obsidian-cli

Obsidian CLI

CLI reference based on Obsidian v1.12.4 (installer 1.11.7). All commands: obsidian <command> [options].

CRITICAL: Sandbox Requirement

Every obsidian command MUST be run with dangerouslyDisableSandbox: true. No exceptions.

The obsidian CLI communicates with the running Obsidian Desktop app via a Unix socket (IPC). The Claude Code sandbox blocks Unix socket access entirely - commands will fail silently or with cryptic connection errors until you disable the sandbox. This is not a transient issue; it is a hard architectural constraint.

Before running any obsidian command:

1. Set dangerouslyDisableSandbox: true on the Bash tool call
2. Confirm Obsidian Desktop is open (the CLI requires an active app connection)

dangerouslyDisableSandbox: true does not bypass the user's permission model - the user will still be prompted to approve the command before it runs. It only removes the filesystem/network sandbox that prevents Unix socket access.

Attempting obsidian commands without disabling the sandbox will always fail.

CLI version note: This reference was built against Obsidian v1.12.4. If commands behave unexpectedly, run obsidian version and obsidian help <command> to check for changes.

Conventions

• file=<name> resolves by name (like wikilinks). path=<path> is exact (folder/note.md).
• Most commands default to the active file when file/path is omitted.
• Quote values with spaces: name="My Note". Use \n for newline, \t for tab.
• Target a specific vault: obsidian vault=<name> <command>.
• Output formats: many commands accept format=json|tsv|csv (default varies).
• Use total flag on list commands to get counts instead of full output.

Quick Reference

Need	Command	Example
Read a note	read	obsidian read file="My Note"
Create a note	create	obsidian create name="New Note" content="# Hello"
Append to note	append	obsidian append file="Log" content="Entry"
Search vault	search	obsidian search query="meeting agenda"
Daily note	daily	obsidian daily
List files	files	obsidian files folder="Projects"
Get properties	properties	obsidian properties file="Note"
Set property	property:set	obsidian property:set name=status value=done file="Task"
List tags	tags	obsidian tags counts sort=count
Find backlinks	backlinks	obsidian backlinks file="Topic"
Run command	command	obsidian command id=editor:toggle-bold
List vaults	vaults	obsidian vaults verbose

Command Domains

Obsidian CLI has 75+ commands across these domains. Load the relevant reference for detailed usage:

Vault and Files

Create, read, append, prepend, delete, move, rename files and folders. Search vault content. See references/vault-and-files.md

Knowledge Graph

Backlinks, outgoing links, orphans, dead-ends, tags, properties, aliases, outline headings. See references/knowledge-graph.md

Daily Notes and Templates

Daily note operations (open, read, append, prepend), templates, bookmarks. See references/daily-and-templates.md

Plugins, Themes, and Sync

Plugin management (install/enable/disable), themes, CSS snippets, sync control, file history. See references/plugins-themes-sync.md

Workspace and UI

Tabs, workspace layout, window management, executing commands, hotkeys. See references/workspace-and-ui.md

Bases

Create, query, and manage base views (Obsidian's structured data feature). See references/bases.md

Developer Tools

JavaScript eval, DOM inspection, CSS debugging, CDP protocol, console capture, screenshots. See references/developer-tools.md

Tasks

Obsidian tracks checkbox items (- [ ]) across notes:

obsidian tasks                          # list all tasks
obsidian tasks todo                     # incomplete only
obsidian tasks done                     # completed only
obsidian tasks file="Project"           # tasks in specific file
obsidian tasks daily                    # tasks from daily note
obsidian task file="Todo" line=5 toggle # toggle a task
obsidian task file="Todo" line=5 done   # mark done
obsidian task file="Todo" line=5 status="/" # custom status char

Parsing Output

When processing command output, prefer CLI tools over Python. Check availability first:

command -v jq   # JSON parsing
command -v yq   # YAML/JSON parsing (supports both)
command -v gawk # field/column processing

JSON output (format=json): use jq if available.

obsidian files format=json | jq '.[].path'
obsidian properties file="Note" format=json | jq '.tags[]'
obsidian search query="meeting" format=json | jq '.[] | {file, line}'

YAML/JSON (format=json or properties): use yq if available, falls back to jq.

obsidian properties file="Note" format=json | yq '.status'

TSV/CSV output: use awk, cut, or column - no external deps needed.

obsidian files format=tsv | awk -F'\t' '{print $1}'
obsidian tags format=tsv | column -t -s $'\t'

Only fall back to Python when the above tools are not available or the transformation is too complex for them.

Tips

• Pipe JSON output to jq for filtering: obsidian files format=json | jq '.[]'
• Chain operations: read a template, create from it, set properties
• Use search:context instead of search when you need matching line context
• obsidian commands filter=editor to discover commands by prefix
• obsidian hotkeys all shows every command including those without keybindings
• Run obsidian with no arguments for full help