Obsidian Kanban MCP Server

An MCP server to manage Obsidian Kanban boards.

Features

• List all Kanban boards in your vault.

• Read board content (columns and tasks).

• Add tasks to specific columns.

• Move tasks between columns.

• Create new Kanban boards.

Related MCP server: sanban

Usage

Prerequisites

• Node.js installed.

• Obsidian vault with the Kanban plugin installed.

Configuration

The server points to the Obsidian vault specified by the VAULT_PATH environment variable. If not set, it defaults to ~/workspace/cursor-vault.

You can also optionally set:

• OBSIDIAN_BOARD_NAME to a default board filename (e.g., MyBoard.md). If set, you don't need to provide the board_name argument.

Building

npm install
npm run build

Running

node dist/index.js

MCP Tools

• list_boards: List all boards.

• get_board_content(board_name): Get columns and tasks.

• add_task(board_name, column_name, task_text, description?, labels?, acceptance_criteria?, create_note?): Add a task with optional details.

  • description: Multiline string for task details.

  • labels: Array of strings (e.g., ["urgent", "bug"]). Appended as tags to the title.

  • acceptance_criteria: Array of strings. Added as a checklist in the description.

  • create_note: Boolean. Defaults to true. If true, creates a new Markdown note with the details and links it on the board. Set to false to keep all details on the card itself.

• move_task(board_name, task_text, from_column, to_column): Move a task.

• create_board(board_name, columns): Create a new board.

Deployment & Integration

Integrating with Claude Desktop

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json (MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

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

Integrating with Cursor

1. Go to Cursor Settings > Features > MCP.

2. Click + Add New MCP Server.

3. Fill in the details:

   • Name: Obsidian Kanban

   • Type: Stdio

   • Command: node /path/to/mcp-obsidian-kanban/dist/index.js

   • Environment Variables: VAULT_PATH=/path/to/your/obsidian/vault;OBSIDIAN_BOARD_NAME=MyBoard.md