Another bloated Obsidian MCP Server

[!CAUTION] 🔴🔴🔴 EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT - DO NOT USE IN PRODUCTION 🔴🔴🔴

This is an experimental project created primarily through AI-assisted development using Claude Code, with minimal human intervention. It is intended solely for testing and learning purposes.

This project should NOT be used for:

• Production environments
• Critical data or important vaults
• Any scenario where data integrity is essential

Use at your own risk. The code may contain bugs, security vulnerabilities, or unexpected behaviors.

Support notice: This project will likely not receive attention for bugs or issues reported by third parties. If you're interested in contributing or reporting issues, you may not get a response as this project may not be maintained long-term. However, this could change after the experimentation phase.

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A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides AI assistants with secure access to Obsidian vaults. Enables reading, writing, searching, and managing notes without requiring Obsidian to be running.

Features

• Direct filesystem access - Works without Obsidian running
• Multi-vault support - Manage multiple vaults simultaneously
• Configurable tool groups - Enable only the features you need
• Full CRUD operations - Create, read, update, delete notes
• YAML frontmatter - Parse and manipulate note metadata
• Tag management - Add, remove, and search by tags
• Link analysis - Backlinks, outlinks, orphans, broken links, link graph
• Daily notes - Create and manage daily journal entries
• Templates - Apply templates with variable substitution
• Obsidian Bases - Query dynamic note views based on filters
• Batch operations - Process multiple notes efficiently
• Attachment tracking - List and find unused attachments
• Backup system - Create and restore note backups
• Security-first - Path traversal protection, symlink escape prevention

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• npm or yarn

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/obsidian-mcp-server.git
cd obsidian-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install
# or
yarn install

# Build (optional - can run directly with tsx)
npm run build

Quick Start

# Start the server with a vault
npm start /path/to/your/vault

# With specific tool groups
npm start /path/to/your/vault --tools=vault,notes,search

# With a custom vault name
npm start /path/to/your/vault my-vault

Configuration

Option 1: Claude Code CLI (Recommended)

# Add the MCP server
claude mcp add obsidian \
  --transport stdio \
  --scope user \
  -- npx tsx /path/to/obsidian-mcp-server/src/index.ts /path/to/vault

# With specific tool groups
claude mcp add obsidian \
  --transport stdio \
  --scope user \
  -- npx tsx /path/to/obsidian-mcp-server/src/index.ts /path/to/vault --tools=vault,notes,search

Scope options:

• user - Available in all projects (saved in ~/.claude.json)
• local - Current project only
• project - Shared with team (saved in .mcp.json)

Useful commands:

claude mcp list          # List configured servers
claude mcp get obsidian  # View server details
claude mcp remove obsidian  # Remove server

Option 2: Manual Configuration

Edit ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "tsx",
        "/path/to/obsidian-mcp-server/src/index.ts",
        "/path/to/your/vault",
        "--tools=vault,notes,search"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Option 3: Claude Desktop App

Edit the config file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "tsx",
        "/path/to/obsidian-mcp-server/src/index.ts",
        "/path/to/your/vault",
        "--tools=vault,notes,search"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Tool Groups

Group	Tools	Description
vault	list_vaults, set_active_vault, register_vault	Vault management
notes	list_notes, read_note, create_note, update_note, delete_note, rename_note, move_note	Note CRUD operations
search	search_vault	Full-text search
frontmatter	get_frontmatter, update_frontmatter, remove_frontmatter_field, add_to_array_field, remove_from_array_field	YAML metadata
tags	list_tags, add_tag, remove_tag, search_by_tag	Tag management
links	get_outlinks, get_backlinks, find_orphans, find_broken_links, get_link_graph	Link analysis
daily	get_daily_note, create_daily_note, list_daily_notes, append_to_daily	Daily notes
templates	list_templates, get_template, apply_template, create_from_template	Template system
bases	list_bases, get_base, query_base	Obsidian Bases
batch	batch_move, batch_delete, batch_update_frontmatter, batch_add_tag, batch_remove_tag, batch_read_notes	Batch operations
attachments	list_attachments, get_attachment_info, find_unused_attachments, get_attachments_in_note	Attachment management
backup	create_note_backup, list_backups, restore_backup, delete_old_backups	Backup system

Special values:

• all - Enable all tool groups (default)
• none - Disable all tools (for testing)

Configuration Examples

Read-Only Access

--tools=vault,notes,search

Safe for exploration without modifying notes.

Daily Productivity

--tools=vault,notes,search,daily,tags

Quick capture, daily notes, and tag organization.

Knowledge Analysis

--tools=vault,notes,search,links,tags

Explore connections, find orphans, analyze the knowledge graph.

Content Creation

--tools=vault,notes,search,templates,frontmatter

Create notes from templates, manage metadata.

Full Access

--tools=all

All features enabled.

Multi-Vault Setup

Create ~/.obsidian-mcp/config.json:

{
  "vaults": {
    "personal": "/Users/you/Obsidian/Personal",
    "work": "/Users/you/Obsidian/Work",
    "research": "/Users/you/Obsidian/Research"
  },
  "defaultVault": "personal"
}

Switch between vaults using set_active_vault tool.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
OBSIDIAN_MCP_TOOLS	Comma-separated list of tool groups
LOG_LEVEL	Logging level: debug, info, warn, error

CLI Reference

# Show help
npm start -- --help

# Start with vault
npm start /path/to/vault [vault-name] [--tools=groups]

# Examples
npm start /path/to/vault                    # All tools
npm start /path/to/vault my-vault           # With custom name
npm start /path/to/vault --tools=vault,notes  # Specific groups

Troubleshooting

Server doesn't connect

1. Verify the vault path exists and is absolute
2. Check Node.js version: node --version (requires 18+)
3. Test manually: npm start /path/to/vault
4. For Claude Code: use /mcp to check status and errors
5. For Claude Desktop: check logs in ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log

"Tool X is not enabled" error

The tool you're trying to use is not in your enabled groups. Check your --tools configuration and add the required group.

Permission errors

Ensure the user running the MCP server has read/write access to the vault directory.

Path not found

• Use absolute paths, not relative
• Ensure the vault contains a .obsidian folder
• Check for typos in the path

Development

# Development mode (auto-reload)
npm run dev

# Build
npm run build

# Type check
npx tsc --noEmit

# Run tests
npm test

# Run tests with coverage
npm run test:coverage

Documentation

• API Reference - Complete tool documentation
• Architecture - System design
• Configuration - All configuration options
• Security - Security model
• Error Codes - Error reference
• Contributing - Development guide

Security

This server implements multiple security measures:

• Path validation - Prevents path traversal attacks
• Symlink protection - Blocks symlink escape attempts
• Input validation - All inputs validated with Zod schemas
• Reserved name blocking - Prevents system file conflicts

See SECURITY.md for details.

Inspiration

This project is inspired by mcp-obsidian.

License

MIT