# Obsidian Vault > Manage a local Obsidian vault from the command line using the Obsidian CLI. Use when the user wants to create, read, search, or organize notes, manage tasks, work with daily notes, handle properties/tags, or automate vault operations. Triggers on mentions of Obsidian, vault, notes, daily notes, or PKM workflows. - Skill: `sitaggart/obsidian-vault` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add sitaggart/obsidian-vault` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sitaggart/obsidian-vault/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: SiTaggart (https://skillmd.com/u/sitaggart) - Updated: 2026-09-10 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sitaggart/obsidian-vault --- # Obsidian Vault Manager Manage a local Obsidian vault using the `obsidian` CLI. Requires Obsidian 1.12+ running locally with CLI enabled. ## Loop Role Obsidian is the durable note layer for interviews, transcripts, research summaries, PRDs, kickoff docs, meeting notes, and agent session artifacts. Use it to read or publish the human-facing record around the CE loops. Use QMD when you need indexed search across that knowledge; use Obsidian when you need to inspect, edit, open, or organize the vault itself. ## Prerequisites - Obsidian app must be running (CLI connects to the running instance) - CLI enabled: Settings > General > Command line interface - `obsidian` binary on PATH (registered during CLI setup) ## Quick Start ```bash # Check connectivity obsidian version # Read the active file obsidian read # Open today's daily note obsidian daily # Search the vault obsidian search query="meeting notes" # Create a new note obsidian create name="Project Plan" content="# Project Plan\n\nTasks go here." ``` ## Core Workflows ### Reading & Writing Notes ```bash # Read a file by name (wikilink resolution) obsidian read file=Recipe # Read by exact path obsidian read path="Projects/Recipe.md" # Create a note (with optional template) obsidian create name="Trip to Paris" template=Travel # Append to a file obsidian append file=Recipe content="## New Section\n\nContent here." # Prepend after frontmatter obsidian prepend file=Recipe content="Updated: 2025-01-15" # Copy output to clipboard obsidian read file=Recipe --copy ``` ### Daily Notes ```bash # Open daily note obsidian daily # Read daily note contents obsidian daily:read # Get daily note path (even if not yet created) obsidian daily:path # Append a task to daily note obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] Buy groceries" # Prepend a note to daily note obsidian daily:prepend content="## Morning standup\n\n- Completed X" ``` ### Search ```bash # Search vault obsidian search query="meeting notes" # Search with context (grep-style path:line output) obsidian search:context query="TODO" # Limit results and folder scope obsidian search query="api" path=Projects limit=10 # Case sensitive search obsidian search query="API" case # Count matches only obsidian search query="TODO" total ``` ### Tasks ```bash # List all incomplete tasks obsidian tasks todo # List completed tasks obsidian tasks done # Tasks from daily note obsidian tasks daily # Tasks from a specific file with line numbers obsidian tasks file=Recipe verbose # Count tasks obsidian tasks daily total # Toggle a task obsidian task ref="Recipe.md:8" toggle # Mark done obsidian task daily line=3 done # Set custom status obsidian task file=Recipe line=8 status=- ``` ### Properties & Tags ```bash # List all properties in vault obsidian properties counts # Read a property from a file obsidian property:read name=status file=Recipe # Set a property obsidian property:set name=status value=draft file=Recipe # Remove a property obsidian property:remove name=status file=Recipe # List all tags with counts obsidian tags counts # Get tag info obsidian tag name=project verbose ``` ### File Management ```bash # File info obsidian file file=Recipe # List files in a folder obsidian files folder=Projects # Count files obsidian files total # Move/rename obsidian move file=Recipe to=Archive obsidian rename file=Recipe name="Old Recipe" # Delete (to trash) obsidian delete file=Recipe # Open a file in Obsidian obsidian open file=Recipe newtab ``` ### Links & Graph ```bash # Backlinks to a file obsidian backlinks file=Recipe # Outgoing links obsidian links file=Recipe # Unresolved links (broken wikilinks) obsidian unresolved # Orphan files (no incoming links) obsidian orphans # Dead-end files (no outgoing links) obsidian deadends ``` ## Parameter Conventions - **`file=`** - Resolves via wikilink matching (no path/extension needed) - **`path=`** - Exact path from vault root (e.g. `folder/note.md`) - **Flags** - Boolean switches with no value: `open`, `newtab`, `overwrite`, `total`, `verbose` - **Multiline** - Use `\n` for newline, `\t` for tab - **Vault targeting** - `vault=` as first param: `obsidian vault=Notes daily` - **Clipboard** - Add `--copy` to any command to copy output ## Output Formats Many commands support `format=` parameter: | Format | Use case | |--------|----------| | `json` | Structured data for parsing | | `tsv` | Tab-separated, good for piping | | `csv` | Comma-separated | | `md` | Markdown formatted | | `text` | Plain text (default for search) | | `yaml` | YAML (default for properties) | | `tree` | Tree view (default for outline) | ## Advanced Usage ### Evaluate JavaScript ```bash # Run JS in the Obsidian console obsidian eval code="app.vault.getFiles().length" # Get vault stats obsidian eval code="JSON.stringify(app.vault.adapter.stat('.'))" ``` ### Execute Obsidian Commands ```bash # List all command IDs obsidian commands # Run any command palette command obsidian command id=editor:toggle-bold # Check hotkeys obsidian hotkeys ``` ### Templates ```bash # List templates obsidian templates # Read a template (with variable resolution) obsidian template:read name=Daily resolve title="My Note" # Create a file from template obsidian create name="New Meeting" template="Meeting Notes" ``` ### Plugins ```bash # List installed plugins obsidian plugins # Enable/disable a plugin obsidian plugin:enable id=dataview obsidian plugin:disable id=calendar # Install a community plugin obsidian plugin:install id=obsidian-git enable # Reload plugin (for development) obsidian plugin:reload id=my-plugin ``` ### Developer Tools ```bash # Toggle dev tools obsidian devtools # Take a screenshot obsidian dev:screenshot path=screenshot.png # Check JS errors obsidian dev:errors # Console messages obsidian dev:console limit=20 level=error # DOM inspection obsidian dev:dom selector=".workspace-leaf" total ``` ## Agent Patterns ### Capture Context to Vault ```bash # Save a summary to the vault obsidian create name="Session Notes - Feb 2025" \ content="# Session Notes\n\n## Decisions\n\n- Chose approach A\n- Deferred B to next sprint" # Append to an existing log obsidian append file="Decision Log" \ content="\n## 2025-02-25\n\n- Approved new API design" ``` ### Research a Topic in the Vault ```bash # Search for related notes obsidian search:context query="authentication" # Get the outline of a key file obsidian outline file="Architecture" # Read specific notes for context obsidian read file="Auth Design" obsidian read file="API Spec" ``` ### Daily Note Workflow ```bash # Check today's tasks obsidian tasks daily todo # Add completed work obsidian daily:append content="- [x] Shipped auth refactor PR #142" # Mark task done by line obsidian task daily line=5 done ``` ### Vault Health Check ```bash # Orphan files obsidian orphans total # Unresolved links obsidian unresolved total # Dead-end files obsidian deadends total # Vault stats obsidian vault obsidian files total obsidian tags counts sort=count ``` ## Reference For the full command reference with all parameters and flags, see [cli-reference.md](references/cli-reference.md).