Search by Folder
vault_search_by_folderBrowse notes in a specified Obsidian vault folder with full metadata, including tags and links, to explore folder contents and orient yourself.
Instructions
Browse notes in a folder with full metadata.
Example: vault_search_by_folder({ folder: "Projects" }) Example: vault_search_by_folder({ folder: "About Me", recursive: false, limit: 10 }) — the folder's own notes, 10 most recent
When to use: Exploring a folder's contents with full context for vault orientation. Prefer vault_list_notes when you only need paths. Prefer vault_search when you have a text query. Use vault_get_backlinks or vault_get_outgoing_links to explore how notes in a folder connect to the rest of the vault.
Parameters:
folder names a whole folder, subfolders included: "Projects" covers "Projects/Archive" but not "ProjectsOld/", ignoring ASCII letter case; a trailing slash is ignored, and recursive: false keeps only the folder's own notes.
limit keeps the most recently modified notes. There is no offset, and nothing in the response signals truncation; raise limit for more.
Behavior: Results can lag a file change by a few seconds. Notes in hidden (dot-prefixed) folders never appear.
Errors:
An empty or nonexistent folder returns an empty array, not an error.
"[SqliteError]: …" / "[IndexIntegrityError]: …" — the index failed, not the call; the message says what to do
Returns: JSON array of note metadata: path, title (the title property; file name without .md when missing or not text), tags (the tags property; vault_update_properties edits it), body_tags (#tags in the note's text, one per spelling; vault_replace_in_note edits them; absent when none), related ([] when missing), folder (top-level, "" at the root), type (null when missing or not text), created (null when missing or not an ISO date), modified (ISO 8601 file time), bytes (on-disk size), and when present leading_callout (the opening callout, { type, title, body }) and additional_properties (every property but title, type, created, related and tags). Sorted by most recently modified, then by path.
Tool call template
Replace each placeholder with a value matching the input schema. Only required parameters are included; add optional parameters as needed.
{
"id": 1,
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "tools/call",
"params": {
"arguments": {
"folder": "<folder>"
},
"name": "vault_search_by_folder"
}
}Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| limit | No | Max results (default 20) | |
| folder | Yes | Folder path (e.g. "Projects", "About Me") | |
| recursive | No | Include subfolders (default: true) |