/obsidian

name: obsidian
description: "Obsidian vault: search/read/write notes, backlinks, Bases, Canvas."

Obsidian

Use this for local Obsidian vault work. An Obsidian vault is a normal folder of Markdown files plus `.obsidian/` config.

Sources

• App config: `~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json`
• Default vault name: `obsidian`
• Usual local vault path: `~/obsidian`
• Official CLI: `obsidian`
• Vault commands resolve the vault from cwd; run them from `~/obsidian`.

First Checks

command -v obsidian
obsidian version
obsidian vaults
cd ~/obsidian
obsidian commands filter=search:

Global commands like `version` and `vaults` work outside a vault. Vault-content commands may print `Vault not found.` outside `~/obsidian`. Use `obsidian commands`, not `obsidian help`, for CLI discovery.

If `obsidian` says CLI is disabled:

1. Prefer asking the user to enable Settings -> General -> Advanced -> Command line interface. 2. If you already confirmed the app config shape, `~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json` uses `"cli": true`. 3. Restart Obsidian after changing app-level CLI config.

Read Workflow

Prefer official CLI for Obsidian-aware lookups:

cd ~/obsidian
obsidian search query="OpenClaw" format=json
obsidian search:context query="OpenClaw" limit=20 format=json
obsidian read path="Folder/Note.md"
obsidian file path="Folder/Note.md"
obsidian outline path="Folder/Note.md" format=json
obsidian backlinks path="Folder/Note.md" format=json
obsidian links path="Folder/Note.md"
obsidian properties path="Folder/Note.md" format=json

Use direct filesystem reads when you already know the path and need exact bytes:

sed -n '1,220p' "$HOME/obsidian/Folder/Note.md"
rg -n "term" "$HOME/obsidian"

Report which source you used when freshness or vault choice matters.

Write Workflow

Choose the narrowest write path:

• New note: `obsidian create path="Folder/Note.md" content="..."`.
• Append/prepend daily notes: `obsidian daily:append content="..."`.
• Simple note edits: use `apply_patch` on the Markdown file.
• Rename/move notes: prefer `obsidian move path="Old.md" to="Folder/New.md"` so links can update.
• Opening UI after a write: add `open` only when useful or requested.

Common commands:

cd ~/obsidian
obsidian create path="Notes/New.md" content="# New\n\nBody"
obsidian append path="Notes/New.md" content="More text"
obsidian move path="Notes/New.md" to="Archive/New.md"
obsidian daily:path
obsidian daily:read
obsidian daily:append content="- Follow-up item"

For multi-line content, prefer editing the `.md` file with `apply_patch` once the path is known. Avoid fragile shell quoting for long prose.

Bases, Canvas, Plugins

Use CLI discovery first:

cd ~/obsidian
obsidian bases
obsidian base:views path="Projects.base"
obsidian base:query path="Projects.base" view="Active" format=json
obsidian plugins format=json
obsidian plugins:enabled format=json
obsidian commands filter=workspace:

For `.canvas`, `.base`, and `.json` files, read/edit as structured data when possible. Keep formatting stable and validate JSON after edits.

Safety

• Do not bulk rewrite the vault. Use targeted paths and review diffs.
• Do not edit `.obsidian/` unless the user asks or the task is explicitly settings/plugin work.
• Do not delete notes unless explicitly asked; prefer trash over permanent delete.
• Do not create hidden dot-folder notes through the Obsidian URI/CLI path.
• Preserve frontmatter and wikilinks unless the task is to refactor them.
• If multiple vaults exist, do not guess; use `obsidian vaults` and `obsidian.json`.