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Obsidian MCP Server

Obsidian MCP Server is an MCP server that adds productivity tools to AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. Read, write, search, and surgically edit Obsidian notes, tags, and frontmatter via MCP. It has 692 GitHub stars, is released under the Apache-2.0 license and runs locally with npx -y obsidian-mcp-server.

github.com/cyanheads/obsidian-mcp-server (opens in a new tab)

Install Obsidian MCP Server

Generated from the server's MCP registry entry. Replace your-value with your own values.

Claude Desktop

claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "obsidian-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Settings > Developer > Edit Config. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\. Restart Claude Desktop afterwards.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --env OBSIDIAN_API_KEY=your-value --transport stdio obsidian-mcp-server -- npx -y obsidian-mcp-server

Cursor

.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "obsidian-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Project file; use ~/.cursor/mcp.json to enable it in every project.

VS Code

.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "obsidian_api_key",
      "description": "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "obsidian-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "obsidian-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "${input:obsidian_api_key}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config formats checked against the official docs on Oct 7, 2026: modelcontextprotocol.io (opens in a new tab), code.claude.com (opens in a new tab), cursor.com (opens in a new tab), code.visualstudio.com (opens in a new tab).

Environment variables

Variables the server reads at startup.

NameRequiredDescription
OBSIDIAN_API_KEYsecretYesBearer token for the Obsidian Local REST API plugin (Settings → Community Plugins → Local REST API).
OBSIDIAN_BASE_URLNoBase URL of the Obsidian Local REST API. Default: http://127.0.0.1:27123 (enable "Non-encrypted (HTTP) Server" in plugin settings). Use…
OBSIDIAN_VERIFY_SSLNoWhether to verify the TLS certificate on the Obsidian endpoint. Default false because the plugin uses a self-signed cert.
OBSIDIAN_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MSNoPer-request timeout in milliseconds.
OBSIDIAN_ENABLE_COMMANDSNoOpt-in flag for the command-palette pair (obsidianlistcommands + obsidianexecutecommand). Off by default — Obsidian commands are opaque and can be destructive.
OBSIDIAN_READ_PATHSNoOptional comma-separated vault-relative folder allowlist for reads. Prefix-based with implicit recursion; case-insensitive; trailing slashes normalized. Unset…
OBSIDIAN_WRITE_PATHSNoOptional comma-separated vault-relative folder allowlist for writes. Same syntax as OBSIDIANREADPATHS. Unset = full vault. Example: 'projects/,scratch/'.
OBSIDIAN_READ_ONLYNoGlobal read-only kill switch. When true, every write is denied regardless of OBSIDIANWRITEPATHS, and the command-palette pair is suppressed (commands can…
OBSIDIAN_DELETE_ELICITATIONNoOpt-in delete confirmation. When true, obsidiandeletenote asks the user to confirm each delete through an elicitation round (the client must support…
OBSIDIAN_OMNISEARCH_URLNoOverride URL for the Omnisearch plugin HTTP server. Unset derives from OBSIDIANBASEURL host with port 51361. Required only if the Omnisearch plugin is not on…
MCP_LOG_LEVELNoSets the minimum log level for output (e.g., 'debug', 'info', 'warn').

Tools (14)

Parsed from the Tools section of the README; check the repository for the current list.

  • obsidian_get_note

    Read a note as raw content, full structured form, document map, or a single section

  • obsidian_list_notes

    List notes and folders under a vault path, recursively, with extension and name filters

  • obsidian_list_tags

    List vault tags with usage counts, most-used first

  • obsidian_search_notes

    Search by text, JSONLogic, or BM25-ranked Omnisearch when that plugin is reachable

  • obsidian_write_note

    Create a note, replace one section, or overwrite a whole file with overwrite: true

  • obsidian_append_to_note

    Append to a note (creating it if missing) or to one heading, block, or frontmatter field

  • obsidian_patch_note

    Append, prepend, or replace against one heading, block reference, or frontmatter field

  • obsidian_replace_in_note

    Literal or regex search-replace inside one note, body-only by default

  • obsidian_manage_frontmatter

    Get, set, or delete one frontmatter key

  • obsidian_manage_tags

    Add, remove, or list a note's tags in frontmatter, inline, or both

  • obsidian_delete_note

    Permanently delete a note, optionally after the user confirms (OBSIDIANDELETEELICITATION)

  • obsidian_open_in_ui

    Open a file in the Obsidian app, optionally in a new pane

  • obsidian_list_commands

    List command-palette commands (opt-in via OBSIDIANENABLECOMMANDS)

  • obsidian_execute_command

    Run a command-palette command by ID (opt-in via OBSIDIANENABLECOMMANDS)

About Obsidian MCP Server

obsidian-mcp-server Read, write, search, and surgically edit Obsidian vault notes, tags, and frontmatter via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP. 14 Tools • 3 Resources

  • ai-tools
  • knowledge-base
  • mcp
  • model-context-protocol
  • note-taking
  • obsidian
  • typescript
  • cyanheads
  • ai-agents
  • bun

FAQ

Obsidian MCP Server FAQ

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What is Obsidian MCP Server?

Obsidian MCP Server is an MCP server that adds productivity tools to AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. Read, write, search, and surgically edit Obsidian notes, tags, and frontmatter via MCP. It has 692 GitHub stars, is released under the Apache-2.0 license and runs locally with npx -y obsidian-mcp-server. The source code is at github.com/cyanheads/obsidian-mcp-server.

How do I install the Obsidian MCP Server MCP server?

Add the command npx -y obsidian-mcp-server to your MCP client: put it in claude_desktop_config.json for Claude Desktop, run claude mcp add for Claude Code, or add it to .cursor/mcp.json (Cursor) or .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code). The snippets on this page are ready to paste.

Is Obsidian MCP Server free?

The server is open source under the Apache-2.0 license, so running it is free. It needs credentials (OBSIDIAN_API_KEY) for the service it connects to, which may require a paid account.

Is Obsidian MCP Server actively maintained?

The most recent commit was on Oct 6, 2026. The latest release is v3.7.0, published Oct 6, 2026. appsgit only lists MCP servers with a commit in the last six months and re-checks every server daily.