obsidian-cli

Controls Obsidian vaults from the terminal via the official Obsidian CLI over IPC.

Updated May 1, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/ricardoo022/4dill --skill obsidian-cli-ricardoo022
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: obsidian-cli
Source: https://github.com/ricardoo022/4dill/tree/main/.gemini/skills/obsidian-cli
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/ricardoo022/4dill --skill obsidian-cli-ricardoo022

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve? AI agents and scripts have no native way to read, write, search, or manage notes inside an Obsidian vault. This Skill provides the operational knowledge to drive the official Obsidian CLI (v1.12+), which communicates with a running Obsidian desktop instance via IPC, enabling direct vault automation. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Note CRUD and Daily Notes: Read, create, append, prepend, move, rename, and delete notes, plus full daily-note operations for journaling automation. - Search, Tasks, and Graph Analysis: Run full-text search with JSON output, query and toggle checkbox tasks, and find orphaned notes, dead ends, and unresolved links. - Vault Administration: Manage plugins, themes, CSS snippets, sync history, file version recovery, Bases queries, and execute arbitrary JavaScript against the Obsidian API via eval. - Use Case: An AI agent appends a timestamped status update to today's daily note, creates a project note from a template, sets its frontmatter properties, and links it from the daily note — all through terminal commands. ## Quick Start Ask the agent to append a short status update to today's daily note in your Obsidian vault using the obsidian CLI.

Frequently Asked Questions about obsidian-cli

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I read and write Obsidian notes from the command line?▼

Use the official Obsidian CLI with commands like obsidian read path="folder/note.md" to print note content and obsidian append path="folder/note.md" content="text" to write. All paths are vault-relative and parameters use key=value syntax.

How to automate Obsidian daily notes with a script?▼

Use obsidian daily:append content="your text" to add entries to today's daily note, or daily:prepend to insert after the frontmatter. Combine with cron or shell scripts for scheduled journaling automation.

Does the Obsidian CLI work without the desktop app running?▼

No, the Obsidian CLI requires the desktop app (v1.12.0+) to be running because it communicates via IPC. On headless Linux servers, run Obsidian under xvfb with the .deb package and prefix commands with your DISPLAY variable.

Why do Obsidian CLI colon subcommands fail with exit 127 on Windows?▼

Exit 127 on Windows usually means the Obsidian.com redirector is missing alongside Obsidian.exe, indicating an outdated installer. Reinstall from obsidian.md/download; Git Bash users may also need a wrapper script pointing to Obsidian.com.

Can the Obsidian CLI search vault contents and return JSON?▼

Yes, obsidian search query="term" format=json returns a JSON array of matching file paths suitable for jq processing. Use search:context when you need the actual matching lines rather than just file paths.

What are the limitations of obsidian property:set for frontmatter?▼

The property:set command stores all values as strings, so value="tag1, tag2" writes a literal comma-separated string rather than a YAML array. For true array properties, edit the frontmatter directly or use obsidian eval with the Obsidian API.