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" 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"
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 total on list commands to get a count. Commands that write files (create, append, prepend, daily:append) do not open them — pass open (optionally with newtab) if you want the file opened.

Plugin development

Develop/test cycle

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

1. Attach the debugger once per session, so console messages are captured (dev:console throws Debugger not attached otherwise, and only messages logged after attaching are recorded):

   obsidian dev:debug on
   

2. Reload the plugin to pick up changes:

   obsidian plugin:reload id=my-plugin
   

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

   obsidian dev:errors
   

4. Verify visually with a screenshot or DOM inspection:

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

5. Check console output for warnings or unexpected logs:

   obsidian dev:console level=error
   

Detach with obsidian dev:debug off when finished (this also clears the captured console buffer).

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.