Which integrations are available for this server?

Provides tools for managing an Obsidian vault, including creating and editing notes, searching content, managing daily notes, creating TODOs with priorities and due dates, discovering backlinks, and saving coding session reports with metadata.

How do I use Obsidian MCP Server?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@Obsidian MCP Server create a daily note for today with my meeting notes" That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

Obsidian MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for integrating AI assistants with your Obsidian vault. Supports both stdio and HTTP/SSE transports for maximum compatibility.

Features

Session Reports: Automatically save coding session summaries with metadata
Note Management: Create, read, append, and search notes
Daily Notes Integration: Append to daily notes automatically
TODO Tracking: Create and manage TODOs with priorities and due dates
Backlink Discovery: Find notes that link to a specific note
Smart Linking: Get suggestions for related notes based on keywords
Dual Transport: Supports both stdio (direct) and HTTP/SSE (networked) modes

Quick Start with Docker (Recommended)

The easiest way to run the server is with Docker Compose:

# Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/igorilic/obsidian-mcp.git cd obsidian-mcp # Create your environment file cp .env.example .env # Edit .env and set your vault path # OBSIDIAN_VAULT_HOST_PATH=/path/to/your/obsidian/vault # Start the server docker compose up -d # Verify it's running curl http://localhost:9111/health

The server will be available at http://localhost:9111/mcp.

Installation (Local)

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+
npm or pnpm

Steps

git clone https://github.com/igorilic/obsidian-mcp.git cd obsidian-mcp npm install npm run build

Client Setup

Claude Code (CLI)

Claude Code supports HTTP transport natively. Add to your global config at ~/.claude.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "obsidian": { "type": "http", "url": "http://localhost:9111/mcp" } } }

Or for stdio transport (direct, no Docker):

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

After adding, restart Claude Code or run /mcp to reconnect.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop only supports stdio transport, so use mcp-remote as a bridge for HTTP servers.

Config location:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

For HTTP transport (with Docker):

{ "mcpServers": { "obsidian": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "http://localhost:9111/mcp"] } } }

For stdio transport (direct, no Docker):

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

Restart Claude Desktop after changes.

Cursor

Cursor supports MCP servers with stdio, SSE, and HTTP transports.

Config location:

Global: ~/.cursor/mcp.json
Project: .cursor/mcp.json

For stdio transport:

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

For HTTP transport:

{ "mcpServers": { "obsidian": { "url": "http://localhost:9111/mcp", "transport": "sse" } } }

Or configure via UI: File → Preferences → Cursor Settings → MCP

Documentation: Cursor MCP Docs

Windsurf

Windsurf uses the same config format as Claude Desktop.

Config location: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

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

Or configure via UI: Windsurf Settings → Cascade → Plugins

Documentation: Windsurf MCP Docs

Zed

Zed has built-in MCP support but currently only supports stdio transport (not HTTP).

Config location: ~/.config/zed/settings.json

{ "context_servers": { "obsidian": { "command": { "path": "node", "args": ["/path/to/obsidian-mcp/dist/index.js"], "env": { "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH": "/path/to/your/obsidian/vault" } } } } }

To verify: Check the Agent Panel settings - a green indicator means the server is active.

Documentation: Zed MCP Docs

VS Code with Continue

Continue supports MCP servers via YAML configuration files.

Config location: Create .continue/mcpServers/obsidian.yaml in your workspace or home directory:

For stdio transport:

name: Obsidian MCP Server version: 1.0.0 schema: v1 mcpServers: - name: obsidian command: node args: - /path/to/obsidian-mcp/dist/index.js env: OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH: /path/to/your/obsidian/vault

For HTTP transport:

name: Obsidian MCP Server version: 1.0.0 schema: v1 mcpServers: - name: obsidian type: streamable-http url: http://localhost:9111/mcp

Documentation: Continue MCP Docs

VS Code with Cline

Cline supports both stdio and SSE transports.

Click the MCP Servers icon in Cline's top navigation → Configure → Advanced MCP Settings

For stdio transport:

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

For SSE/HTTP transport:

{ "mcpServers": { "obsidian": { "url": "http://localhost:9111/mcp", "transport": "sse" } } }

Documentation: Cline MCP Docs

JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, WebStorm, PyCharm, etc.)

JetBrains AI Assistant supports MCP servers starting from version 2025.1.

Setup via UI:

Go to Settings → Tools → AI Assistant → Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Click + to add a new server
Configure the server

For stdio transport:

{ "command": "node", "args": ["/path/to/obsidian-mcp/dist/index.js"], "env": { "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH": "/path/to/your/obsidian/vault" } }

Note: MCP tools only work with "Codebase" mode enabled in the chat window.

