Obsidian CLI

Obsidian CLI

Use the obsidian CLI to interact with a running Obsidian instance. Requires Obsidian to be open.

Command reference

Run obsidian help to see all available commands. This is always up to date. Full docs: https://help.obsidian.md/cli

Syntax

Parameters take a value with =. Quote values with spaces:

obsidian create name="My Note" content="Hello world"

Flags are boolean switches with no value:

obsidian create name="My Note" silent overwrite

For multiline content use \n for newline and \t for tab.

File targeting

Many commands accept file or path to target a file. Without either, the active file is used.

• file=<name> — resolves like a wikilink (name only, no path or extension needed)
• path=<path> — exact path from vault root, e.g. folder/note.md

Vault targeting

Commands target the most recently focused vault by default. Use vault=<name> as the first parameter to target a specific vault:

obsidian vault="My Vault" search query="test"

Common patterns

obsidian read file="My Note"
obsidian create name="New Note" content="# Hello" template="Template" silent
obsidian append file="My Note" content="New line"
obsidian search query="search term" limit=10
obsidian daily:read
obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] New task"
obsidian property:set name="status" value="done" file="My Note"
obsidian tasks daily todo
obsidian tags sort=count counts
obsidian backlinks file="My Note"

Use --copy on any command to copy output to clipboard. Use silent to prevent files from opening. Use total on list commands to get a count.

Backlink-safe rename

There is no dedicated rename command; use eval with app.fileManager.renameFile(), which updates every [[wikilink]] backlink from the metadata cache:

obsidian eval code='await app.fileManager.renameFile(app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath("old/path.md"), "new/path.md")' --vault /path/to/vault

For wiki-page renames in this plugin, prefer the wrapped helper — it resolves the vault, confines paths to wiki/, and verifies the rename on disk (exit 0 = renamed + backlinks updated; exit 3 = skip, fall back to git mv):

bash ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/obsidian-rename.sh --from wiki/topic/old.md --to wiki/topic/new.md [--target <vault>]

Note: CLI writes bypass the plugin's PreToolUse hooks — always re-verify (engine.sh verify) after a CLI rename.

Plugin development

Develop/test cycle

After making code changes to a plugin or theme, follow this workflow:

1. Reload the plugin to pick up changes:

   obsidian plugin:reload id=my-plugin
   

2. Check for errors — if errors appear, fix and repeat from step 1:

   obsidian dev:errors
   

3. Verify visually with a screenshot or DOM inspection:

   obsidian dev:screenshot path=screenshot.png
   obsidian dev:dom selector=".workspace-leaf" text
   

4. Check console output for warnings or unexpected logs:

   obsidian dev:console level=error
   

Additional developer commands

Run JavaScript in the app context:

obsidian eval code="app.vault.getFiles().length"

Inspect CSS values:

obsidian dev:css selector=".workspace-leaf" prop=background-color

Toggle mobile emulation:

obsidian dev:mobile on

Run obsidian help to see additional developer commands including CDP and debugger controls.