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)
- Needs API key
- Productivity
- Apache-2.0
- Actively maintained
Install Obsidian MCP Server
Generated from the server's MCP registry entry. Replace your-value with your own values.
Claude Desktop
{
"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-serverCursor
{
"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
{
"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.
| Name | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
OBSIDIAN_API_KEYsecret | Yes | Bearer token for the Obsidian Local REST API plugin (Settings → Community Plugins → Local REST API). |
OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL | No | Base 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_SSL | No | Whether to verify the TLS certificate on the Obsidian endpoint. Default false because the plugin uses a self-signed cert. |
OBSIDIAN_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS | No | Per-request timeout in milliseconds. |
OBSIDIAN_ENABLE_COMMANDS | No | Opt-in flag for the command-palette pair (obsidianlistcommands + obsidianexecutecommand). Off by default — Obsidian commands are opaque and can be destructive. |
OBSIDIAN_READ_PATHS | No | Optional comma-separated vault-relative folder allowlist for reads. Prefix-based with implicit recursion; case-insensitive; trailing slashes normalized. Unset… |
OBSIDIAN_WRITE_PATHS | No | Optional comma-separated vault-relative folder allowlist for writes. Same syntax as OBSIDIANREADPATHS. Unset = full vault. Example: 'projects/,scratch/'. |
OBSIDIAN_READ_ONLY | No | Global read-only kill switch. When true, every write is denied regardless of OBSIDIANWRITEPATHS, and the command-palette pair is suppressed (commands can… |
OBSIDIAN_DELETE_ELICITATION | No | Opt-in delete confirmation. When true, obsidiandeletenote asks the user to confirm each delete through an elicitation round (the client must support… |
OBSIDIAN_OMNISEARCH_URL | No | Override 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_LEVEL | No | Sets 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_noteRead a note as raw content, full structured form, document map, or a single section
obsidian_list_notesList notes and folders under a vault path, recursively, with extension and name filters
obsidian_list_tagsList vault tags with usage counts, most-used first
obsidian_search_notesSearch by text, JSONLogic, or BM25-ranked Omnisearch when that plugin is reachable
obsidian_write_noteCreate a note, replace one section, or overwrite a whole file with overwrite: true
obsidian_append_to_noteAppend to a note (creating it if missing) or to one heading, block, or frontmatter field
obsidian_patch_noteAppend, prepend, or replace against one heading, block reference, or frontmatter field
obsidian_replace_in_noteLiteral or regex search-replace inside one note, body-only by default
obsidian_manage_frontmatterGet, set, or delete one frontmatter key
obsidian_manage_tagsAdd, remove, or list a note's tags in frontmatter, inline, or both
obsidian_delete_notePermanently delete a note, optionally after the user confirms (OBSIDIANDELETEELICITATION)
obsidian_open_in_uiOpen a file in the Obsidian app, optionally in a new pane
obsidian_list_commandsList command-palette commands (opt-in via OBSIDIANENABLECOMMANDS)
obsidian_execute_commandRun 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
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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.