List Bases

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/tools/bases.ts:31-41 (handler)

  The handler function for the 'list_bases' tool. It calls listBaseFiles(vaultPath), formats the result (sorted list of relative paths and count), and returns it as text. Error handling logs failures and returns an error result.

  async () => {
    try {
      const bases = await listBaseFiles(vaultPath);
      if (bases.length === 0) return textResult("No .base files in this vault.");
      const lines = [`Found ${bases.length} Base file(s):`, "", ...bases];
      return textResult(lines.join("\n"));
    } catch (err) {
      log.error("list_bases failed", { tool: "list_bases", err: err as Error });
      return errorResult(`Error listing bases: ${sanitizeError(err)}`);
    }
  },

• src/tools/bases.ts:17-42 (registration)

  The registerBaseTools function registers the 'list_bases' tool on the McpServer with its schema (inputSchema: {}), description, and annotations (readOnlyHint, idempotentHint).

  export function registerBaseTools(server: McpServer, vaultPath: string): void {
    server.registerTool(
      "list_bases",
      {
        title: "List Bases",
        description:
          "Enumerate every Obsidian Bases (`.base`) file in the vault. Bases are YAML-defined database views over notes (filters, properties, table/calendar/kanban views). Returns a sorted list of relative paths plus the total count. Pair with read_base or query_base.",
        annotations: {
          readOnlyHint: true,
          idempotentHint: true,
          openWorldHint: false,
        },
        inputSchema: {},
      },
      async () => {
        try {
          const bases = await listBaseFiles(vaultPath);
          if (bases.length === 0) return textResult("No .base files in this vault.");
          const lines = [`Found ${bases.length} Base file(s):`, "", ...bases];
          return textResult(lines.join("\n"));
        } catch (err) {
          log.error("list_bases failed", { tool: "list_bases", err: err as Error });
          return errorResult(`Error listing bases: ${sanitizeError(err)}`);
        }
      },
    );

• src/tools/bases.ts:19-28 (registration)

  The input schema for 'list_bases' – an empty object ({}), meaning no arguments are required.

  "list_bases",
  {
    title: "List Bases",
    description:
      "Enumerate every Obsidian Bases (`.base`) file in the vault. Bases are YAML-defined database views over notes (filters, properties, table/calendar/kanban views). Returns a sorted list of relative paths plus the total count. Pair with read_base or query_base.",
    annotations: {
      readOnlyHint: true,
      idempotentHint: true,
      openWorldHint: false,
    },

• src/lib/vault.ts:792-802 (helper)

  The listBaseFiles helper function walks the vault directory tree for .base files using walkVault(), then filters out excluded directories and returns a sorted array of relative paths.

  export async function listBaseFiles(
    vaultPath: string,
  ): Promise<string[]> {
    const entries = await walkVault(await getRealVaultRoot(vaultPath), [".base"]);
    const out: string[] = [];
    for (const rel of entries) {
      if (isExcluded(rel)) continue;
      out.push(rel);
    }
    return out.sort();
  }

• src/lib/vault.ts:142-177 (helper)

  The walkVault helper function recursively walks the vault directory, filtering by file extension (here '.base') and excluding .obsidian/.trash/.git directories.

  async function walkVault(
    baseDir: string,
    extensions: string[],
  ): Promise<string[]> {
    const results: string[] = [];
    const exts = extensions.map((e) => e.toLowerCase());
  
    async function walk(dir: string, relPrefix: string): Promise<void> {
      let entries: import("fs").Dirent[];
      try {
        entries = await fs.readdir(dir, { withFileTypes: true });
      } catch (err) {
        if ((err as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === "ENOENT") return;
        throw err;
      }
      for (const entry of entries) {
        const name = entry.name;
        if (entry.isDirectory()) {
          // Prune excluded directory names at ANY depth. Obsidian's own
          // subfolders aside, nested `.git`/`.obsidian`/`.trash` directories
          // should never be surfaced to clients.
          if (EXCLUDED_SET.has(name.toLowerCase())) continue;
          const nextPrefix = relPrefix === "" ? name : `${relPrefix}/${name}`;
          await walk(path.join(dir, name), nextPrefix);
        } else if (entry.isFile()) {
          const lower = name.toLowerCase();
          if (!exts.some((ext) => lower.endsWith(ext))) continue;
          const relPath = relPrefix === "" ? name : `${relPrefix}/${name}`;
          results.push(relPath);
        }
      }
    }
  
    await walk(baseDir, "");
    return results;
  }