Obsidian Tools MCP Server

An extended MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Obsidian with full CRUD operations and advanced note management capabilities.

Features

Core Operations

• create_note - Create new notes with nested folder support
• delete_note - Delete notes from your vault
• update_note - Replace entire note content
• append_to_note - Append content to end of notes
• prepend_to_note - Prepend content (respects frontmatter)
• rename_note - Move/rename notes

Search & Discovery

• read_note - Read single note content
• search_notes - Search by filename (supports regex)
• search_content - Full-text search in note contents
• list_folder - List notes and subfolders

Links & Tags

• get_tags - Extract all tags from a note
• get_links - Get all wikilinks and markdown links
• get_backlinks - Find notes linking to a specific note

Advanced Operations

• insert_at_heading - Insert content under a specific heading
• update_frontmatter - Modify YAML frontmatter properties
• create_from_template - Create notes from templates with variable substitution

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• An Obsidian vault

Setup

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

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

Configuration

For VS Code / GitHub Copilot

Add to your VS Code settings (settings.json):

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "obsidian-tools": {
        "command": "node",
        "args": ["/path/to/obsidian-tools-mcp/dist/index.js"],
        "env": {
          "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH": "/path/to/your/obsidian/vault"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-tools": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/obsidian-tools-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH": "/path/to/your/obsidian/vault"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required
OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH	Absolute path to your Obsidian vault	Yes

You can also pass the vault path as a command-line argument:

node dist/index.js /path/to/your/vault

Usage Examples

Create a New Note

Create a note at "Projects/My Project.md" with content about project planning

Search and Update

Find all notes containing "TODO" and append a completion timestamp

Template-Based Creation

Create a new meeting note from the template at "Templates/Meeting.md" 
with title "Q4 Planning Session"

Frontmatter Management

Update the frontmatter of "My Note.md" to add tags: ["project", "important"]

Tool Reference

create_note

Create a new note in the vault.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path relative to vault root
content	string	Yes	Markdown content
overwrite	boolean	No	Overwrite if exists (default: false)

delete_note

Delete a note from the vault.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path to the note

update_note

Replace the entire content of a note.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path to the note
content	string	Yes	New content

append_to_note

Append content to the end of a note.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path to the note
content	string	Yes	Content to append
separator	string	No	Separator before content (default: "\n\n")

prepend_to_note

Prepend content to a note (after frontmatter if present).

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path to the note
content	string	Yes	Content to prepend
separator	string	No	Separator after content (default: "\n\n")

rename_note

Move or rename a note.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
oldPath	string	Yes	Current path
newPath	string	Yes	New path

search_notes

Search notes by filename pattern.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	Yes	Search pattern (regex supported)
limit	number	No	Max results (default: 20)

search_content

Search for text within note contents.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	Yes	Text to search for
caseSensitive	boolean	No	Case sensitivity (default: false)
limit	number	No	Max results (default: 20)

get_tags

Get all tags from a note.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path to the note

get_links

Get all internal links from a note.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path to the note

get_backlinks

Find all notes linking to a specific note.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path to the note

insert_at_heading

Insert content under a specific heading.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path to the note
heading	string	Yes	Heading text to find
content	string	Yes	Content to insert
position	"start" | "end"	No	Where to insert (default: "end")

update_frontmatter

Update YAML frontmatter properties.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
path	string	Yes	Path to the note
properties	object	Yes	Key-value pairs (use null to delete)

create_from_template

Create a note from a template.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
templatePath	string	Yes	Path to template note
newPath	string	Yes	Path for new note
variables	object	No	Template variable substitutions

Built-in template variables:

• {{date}} - Current date (YYYY-MM-DD)
• {{time}} - Current time (HH:MM:SS)
• {{datetime}} - ISO datetime

Development

# Watch mode for development
npm run dev

# Build
npm run build

# Run directly
npm start

License

MIT