Obsidian MCP Local

MCP local in Node.js + TypeScript to expose your Obsidian vault to VS Code + GitHub Copilot.

It is designed for local use via stdio, focusing on reading and writing Markdown notes within your vault.

Install

npm install -g obsidian-mcp-local

Related MCP server: Obsidian MCP Server

Features

Available tools

• search_notes(query)

  • searches for text in the path, frontmatter, and note content

  • returns ranked results with a short excerpt

• get_note(path)

  • opens a note from the vault

  • returns path, frontmatter, and content

• create_note(path, content, overwrite?)

  • creates a new note

  • optionally overwrites an existing note

• append_to_note(path, content)

  • appends content to the end of an existing note

• find_by_tag(tag)

  • finds notes by tag

  • supports tags in frontmatter and inline tags in the content

Implemented rules

• only accesses files within the configured vault

• ignores directories such as:

  • .obsidian

  • .git

  • node_modules

• works only with .md files

• normalizes paths to prevent access outside the base directory

Project structure

obsidian-mcp-local/
  package.json
  tsconfig.json
  README.md
  .vscode/
    mcp.example.json
  src/
    index.ts

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+

• npm

• VS Code with GitHub Copilot

• a local Obsidian vault

Installation

In the project directory:

npm install
npm run build

For development:

npm run dev

To run the compiled version:

npm start

How to use in VS Code

1. Compile the project

npm install
npm run build

2. Adjust the VS Code MCP file

Copy the content of .vscode/mcp.example.json to your .vscode/mcp.json in the workspace where you will use Copilot.

Example: using locally:

{
  "servers": {
    "obsidian-local-vault": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:/caminho/para/obsidian-mcp-local/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH": "D:/Obsidian/Vault"
      }
    }
  }
}

using via npx (no local build required):

{
  "servers": {
    "obsidian-local-vault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "obsidian-mcp-local"],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH": "D:/Obsidian/Vault"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Update the paths

Replace:

• C:/path/to/obsidian-mcp-local/dist/index.js

• D:/Obsidian/Vault

with the actual paths on your machine.

4. Restart/reload VS Code

After this, Copilot should discover the MCP server.

Usage examples in Copilot Chat

• “Search my vault for notes about .NET”

• “Open the note knowledge/backend/dotnet.md”

• “Create a note in inbox/ideias-mcp.md with a summary of what we discussed”

• “Append to the end of the note daily/2026-04-06.md the text - test local MCP”

• “Find notes with the tag #architecture”

Possible future improvements

• append_under_heading

• [[wikilinks]] parsing

• get_backlinks(note)

• SQLite index for fast search

• folder whitelist for writing (inbox/, daily/, scratch/)

• configurable write blocking for specific folders

Important notes

• This project does not depend on Obsidian being open.

• It operates directly on the vault files.

• If you enable writing in both Obsidian and VS Code, concurrency control is up to you.

• The project currently assumes the vault is a local Markdown folder.

Main file

The implementation is in:

• src/index.ts

License

Personal use / initial base for customization.