Obsidian MCP Server

Empower your AI agents and development tools with seamless Obsidian integration!

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server providing comprehensive access to your Obsidian vault. Enables LLMs and AI agents to read, write, search, and manage your notes and files through the Obsidian Local REST API plugin.

Built on the cyanheads/mcp-ts-template, this server follows a modular architecture with robust error handling, logging, and security features.

🚀 Core Capabilities: Obsidian Tools 🛠️

This server equips your AI with specialized tools to interact with your Obsidian vault:

Tool Name	Description	Key Features
obsidian_read_file	Retrieves the content and metadata of a specified file.	- Read in markdown or json format.- Case-insensitive path fallback.- Includes file stats (creation/modification time).
obsidian_update_file	Modifies notes using whole-file operations.	- append, prepend, or overwrite content.- Can create files if they don't exist.- Targets files by path, active note, or periodic note.
obsidian_search_replace	Performs search-and-replace operations within a target note.	- Supports string or regex search.- Options for case sensitivity, whole word, and replacing all occurrences.
obsidian_global_search	Performs a search across the entire vault.	- Text or regex search.- Filter by path and modification date.- Paginated results.
obsidian_list_files	Lists files and subdirectories within a specified vault folder.	- Filter by file extension or name regex.- Provides a formatted tree view of the directory.
obsidian_manage_frontmatter	Atomically manages a note's YAML frontmatter.	- get, set, or delete frontmatter keys.- Avoids rewriting the entire file for metadata changes.
obsidian_manage_tags	Adds, removes, or lists tags for a note.	- Manages tags in both YAML frontmatter and inline content.
obsidian_delete_file	Permanently deletes a specified file from the vault.	- Case-insensitive path fallback for safety.

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Table of Contents

| Overview | Features | Installation | | Configuration | Project Structure | Vault Cache Service | | Tools | Resources | Development | License |

Overview

The Obsidian MCP Server acts as a bridge, allowing applications (MCP Clients) that understand the Model Context Protocol (MCP) – like advanced AI assistants (LLMs), IDE extensions, or custom scripts – to interact directly and safely with your Obsidian vault.

Instead of complex scripting or manual interaction, your tools can leverage this server to:

• Automate vault management: Read notes, update content, manage frontmatter and tags, search across files, list directories, and delete files programmatically.
• Integrate Obsidian into AI workflows: Enable LLMs to access and modify your knowledge base as part of their research, writing, or coding tasks.
• Build custom Obsidian tools: Create external applications that interact with your vault data in novel ways.

Built on the robust mcp-ts-template, this server provides a standardized, secure, and efficient way to expose Obsidian functionality via the MCP standard. It achieves this by communicating with the powerful Obsidian Local REST API plugin running inside your vault.

Developer Note: This repository includes a .clinerules file that serves as a developer cheat sheet for your LLM coding agent with quick reference for the codebase patterns, file locations, and code snippets.

Features

Core Utilities

Leverages the robust utilities provided by the mcp-ts-template:

• Logging: Structured, configurable logging (file rotation, console, MCP notifications) with sensitive data redaction.
• Error Handling: Centralized error processing, standardized error types (McpError), and automatic logging.
• Configuration: Environment variable loading (dotenv) with comprehensive validation.
• Input Validation/Sanitization: Uses zod for schema validation and custom sanitization logic.
• Request Context: Tracking and correlation of operations via unique request IDs.
• Type Safety: Strong typing enforced by TypeScript and Zod schemas.
• HTTP Transport Option: Built-in Hono server with SSE, session management, CORS support, and JWT authentication.

Obsidian Integration

• Obsidian Local REST API Integration: Communicates directly with the Obsidian Local REST API plugin via HTTP requests managed by the ObsidianRestApiService.
• Comprehensive Command Coverage: Exposes key vault operations as MCP tools (see Tools section).
• Vault Interaction: Supports reading, updating (append, prepend, overwrite), searching (global text/regex, search/replace), listing, deleting, and managing frontmatter and tags.
• Targeting Flexibility: Tools can target files by path, the currently active file in Obsidian, or periodic notes (daily, weekly, etc.).
• Vault Cache Service: An intelligent in-memory cache that improves performance and resilience. It caches vault content, provides a fallback for the global search tool if the live API fails, and periodically refreshes to stay in sync.
• Safety Features: Case-insensitive path fallbacks for file operations, clear distinction between modification types (append, overwrite, etc.).

