Obsidian Cli

Obsidian CLI Skill

The obsidian CLI (available in Obsidian 1.12+) lets you control the running Obsidian app from the terminal. It has awareness of the vault's search index, link graph, tags, and UI state — things that direct file access cannot provide.

Full command reference: skills/obsidian-cli/references/commands-full.md

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Prerequisites

1. Obsidian 1.12+ must be installed and running
2. CLI must be registered: In Obsidian → Settings → General → scroll to "CLI" → enable it
3. PATH must include the CLI binary: Add to ~/.zprofile:

``bash export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/Obsidian.app/Contents/MacOS" ` Then reload: source ~/.zprofile`

Verify setup

obsidian version

If this fails, walk through the prerequisites above. If the app is installed but CLI isn't on PATH:

/Applications/Obsidian.app/Contents/MacOS/obsidian version

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Core Syntax

obsidian  [param=value] [--flag]

• Named parameters: obsidian read file="path/to/note.md"
• Vault targeting: defaults to the vault matching the current directory; use vault=VaultName to override
• Copy to clipboard: append --copy to any command
• Multiline content: use \n for newlines, \t for tabs in content= params
• Output formats: many commands support format=json, format=md, format=csv

File path conventions

Paths are relative to the vault root:

obsidian read file="Meetings/2026/03-March/02-Monday/2026-03-02-Team Sync.md"

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When to Use CLI vs Direct File Access

Prefer CLI

| Task | CLI Command | |------|-------------| | Search with index/property awareness | obsidian search query=X | | Find backlinks to a note | obsidian backlinks file=X | | Find orphan or dead-end notes | obsidian orphans, obsidian deadends | | Open a file in Obsidian's UI | obsidian open file=X | | Aggregate tasks across vault | obsidian tasks todo | | List/filter tags | obsidian tags counts | | Run a command palette command | obsidian command id=X | | Enable/disable a plugin | obsidian plugin:enable id=X | | View file version history | obsidian history file=X | | Diff against a previous version | obsidian diff file=X | | Resolve template variables | obsidian template:read file=X resolve=true | | Query a Base | obsidian base:query file=X | | Take a UI screenshot | obsidian dev:screenshot | | Evaluate JS in Obsidian context | obsidian eval code=X |

Prefer direct file access (Read/Edit/Write)

| Task | Reason | |------|--------| | Surgical section-level editing | Edit tool gives precise control | | Complex content creation | Write tool is more reliable for large content | | Bulk file operations | Bash/Glob/Grep is faster | | Obsidian is not running | CLI requires a running app | | Frontmatter YAML manipulation | Edit tool handles quoting and indentation | | Working with file structure/paths | Glob is faster than CLI for discovery |

Use both (common pattern)

CLI for discovery → direct access for manipulation

Example: Find all meetings with a person (CLI search), then read/edit the specific file (Read/Edit tools).

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File & Folder Commands

# Create a new note
obsidian create file="Notes/My Note.md" content="# My Note\n\nContent here"

# Read a note's content
obsidian read file="Notes/My Note.md"

# Open a note in Obsidian's UI
obsidian open file="Notes/My Note.md"

# Append content to a note
obsidian append file="Notes/My Note.md" content="New paragraph\n\nMore text"

# Prepend content to a note
obsidian prepend file="Notes/My Note.md" content="## Added at top\n\n"

# Move or rename a note
obsidian move file="Old Name.md" target="New Name.md"

# Delete a note
obsidian delete file="Notes/Old Note.md"

# Get file metadata (size, modified date, links, tags)
obsidian info file="Notes/My Note.md"

# List files in a folder
obsidian files folder="Meetings/2026"

# List folders
obsidian folders

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App Control

# List all available command palette commands
obsidian commands

# Run a specific command by ID
obsidian command id="editor:toggle-bold"

# List workspaces
obsidian workspaces

# Switch to a workspace
obsidian workspace name="Research"

# List open tabs
obsidian tabs

# Close a tab
obsidian tab:close file="Notes/Something.md"

# Get recently opened files
obsidian recents

# Reload Obsidian (soft reload, preserves vault)
obsidian reload

# Restart Obsidian
obsidian restart

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Plugin Management

# List all plugins (installed, enabled status)
obsidian plugins

# Enable a plugin
obsidian plugin:enable id="dataview"

# Disable a plugin
obsidian plugin:disable id="dataview"

# Install a community plugin
obsidian plugin:install id="plugin-id"

# Uninstall a plugin
obsidian plugin:uninstall id="plugin-id"

# Reload a plugin (after code changes)
obsidian plugin:reload id="dataview"

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Theme & Snippet Management

# List installed themes
obsidian themes

# Set active theme
obsidian theme:set name="Minimal"

# Install a community theme
obsidian theme:install name="Minimal"

# List CSS snippets and their enabled status
obsidian snippets

# Enable a CSS snippet
obsidian snippet:enable name="my-snippet"

# Disable a CSS snippet
obsidian snippet:disable name="my-snippet"

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History & Versions

# View version history for a file
obsidian history file="Notes/My Note.md"

# Read a specific historical version
obsidian history:read file="Notes/My Note.md" version=2

# Diff current version against a historical version
obsidian diff file="Notes/My Note.md" version=1

# Restore a file to a historical version
obsidian history:restore file="Notes/My Note.md" version=3

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Developer Tools

# Open DevTools
obsidian devtools

# Take a screenshot of the Obsidian window
obsidian dev:screenshot

# Read the developer console log
obsidian dev:console

# Get recent JavaScript errors
obsidian dev:errors

# Evaluate JavaScript in Obsidian's context
obsidian eval code="app.vault.getName()"

# Read live plugin settings (useful for config discovery)
obsidian eval "code=JSON.stringify(app.internalPlugins.getPluginById('daily-notes').instance.options)"
obsidian eval "code=JSON.stringify(app.internalPlugins.getPluginById('templates').instance.options)"
obsidian eval "code=JSON.stringify(app.plugins.getPlugin('templater-obsidian')?.settings)"

# Get computed CSS for an element
obsidian dev:css selector=".workspace-leaf"

# Inspect DOM structure
obsidian dev:dom selector=".workspace"

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Templates

# List available templates
obsidian templates

# Read a template's raw content (use name=, not file=)
obsidian template:read "name=Meeting Template"

# Read a template with Templater variables resolved
obsidian template:read "name=Meeting Template" resolve=true

# Insert a template into the active note
obsidian template:insert "name=Meeting Template"

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Error Handling

• "Obsidian is not running": Start Obsidian, then retry
• "CLI not found": Check PATH setup (see Prerequisites); use full path /Applications/Obsidian.app/Contents/MacOS/obsidian as fallback
• "CLI not registered": Go to Obsidian Settings → General → enable CLI
• "No vault found": Run from within the vault directory, or add vault=VaultName
• Command fails silently: Try adding format=json to get structured error output

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Quick Reference

# Check version / confirm CLI works
obsidian version

# Vault info (all fields: name, path, files, folders, size)
obsidian vault

# Vault info — single field
obsidian vault info=path
obsidian vault info=name

# List all registered vaults with paths
obsidian vaults verbose

# Path to today's daily note (relative to vault root)
obsidian daily:path

# Open today's daily note in UI
obsidian daily

# Search vault
obsidian search query="kubernetes"

# List all tags
obsidian tags counts sort=count

Full command reference with all parameters and flags: skills/obsidian-cli/references/commands-full.md

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: jlaska
• Source: jlaska/obsidian-claude-plugins
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.