mcp-obsidian

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A filesystem-based MCP server for an Obsidian vault. It reads and writes your vault's Markdown files directly on disk — no Obsidian plugin, no Local REST API, no running Obsidian instance required. Point it at a folder and your LLM can browse and edit notes.

Why filesystem-based

Most Obsidian MCP servers talk to the Local REST API community plugin, which means Obsidian must be running with the plugin enabled. mcp-obsidian skips all that and operates on the vault directory itself — works headless, in CI, or on a synced folder.

Tools

Tool	Description
obsidian_read	Read a note (with optional truncation)
obsidian_search	Keyword search across notes, with truncated context per hit; optional subfolder scope
obsidian_write	Create or overwrite a note (creates parent folders)
obsidian_append	Append content to a note
obsidian_patch_frontmatter	Patch a note's YAML frontmatter
obsidian_list	List .md files and subfolders of a directory

All paths are relative to the vault root (e.g. wiki/cyber/sql-injection.md).

Install

git clone https://github.com/NeveuGregor/mcp-obsidian.git
cd mcp-obsidian
npm install
npm run build      # compiles TypeScript to dist/

Configuration

The vault path is provided via the OBSIDIAN_VAULT environment variable (absolute path). The server exits with an error if it is not set.

Register it with Claude (CLI or Desktop), e.g. in your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-obsidian/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_VAULT": "/absolute/path/to/your/vault"
      }
    }
  }
}

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• An Obsidian vault (just a folder of Markdown files)

Related

This server is the MCP layer of a broader knowledge architecture — claude-obsidian-system — which documents how the vault itself is designed (LLM-Wiki + Zettelkasten + Evergreen) and wired to Claude Code skills and memory.

License

CeCILL-B (BSD-compatible, French law) — © 2026 Neveu Grégor.