Documentation: JetBrains MCP Docs

Generic HTTP Client

For any client supporting HTTP/SSE MCP transport:

Endpoint: http://localhost:9111/mcp
Health check: http://localhost:9111/health
Protocol: MCP over Streamable HTTP (SSE responses)
Required headers: Accept: application/json, text/event-stream

Example initialization request:

curl -X POST http://localhost:9111/mcp \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \ -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "initialize", "params": { "protocolVersion": "2024-11-05", "capabilities": {}, "clientInfo": {"name": "my-client", "version": "1.0.0"} } }'

Transport Modes

HTTP/SSE Transport (Default for Docker)

Best for:

Multiple clients connecting simultaneously
Networked/remote access
Containerized deployments

# Using Docker docker compose up -d # Or manually MCP_TRANSPORT=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3000 node dist/index.js

Stdio Transport (Default for local)

Best for:

Direct integration with IDEs
Single client usage
Lower latency

OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH=/path/to/vault node dist/index.js

Available Tools

Tool	Description
`write_session_report`	Save coding session summaries with metadata
`write_note`	Create or overwrite a note
`append_to_note`	Append content to an existing note
`append_to_daily_note`	Append to today's daily note
`search_notes`	Search notes by content, tags, or folder
`read_note`	Read a note's content and frontmatter
`list_recent_notes`	List recently modified notes
`find_backlinks`	Find notes linking to a specific note
`create_todo`	Create a TODO item
`link_notes`	Get suggestions for related notes

Tool Details

{ title: string; // Short title (required) summary: string; // Brief summary (required) details?: string; // Detailed description files_changed?: string[]; // List of modified files next_steps?: string[]; // Follow-up TODOs tags?: string[]; // Tags for categorization project?: string; // Project name folder?: string; // Subfolder in Claude-Sessions }

{ path: string; // Relative path (required) content: string; // Markdown content (required) title?: string; // Note title tags?: string[]; // Tags frontmatter?: object; // Additional frontmatter }

{ query: string; // Search query (required) tags?: string[]; // Filter by tags folder?: string; // Limit to folder limit?: number; // Max results (default: 20) }

{ task: string; // Task description (required) project?: string; // Project tag priority?: string; // "high" | "medium" | "low" due_date?: string; // YYYY-MM-DD format context?: string; // Additional context todo_file?: string; // Target file (default: "TODOs.md") }

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
`OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH`	Path to Obsidian vault	Required
`MCP_TRANSPORT`	Transport mode: `stdio` or `http`	`stdio`
`MCP_HTTP_PORT`	HTTP server port (when using http transport)	`3000`

Vault Structure

The server creates/uses this structure:

Your Vault/ ├── Claude-Sessions/ # Session reports │ ├── project-name/ # Per-project folders │ │ └── 2024-01-15-1430-feature-complete.md │ └── 2024-01-15-1200-quick-fix.md ├── Daily Notes/ # Daily notes (configurable) │ └── 2024-01-15.md └── TODOs.md # TODO items

Development

# Watch mode npm run dev # Build npm run build # Run with stdio OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH=/path/to/vault npm start # Run with HTTP MCP_TRANSPORT=http npm start # Docker build docker compose build # Docker logs docker compose logs -f

Troubleshooting

"Server not initialized" error

The MCP client has a stale session. Solutions:

Claude Code: Run /mcp to reconnect
Claude Desktop: Restart the app
Docker: Run docker compose restart

Connection refused

Ensure the server is running:

curl http://localhost:9111/health

Permission denied writing notes

If using Docker, ensure the vault is mounted with write access (:rw not :ro) in your .env file.

MCP tools not appearing

Check server logs: docker compose logs
Verify configuration path is correct
Restart your IDE/client
For JetBrains: Ensure "Codebase" mode is enabled

Zed shows "Server not active"

Zed doesn't support HTTP transport yet. Use stdio configuration instead.

License

MIT

Obsidian MCP Server

Obsidian MCP Server

Features

Quick Start with Docker (Recommended)

Installation (Local)

Prerequisites

Steps

Client Setup

Claude Code (CLI)

Claude Desktop

Cursor

Windsurf

Zed

VS Code with Continue

VS Code with Cline

JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, WebStorm, PyCharm, etc.)

Generic HTTP Client

Transport Modes

HTTP/SSE Transport (Default for Docker)

Stdio Transport (Default for local)

Available Tools

Tool Details

Environment Variables

Vault Structure

Development

Troubleshooting

"Server not initialized" error

Connection refused

Permission denied writing notes

MCP tools not appearing

Zed shows "Server not active"

License

Resources

Tools

New MCP Servers

Latest Blog Posts

MCP directory API