Obsidian Connect

Obsidian Connect

Verify Obsidian vault connection. Prefer CLI access; fall back to Read/Write/Edit tools if CLI is unavailable.

> Configure your vault path in setup.sh or set the VAULT_PATH environment variable.

When to Use

• Initial setup — verify the vault is accessible
• After Obsidian updates — confirm CLI still works
• When CLI commands fail — diagnose the issue
• When other skills report vault access errors

Connection Methods

Method 1: Obsidian CLI (Preferred)

Requirements: Obsidian 1.12+ running with Settings > General > CLI enabled.

Verify connection:

obsidian read vault="VaultName" file="Home"

On success, returns the contents of Home.md (or any existing note).

Method 2: Direct File Access (Fallback)

Use Read/Write/Edit tools to operate on vault markdown files directly:

Read: $VAULT_PATH/00 - Inbox/note-name.md
Write: $VAULT_PATH/00 - Inbox/new-note.md
Edit: $VAULT_PATH/30 - Notes/existing-note.md

This method always works as long as the vault path is correct and the filesystem is accessible.

Process

Step 1 — Verify Vault Path

Check that $VAULT_PATH exists and contains an .obsidian/ directory (confirming it is an Obsidian vault):

ls "$VAULT_PATH/.obsidian" 2>/dev/null && echo "Vault found" || echo "Not a vault"

Step 2 — Test CLI Access

obsidian read vault="VaultName" file="Home"

• Success: Report CLI is working
• Failure: Proceed to diagnosis

Step 3 — Diagnose CLI Failure

Check the following:

| Check | How | Fix | |-------|-----|-----| | Obsidian running? | Check process list | Launch Obsidian desktop | | CLI enabled? | Manual check in Settings | Settings > General > Command line interface > Enable | | Version 1.12+? | Check About page | Update Obsidian | | Windows path issue? | Command contains : | Use MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1 prefix or use fallback |

Step 4 — Test Fallback

Verify direct file access works:

ls "$VAULT_PATH/00 - Inbox/"

If this succeeds, file-based access is available even without CLI.

Step 5 — Report Status

Obsidian Connection Status
==========================

Vault path:    $VAULT_PATH
Vault exists:  Yes/No
CLI available: Yes/No (version X.X)
File access:   Yes/No

Recommended method: CLI / File access

Vault folders found:
  - 00 - Inbox/     (N files)
  - 10 - Projects/  (N files)
  - 20 - Areas/     (N files)
  - 30 - Notes/     (N files)
  - 40 - Daily/     (N files)
  - 99 - Archive/   (N files)

CLI Command Reference

| Action | Command | |--------|---------| | Read | obsidian read vault="VaultName" file="note-name" | | Create | obsidian create vault="VaultName" name="YYYY-MM-DD Title" content="..." | | Append | obsidian append vault="VaultName" file="note-name" content="..." | | Search | obsidian search vault="VaultName" query="keyword" | | Daily note | obsidian daily vault="VaultName" |

Content format: Quote values containing spaces. Use \n for newlines, \t for tabs.

Windows note: Use Obsidian.com (not Obsidian.exe) for correct stdin/stdout handling in Git Bash / terminal.

Common Problems

| Problem | Cause | Solution | |---------|-------|----------| | "Unable to connect to main process" | Obsidian not running or CLI not enabled | Launch Obsidian + enable CLI setting | | "Command not found" | CLI not in PATH | Windows: use Obsidian.com; macOS/Linux: add to PATH | | Colon subcommand fails | Git Bash on Windows parses : as drive path | Prefix with MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1 or use file fallback | | Wrong vault | Multiple vaults installed | Specify the correct vault name in the command |

Vault Structure Reference

00 - Inbox/          Entry point for all new notes
01 - Active/         Frequently opened notes (5-10 max)
10 - Projects/       Time-bound projects
20 - Areas/          Ongoing topics with no deadline
30 - Notes/          Atomic notes (one idea = one note)
40 - Daily/          Journal + review reports
99 - Archive/        Completed or outdated notes
    Sessions/        Processed session logs

Note naming format: YYYY-MM-DD Title.md (date prefix required)

Related Skills

• [[daily-review]] — Requires vault access to process inbox
• [[session-to-obsidian]] — Requires vault access to write session notes
• [[vault-lint]] — Requires vault access to scan for issues

Source & license

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

• Author: kalawcreator919
• Source: kalawcreator919/claude-obsidian
• License: MIT

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