palace-mcp

MCP server that exposes an Obsidian vault to AI assistants via the Local REST API plugin.

Built with FastMCP. Agents can list, read, write, search, and delete notes — and read whichever note is currently open in Obsidian.

Prerequisites

• Obsidian with the Local REST API plugin installed and running
• Python 3.12+
• uv (recommended) or pip

Copy your API key from the plugin settings in Obsidian before continuing.

Installation

git clone <repo-url> palace-mcp
cd palace-mcp
uv sync

Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
OBSIDIAN_API_KEY	yes	—	Bearer token from the Local REST API plugin
OBSIDIAN_HOST	no	127.0.0.1	Host where Obsidian's REST API listens
OBSIDIAN_PORT	no	27123	Port for the REST API
OBSIDIAN_PROTOCOL	no	http	http or https
PALACE_APPEND_DENY	no	/Context/,/System/,Index.md	Comma-separated paths where append_note is blocked

When using HTTPS with the plugin's self-signed certificate, certificate verification is skipped automatically.

Running

Start the server over stdio (the default transport for MCP clients):

export OBSIDIAN_API_KEY="your-api-key"
uv run python server.py

Or via FastMCP:

uv run fastmcp run server.py

Cursor setup

Add to your MCP config (e.g. ~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-palace": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "python", "server.py"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/palace-mcp",
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor or reload MCP servers after saving.

Tools

Tool	Description
list_notes	List files and folders. Pass a subdirectory path, or leave empty for the vault root.
read_note	Read a note's full contents by vault-relative path (e.g. People/Alice.md).
write_note	Create a new note or overwrite an existing one.
append_note	Append text to the end of a note. Creates the note if it doesn't exist.
search_notes	Full-text search; returns matching filenames ranked by relevance.
active_note	Return the contents of the note currently open in Obsidian.
delete_note	Permanently delete a note. Irreversible — use with care.

Append protection

Some vault paths are treated as overwrite-only. Appending to them can silently stack duplicate content inside a single note, which is hard to detect later.

By default, append_note is refused for paths matching:

• /Context/ (any note under a Context folder)
• /System/ (any note under a System folder)
• Index.md (any file named Index.md)

Use write_note to replace these notes instead. Override the deny list with the PALACE_APPEND_DENY environment variable.

License

MIT