Obsidian MCP

A local Model Context Protocol server that lets MCP-compatible assistants safely read and modify explicitly configured Obsidian vaults.

Version 2 supports both MCP 2026-07-28 and 2025-era clients by default, and requires Node.js 22 or newer. It works directly with Markdown files, so Obsidian does not need to be open. Legacy protocol and v1 positional-path compatibility are deprecated and print exact migration instructions to stderr.

[!IMPORTANT]

MCP clients can invoke destructive tools. Back up important vaults, review client permission prompts, and use revision preconditions for concurrently edited notes.

Quick start

Node.js 22 or newer is required:

node --version # v22 or newer

Run with npx without installing the package globally. Pinning the major version receives compatible 2.x updates without automatically crossing a future major version:

npx -y obsidian-mcp@2 serve --vault notes=/absolute/path/to/vault

Configure an MCP client to launch the same command over stdio:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "obsidian-mcp@2", "serve", "--vault", "notes=/absolute/path/to/vault"]
    }
  }
}

Alternatively, install the package globally and use "command": "obsidian-mcp" with the same arguments beginning at "serve":

npm install -g obsidian-mcp@2

Each vault must already contain an .obsidian directory and must be configured using an absolute path.

Both protocol eras are served from the same tool definitions. After confirming that your MCP client negotiates 2026-07-28, you may opt into modern-only mode by adding "--legacy", "reject" to args.

Vault ids use lowercase letters, digits, _, and -, must begin with a letter, and are the values assistants pass to tools. Up to ten vaults may be configured. Repeat --vault to expose more than one vault:

obsidian-mcp serve \
  --vault work=/Users/me/Documents/WorkVault \
  --vault personal=/Users/me/Documents/PersonalVault

Network, removable, hidden, and synced locations are allowed because an explicit --vault is treated as authorization; the same containment protections apply to every location.

Design principles

• Vault access is explicitly allowlisted at process startup.
• Every tool path is vault-relative, segment-checked, and blocked from symlinks and reserved state.
• File mutations are journaled, conflict-checked, atomically replaced, and rolled back as one transaction.
• The server never listens on a network interface or sends telemetry.
• stdout is reserved exclusively for MCP messages; structured diagnostics go to stderr.
• Results are bounded, paginated where appropriate, and available as both text and structured content.

Tools

All schemas are strict JSON Schema 2020-12 contracts generated from Zod. Mutating results include a transaction id; tool failures return isError: true with an actionable error code.

Reading and concurrency

obsidian_read_note returns an etag. Pass it as if_match to edit, move, or delete when avoiding lost updates matters. Batch tag operations accept an expected_etags map. A changed note returns REVISION_CONFLICT rather than being overwritten.

Large notes are paginated using an opaque cursor bound to the path and etag. Search uses an opaque cursor bound to the query and options. Tool text responses are capped at 25,000 characters.

Deletion and recovery

Trash is the default. Deleted note bytes and metadata are stored separately under .obsidian-mcp/trash; metadata is never injected into the note. Permanent deletion requires confirm_path to exactly match the canonical relative path.

Transactions and recovery snapshots live in .obsidian-mcp/transactions. Completed data is retained for 30 days and pruned oldest-first above 1 GiB by default:

obsidian-mcp serve --vault work=/path \
  --recovery-days 14 \
  --recovery-max-bytes 536870912

Inspect or restore a completed transaction while the MCP server is stopped:

obsidian-mcp recovery list --vault work=/path
obsidian-mcp recovery restore --vault work=/path --id

Recovery refuses to overwrite content changed since the selected transaction. Permanent deletion snapshots are purged after commit and cannot be restored.

Path and filesystem safety

The server:

• canonicalizes configured vault roots and rejects duplicate or nested roots;
• rejects absolute, UNC, Windows-drive, NUL, backslash, empty, and dot-segment tool paths;
• reserves .obsidian, .obsidian-mcp, .git, .backup, and .trash from tool access;
• checks existing targets and the nearest existing ancestor for new targets;
• rejects symlinks, junctions, and reparse-point paths, and skips them during scans;
• performs no shell execution for filesystem validation;
• strictly decodes UTF-8 and does not silently replace invalid bytes.

The process needs read and write access to each configured vault. obsidian-mcp doctor --vault id=/path validates startup readiness and recovery state.

Link and tag behavior

Moves recognize Obsidian Wikilinks, embeds, Markdown links, aliases, URL-encoded destinations, headings, and block anchors. A link is rewritten only when it resolves unambiguously to the source note; ambiguous links are reported and left unchanged. Deletion preserves backlinks unless backlink_action: "mark_broken" is requested.

Tags follow Obsidian's case-insensitive rules and support Unicode, emoji, _, -, /, and nested tags. Frontmatter tags are written as YAML lists. Inline tag processing ignores fenced/inline code and HTML comments. Wildcards use a bounded matcher rather than regular expressions.

Development

npm ci
npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build
npm run ci

Each tool owns a typed definition under src/tools//index.ts; the small registry in src/tools/index.ts applies shared MCP registration and response behavior. Filesystem, transaction, Markdown, link, and search behavior live in reusable utilities. A new tool must use VaultFs for every path, TransactionManager for mutations, strict input/output schemas, structured results, annotations, and security/integration tests.

See MIGRATING.md for the 1.x migration and SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting.

Startup errors and compatibility warnings are written only to stderr with a stable code, the detected problem, an exact fix, a verification step, and a link to the matching migration section. If the server does not appear, find the code in the MCP client logs and use the diagnostic reference.

License

MIT