Move Note

Move or rename a note and rewrite every link across the vault that points to it, like Obsidian's built-in rename. Incoming links in other notes — [[wikilinks]], [[wikilink|aliases]], [[wikilink#headings]], ![[embeds]], markdown, and frontmatter links (e.g. related:) — are updated to the new path; the moved note's own relative links are fixed so they still resolve from the new folder, including relative links to attachments (e.g. ![[../assets/photo.png]], ). A link is only rewritten when leaving it unchanged would break it, so a short [[Note]] that stays unambiguous after a folder move is left alone. Moving a note any other way can silently break its backlinks.

Example: vault_move_note({ old_path: "Inbox/Draft.md", new_path: "Inbox/Spec.md" }) — pure rename. Example: vault_move_note({ old_path: "Inbox/spec.md", new_path: "Inbox/Spec.md" }) — case-only rename; works even where the filesystem treats both spellings as one file. Example: vault_move_note({ old_path: "Inbox/Spec.md", new_path: "Projects/Spec.md" }) — move to another folder, updating links and the note's own relative links. Example: vault_move_note({ old_path: "Inbox/Spec.md", new_path: "Projects/Spec.md", prune_empty_folders: true }) — also remove "Inbox" if the move empties it.

When to use: Renaming a note or relocating it to a different folder while keeping the link graph intact. Prefer this over vault_write_note + vault_delete_note, which would orphan every backlink. To only change a note's body or properties, use vault_patch_note or vault_update_properties. Protected paths cannot be moved: About Me/ and the daily notes folder (read from DAILY_NOTES_FOLDER or .obsidian/daily-notes.json, defaulting to Daily Notes/; not protected when it is the vault root or blank).

Parameters:

• prune_empty_folders removes each parent folder of old_path that the move leaves with zero entries, up to but never including the vault root; a folder holding any file, even a hidden .DS_Store, is kept. An in-place rename or a move into a subfolder of the source prunes nothing. Pruning is best-effort: a folder that can't be removed never fails the call. Without it, empty folders stay, matching Obsidian.

Errors:

• "destination exists: …" — a note already lives at new_path; this tool never overwrites. Pick a free path or delete the existing note first.

• "note not found: …" — old_path does not exist; verify it with vault_list_notes.

• "source and destination are the same path" — old_path and new_path name the same note, so there is nothing to move.

• "cannot move protected path …" / "cannot move into protected path …" — old_path or new_path sits under a protected folder.

• "cannot read daily notes config from .obsidian/daily-notes.json" — the file exists but is unreadable, so the daily notes folder to protect is unknown; repair it, or set DAILY_NOTES_FOLDER or PROTECTED_PATHS, then retry.

• "path must end in …" — both old_path and new_path must end in .md.

• "absolute path blocked" / "path traversal blocked" / "hidden path blocked" — use vault-relative paths with no hidden (dot-prefixed) file or folder in them (notes cannot move from or into hidden paths, matching Obsidian).

• "concurrent write in progress" — a write is in flight on the note, the destination, or one of its backlink sources (the move locks all of them as one unit); retry the move.

• "backlink set did not stabilize" — the vault was modified during the move and new backlink sources kept appearing across retries; nothing was written; retry the move.

• An ordinary move that fails partway (rare: a permission or disk error) — no data is lost, and the error names what failed and the resulting state. The original is deleted last, after the destination and every backlink are written. If a backlink write failed: new_path exists and old_path is intact, so delete the partial new_path, then re-run the move. If the final delete failed: both paths exist, so delete old_path to finish.

• A case-only rename that fails partway — the note is renamed in place first. If the rename failed: nothing was written. If a later link write failed: the note already lives at new_path and old_path is gone, so fix the remaining links in place (the error names the note whose update failed) instead of re-running the move.

• "move aborted: could not read …" / "move aborted: could not rewrite …" — the note, or a note linking to it, could not be read or has a properties block the move cannot keep; nothing was written; fix that note (for a properties block, the error says how), then retry.

• "move aborted: could not write to …" — new_path could not be created; nothing was written. Saving stages a temp file 41 bytes longer than new_path's name, so a long name fails; retry with one at least 41 bytes shorter. If that fails, the folder or disk can't be written; ask the vault's owner to fix it.

• "ENAMETOOLONG: …" — old_path or new_path, or a name in it, is longer than the filesystem allows; check the path.

• "EACCES: …" or another filesystem error code — a note or folder can't be read or written (permissions, a full or read-only disk); nothing was written; ask the vault's owner to fix it.

Obsidian syntax: Link rewrites preserve each link's existing form — embed marker (!), heading anchor (#…), and alias (|…) are kept; a markdown link keeps its original extension and link text. Only the target path is changed.

Returns: JSON with moved_to (the new path), links_updated (count of link occurrences rewritten, including the moved note's own relative links), updated_notes (sorted paths of the other notes that were edited; the moved note is implied by moved_to), and pruned_empty_folders (count of empty parent folders removed — 0 unless prune_empty_folders was set).