Installation

Prerequisites

1. Obsidian: You need Obsidian installed.
2. Obsidian Local REST API Plugin: Install and enable the Obsidian Local REST API plugin within your Obsidian vault.
3. API Key: Configure an API key within the Local REST API plugin settings in Obsidian. You will need this key to configure the server.
4. Node.js & npm: Ensure you have Node.js (v18 or later recommended) and npm installed.

Install via npm (Recommended)

npm install obsidian-mcp-server

Install from Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/obsidian-mcp-server.git
   cd obsidian-mcp-server
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Build the project:

   npm run build
   

   This compiles the TypeScript code to JavaScript in the dist/ directory and makes the entry point executable.

Configuration

Environment Variables

Configure the server using environment variables.

These variables must be set in the MCP client configuration (e.g., cline_mcp_settings.json) or in your environment before starting the server (if running directly).

If running directly, they can be set in a .env file in the project root or directly in your environment.

Variable	Description	Required	Default
OBSIDIAN_API_KEY	API Key from the Obsidian Local REST API plugin.	Yes	undefined
OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL	Base URL of your Obsidian Local REST API.	Yes	http://127.0.0.1:27123
MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE	Server transport: stdio or http.	No	stdio
MCP_HTTP_PORT	Port for the HTTP server.	No	3010
MCP_HTTP_HOST	Host for the HTTP server.	No	127.0.0.1
MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	Comma-separated origins for CORS. Set for production.	No	(none)
MCP_AUTH_SECRET_KEY	32+ char secret for JWT auth. Required for HTTP.	Yes (if HTTP)	undefined
MCP_LOG_LEVEL	Logging level (debug, info, error, etc.).	No	info
OBSIDIAN_VERIFY_SSL	Set to false to disable SSL verification.	No	true
OBSIDIAN_ENABLE_CACHE	Set to true to enable the in-memory vault cache.	No	true
OBSIDIAN_CACHE_REFRESH_INTERVAL_MIN	Refresh interval for the vault cache in minutes.	No	10

Connecting to the Obsidian API

To connect the MCP server to your Obsidian vault, you need to configure the base URL (OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL) and API key (OBSIDIAN_API_KEY). The Obsidian Local REST API plugin offers two ways to connect:

1. Encrypted (HTTPS) - Default:

   • The plugin provides a secure https:// endpoint (e.g., https://127.0.0.1:27124).
   • This uses a self-signed certificate, which will cause connection errors by default.
   • To fix this, you must set the OBSIDIAN_VERIFY_SSL environment variable to "false". This tells the server to trust the self-signed certificate.

2. Non-encrypted (HTTP) - Recommended for Simplicity:

   • In the plugin's settings within Obsidian, you can enable the "Non-encrypted (HTTP) Server".
   • This provides a simpler http:// endpoint (e.g., http://127.0.0.1:27123).
   • When using this URL, you do not need to worry about SSL verification.

Example env configuration for your MCP client:

Using the non-encrypted HTTP URL (recommended):

"env": {
  "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_FROM_OBSIDIAN_PLUGIN",
  "OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:27123"
}

Using the encrypted HTTPS URL:

"env": {
  "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_FROM_OBSIDIAN_PLUGIN",
  "OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL": "https://127.0.0.1:27124",
  "OBSIDIAN_VERIFY_SSL": "false"
}

MCP Client Settings

Add to your MCP client settings (e.g., cline_mcp_settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcp-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/your/obsidian-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "YOUR_OBSIDIAN_API_KEY",
        "OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:27123",
        "OBSIDIAN_VERIFY_SSL": "false",
        "OBSIDIAN_ENABLE_CACHE": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Project Structure

The codebase follows a modular structure within the src/ directory:

src/
├── index.ts           # Entry point: Initializes and starts the server
├── config/            # Configuration loading (env vars, package info)
│   └── index.ts
├── mcp-server/        # Core MCP server logic and capability registration
│   ├── server.ts      # Server setup, transport handling, tool/resource registration
│   ├── resources/     # MCP Resource implementations (currently none)
│   ├── tools/         # MCP Tool implementations (subdirs per tool)
│   └── transports/    # Stdio and HTTP transport logic, auth middleware
├── services/          # Abstractions for external APIs or internal caching
│   └── obsidianRestAPI/ # Typed client for Obsidian Local REST API
├── types-global/      # Shared TypeScript type definitions (errors, etc.)
└── utils/             # Common utility functions (logger, error handler, security, etc.)

