tasks	status=, file=
backlinks	Find notes linking to target	file=
links	Find outgoing links from note	file=
orphans	Find unlinked notes	-
deadends	Find notes with no outgoing links	-

# Search for content
obsidian search query="authentication flow"

# Find all tasks
obsidian tasks

# Check what links to a note
obsidian backlinks file="api-design"

Properties (Metadata)

Manage YAML frontmatter properties:

# Set a property
obsidian property set file="note" name="status" value="in-progress"

# Read properties
obsidian property read file="note"

# Remove a property
obsidian property remove file="note" name="draft"

Advanced Features

For publish, sync, plugins, themes, and workspaces — see reference files below.

Common Workflows

Development Note-Taking

# Start of day: check daily note
obsidian daily:read

# Log progress during work
obsidian daily:append content="\n- Implemented user auth module"

# Create a decision record
obsidian create file="decisions/ADR-005-auth-strategy" \
  content="# ADR-005: Authentication Strategy\n\n## Status\nProposed\n\n## Context\n..."

Knowledge Search

# Find relevant notes
obsidian search query="database migration"

# Check related notes via backlinks
obsidian backlinks file="database-schema"

# Find isolated knowledge
obsidian orphans

Task Management

# List incomplete tasks
obsidian tasks status=incomplete

# List tasks from daily note
obsidian tasks file=daily

# List all tasks in a specific note
obsidian tasks file="project-plan"

Best Practices

1. Quote values with spaces: file="my note" not file=my note
2. Use wikilink-style file targeting: file=note-name resolves like [[note-name]]
3. Use path= for exact matches: When multiple notes share a name
4. Escape newlines: Use \n in content parameters for multi-line content
5. Check vault selection: Use vault=name when working with multiple vaults
6. Prefer append/prepend over create: To avoid overwriting existing notes

Error Handling

• If Obsidian is not running, CLI commands will fail — prompt user to start Obsidian
• If the obsidian command is not found or cannot be executed, guide the user to check:
  1. Obsidian version: CLI requires Obsidian 1.12 or later. Run Obsidian and check Settings → General → Current version
  2. Early Access: Obsidian CLI is available through the Catalyst early access program. The user needs a Catalyst license and must enable "Receive early access versions" in Settings → General → App
  3. After updating, restart Obsidian and verify the obsidian binary is available in PATH
• If a file is not found, suggest using search to locate the correct note
• If vault is ambiguous, use vault= parameter to specify

Additional Resources

Reference Files

For detailed command documentation, consult:

• references/file-management.md — Complete file CRUD operations with all parameters and examples
• references/daily-notes.md — Daily note workflows and automation patterns
• references/search-navigation.md — Search, tags, tasks, backlinks, links, orphans, deadends
• references/properties.md — YAML frontmatter property management
• references/advanced.md — Publish, Sync, Plugins, Themes, Workspaces commands
• references/developer-tools.md — dev:screenshot, dev:eval, dev:console, plugin:reload