obsidian_get_frontmatter
Extract YAML frontmatter metadata like tags and creation dates from Obsidian notes without loading full content for classification and organization.
Instructions
Extract YAML frontmatter metadata from a note.
Read metadata like tags, creation date, and other properties from Zettelkasten
notes without loading the full content.
Args:
params (GetFrontmatterInput): Contains:
- filepath (str): Path to file
Returns:
str: JSON object containing frontmatter fields
Example:
Get tags and metadata from a note to understand its classification.
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| params | Yes |
Implementation Reference
- The handler function decorated with @mcp.tool that registers and implements the obsidian_get_frontmatter tool. It extracts frontmatter using the ObsidianClient and returns formatted JSON.@mcp.tool( name="obsidian_get_frontmatter", annotations={ "title": "Get Note Frontmatter", "readOnlyHint": True, "destructiveHint": False, "idempotentHint": True, "openWorldHint": False } ) async def get_frontmatter(params: GetFrontmatterInput) -> str: """Extract YAML frontmatter metadata from a note. Read metadata like tags, creation date, and other properties from Zettelkasten notes without loading the full content. Args: params (GetFrontmatterInput): Contains: - filepath (str): Path to file Returns: str: JSON object containing frontmatter fields Example: Get tags and metadata from a note to understand its classification. """ try: frontmatter = await obsidian_client.get_file_frontmatter(params.filepath) return json.dumps({ "success": True, "filepath": params.filepath, "frontmatter": frontmatter }, indent=2) except ObsidianAPIError as e: return json.dumps({ "error": str(e), "filepath": params.filepath, "success": False }, indent=2)
- Pydantic input schema for the tool, defining the required filepath parameter.class GetFrontmatterInput(BaseModel): """Input for getting frontmatter.""" model_config = ConfigDict(str_strip_whitespace=True, extra='forbid') filepath: str = Field( description="Path to the file", min_length=1, max_length=500 )
- Helper method in ObsidianClient that reads the file content and parses the YAML frontmatter using the frontmatter library.async def get_file_frontmatter(self, filepath: str) -> Dict[str, Any]: """Extract frontmatter from a file.""" content = await self.read_file(filepath) metadata, _ = self.parse_frontmatter(content) return metadata
- Utility method that uses the 'frontmatter' library to parse YAML frontmatter from markdown content, returning metadata and body.def parse_frontmatter(self, content: str) -> tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]: """ Parse frontmatter from content. Returns: Tuple of (frontmatter_dict, body_content) """ try: post = frontmatter.loads(content) return post.metadata, post.content except Exception: # No frontmatter found return {}, content