The Obsidian Diary MCP Server enables AI-powered smart journaling within Obsidian by automating entry creation, content management, and intelligent backlinking.
Core Features:
Generate diary templates with AI-powered reflection prompts based on analysis of recent entries and writing patterns
Save diary entries with automatic intelligent backlink generation to related entries using AI theme detection
Read existing entries by date in YYYY-MM-DD format
List recent entries with configurable count to track journaling history
Update backlinks for individual entries or refresh all backlinks across the diary based on current content
Create meaningful connections between entries through automatic
[[YYYY-MM-DD]]format backlinks that link thematically related diary entries
Integrates with GitHub Copilot CLI to enable natural language commands for creating diary templates and journaling assistance
Provides smart journaling capabilities for Obsidian vaults with AI-powered reflection prompts, automatic backlink generation between diary entries, and adaptive templates that learn from writing patterns
Obsidian Diary MCP Server
AI-powered journaling with local processing, automatic backlinks, and smart prompts. Combines Obsidian with Ollama for deep reflection.
Privacy: All AI processing is local via Ollama. Content never leaves your machine.
Features
🧠 AI-generated reflection prompts based on recent entries
🔗 Automatic
[[YYYY-MM-DD]]backlinks using theme similarity🏷️ Smart
#tagextraction from your writing✅ Todo extraction to organized checklists
📊 Memory trace analysis with theme evolution
🗓️ Sunday synthesis (weekly reflection prompts)
Requirements
uv, Ollama (llama3.1 or compatible model), MCP client, Obsidian vault
Setup
Configuration (.env):
Required: DIARY_PATH, PLANNER_PATH
Optional: OLLAMA_MODEL (default: llama3.1:latest), OLLAMA_TIMEOUT (60s), OLLAMA_TEMPERATURE (0.7), OLLAMA_NUM_PREDICT (1000 tokens)
Usage
Create:
"create a memory log for today"→ AI-generated promptsWrite: Open in Obsidian, reflect in Brain Dump section
Extract:
"extract todos from today's entry"→ Action items to plannerLink:
"link today's memory log"→ Auto-generates backlinks & tagsExplore: Use Obsidian's backlinks panel and graph view
More Commands: "show themes from last week", "create memory trace for 30 days", "refresh memory links for 30 days"
Debugging
Logs in logs/ directory: server-YYYY-MM-DD.log (protocol), debug-YYYY-MM-DD.log (operations)
Troubleshooting
Server issues: Check .env exists with DIARY_PATH and PLANNER_PATH set. Run ./start-server.sh directly to test.
Ollama issues: Verify running with curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags. Pull model: ollama pull llama3.1:latest
No backlinks: Need 2+ entries with similar themes (>8% overlap). Check Brain Dump has content: grep "similarity" logs/debug-*.log
Timeouts: Increase OLLAMA_TIMEOUT (90+) and OLLAMA_NUM_PREDICT (2000+) for reasoning models.
How It Works
Local AI: Ollama processes entries locally—content never leaves your machine
Brain Dump Focus: Analyzes your writing (not prompts) for themes
Smart Prompts: Context-aware questions based on recent entries
Auto-linking: Jaccard similarity connects entries with >8% theme overlap
Sundays: 5 weekly synthesis prompts (vs 3 daily)
Todo Extraction: AI identifies action items and creates checklists
Entry Format
Each entry (YYYY-MM-DD.md):
Reflection Prompts (3-5 AI-generated questions)
Brain Dump (your freeform writing)
Memory Links (auto-generated:
[[YYYY-MM-DD]]backlinks +#tags)
License
MIT • Python 3.13+ • FastMCP 2.12.4+ • Ollama