Obsidian CLI MCP Server

MCP server that exposes Obsidian vault operations over HTTP. Uses the obsidian CLI via subprocess — requires the Obsidian desktop app to be running.

Placeholders: Examples use <project-root>, <vault-root>, and localhost:3100 — replace with your actual paths and host/port. All examples are generic and safe for public use.

Prerequisites

• Obsidian desktop app installed and running

• gtimeout (GNU coreutils): brew install coreutils on macOS

• Python 3.10+

Related MCP server: Obsidian MCP Tool Server

Quick Start

cd <project-root>   # e.g. ~/projects/obsidian-cli-mcp
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env   # edit .env with your vault path
python -m src.server

Server listens on http://localhost:3100/mcp.

Dev mode (auto-restart on file changes):

make dev

Smoke test (run all read operations; edit hardcoded paths in scripts/smoke_test.py to match your vault):

python scripts/smoke_test.py

Tools

Environment Variables

Connect from Continue

Place config at <vault-root>/.continue/mcpServers/obsidian-cli-mcp.yaml:

name: Obsidian CLI
version: 1.0.0
schema: v1
mcpServers:
  - name: obsidian-cli-mcp
    type: streamable-http
    url: http://localhost:3100/mcp

Start the server before using Continue. Or use cn --mcp http://localhost:3100/mcp.

Connect from Cursor

Option A – Command (recommended) – Cursor spawns the server; no manual start needed:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-cli-mcp": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "src.server"],
      "cwd": "<project-root>",
      "env": { "MCP_TRANSPORT": "stdio" }
    }
  }
}

Use your actual project path for cwd, or omit it if the project is your workspace root.

Option B – URL – Start the server manually first (python -m src.server), then add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-cli-mcp": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3100/mcp"
    }
  }
}