For a detailed file tree, run npm run tree or see docs/tree.md.

Vault Cache Service

This server includes an intelligent in-memory cache designed to enhance performance and resilience when interacting with your vault.

Purpose and Benefits

• Performance: By caching file content and metadata, the server can perform search operations much faster, especially in large vaults. This reduces the number of direct requests to the Obsidian Local REST API, resulting in a snappier experience.
• Resilience: The cache acts as a fallback for the obsidian_global_search tool. If the live API search fails or times out, the server seamlessly uses the cache to provide results, ensuring that search functionality remains available even if the Obsidian API is temporarily unresponsive.
• Efficiency: The cache is designed to be efficient. It performs an initial build on startup and then periodically refreshes in the background by checking for file modifications, ensuring it stays reasonably up-to-date without constant, heavy API polling.

How It Works

1. Initialization: When enabled, the VaultCacheService builds an in-memory map of all .md files in your vault, storing their content and modification times.
2. Periodic Refresh: The cache automatically refreshes at a configurable interval (defaulting to 10 minutes). During a refresh, it only fetches content for files that are new or have been modified since the last check.
3. Proactive Updates: After a file is modified through a tool like obsidian_update_file, the service proactively updates the cache for that specific file, ensuring immediate consistency.
4. Search Fallback: The obsidian_global_search tool first attempts a live API search. If this fails, it automatically falls back to searching the in-memory cache.

Configuration

The cache is enabled by default but can be configured via environment variables:

• OBSIDIAN_ENABLE_CACHE: Set to true (default) or false to enable or disable the cache service.
• OBSIDIAN_CACHE_REFRESH_INTERVAL_MIN: Defines the interval in minutes for the periodic background refresh. Defaults to 10.

Tools

The Obsidian MCP Server provides a suite of tools for interacting with your vault, callable via the Model Context Protocol.

Tool Name	Description	Key Arguments
obsidian_read_file	Retrieves the content and metadata of a file.	filePath, format?, includeStat?
obsidian_update_file	Modifies a file by appending, prepending, or overwriting.	targetType, content, targetIdentifier?, wholeFileMode
obsidian_search_replace	Performs search-and-replace operations in a note.	targetType, replacements, useRegex?, replaceAll?
obsidian_global_search	Searches the entire vault for content.	query, searchInPath?, useRegex?, page?, pageSize?
obsidian_list_files	Lists files and subdirectories in a folder.	dirPath, fileExtensionFilter?, nameRegexFilter?
obsidian_manage_frontmatter	Gets, sets, or deletes keys in a note's frontmatter.	filePath, operation, key, value?
obsidian_manage_tags	Adds, removes, or lists tags in a note.	filePath, operation, tags
obsidian_delete_file	Permanently deletes a file from the vault.	filePath

Note: All tools support comprehensive error handling and return structured JSON responses.

Resources

MCP Resources are not implemented in this version.

This server currently focuses on providing interactive tools for vault manipulation. Future development may introduce resource capabilities (e.g., exposing notes or search results as readable resources).

Development

Build and Test

# Build the project (compile TS to JS in dist/ and make executable)
npm run build

# Format code using Prettier
npm run format

# Test the server locally using stdio transport
npm start
# or specifically:
npm run start:stdio

# Test the server locally using http transport
npm run start:http

# Generate a file tree representation for documentation (runs scripts/tree.ts)
npm run tree

# Clean build artifacts and then rebuild the project
npm run rebuild

# Fetch the Obsidian API spec (requires Obsidian running with Local REST API)
npm run fetch:spec http://127.0.0.1:27123/ docs/obsidian-api/obsidian_rest_api_spec

# Generate API documentation using TypeDoc
npm run docs:generate

# Inspect the server's capabilities using the MCP Inspector tool
npm run inspect:stdio
# or for the http transport:
npm run inspect:http

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

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Built with the Model Context Protocol