home / skills / guanyang / antigravity-skills / obsidian-cli

obsidian-cli skill

This skill lets you manage Obsidian vaults from the command line, enabling rapid note creation, searches, and plugin debugging.

npx playbooks add skill guanyang/antigravity-skills --skill obsidian-cli

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

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---
name: obsidian-cli
description: Interact with Obsidian vaults using the Obsidian CLI to read, create, search, and manage notes, tasks, properties, and more. Also supports plugin and theme development with commands to reload plugins, run JavaScript, capture errors, take screenshots, and inspect the DOM. Use when the user asks to interact with their Obsidian vault, manage notes, search vault content, perform vault operations from the command line, or develop and debug Obsidian plugins and themes.
---

# Obsidian CLI

Use the `obsidian` CLI to interact with a running Obsidian instance. Requires Obsidian to be open.

## Command reference

Run `obsidian help` to see all available commands. This is always up to date. Full docs: https://help.obsidian.md/cli

## Syntax

**Parameters** take a value with `=`. Quote values with spaces:

```bash
obsidian create name="My Note" content="Hello world"
```

**Flags** are boolean switches with no value:

```bash
obsidian create name="My Note" silent overwrite
```

For multiline content use `\n` for newline and `\t` for tab.

## File targeting

Many commands accept `file` or `path` to target a file. Without either, the active file is used.

- `file=<name>` — resolves like a wikilink (name only, no path or extension needed)
- `path=<path>` — exact path from vault root, e.g. `folder/note.md`

## Vault targeting

Commands target the most recently focused vault by default. Use `vault=<name>` as the first parameter to target a specific vault:

```bash
obsidian vault="My Vault" search query="test"
```

## Common patterns

```bash
obsidian read file="My Note"
obsidian create name="New Note" content="# Hello" template="Template" silent
obsidian append file="My Note" content="New line"
obsidian search query="search term" limit=10
obsidian daily:read
obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] New task"
obsidian property:set name="status" value="done" file="My Note"
obsidian tasks daily todo
obsidian tags sort=count counts
obsidian backlinks file="My Note"
```

Use `--copy` on any command to copy output to clipboard. Use `silent` to prevent files from opening. Use `total` on list commands to get a count.

## Plugin development

### Develop/test cycle

After making code changes to a plugin or theme, follow this workflow:

1. **Reload** the plugin to pick up changes:
   ```bash
   obsidian plugin:reload id=my-plugin
   ```
2. **Check for errors** — if errors appear, fix and repeat from step 1:
   ```bash
   obsidian dev:errors
   ```
3. **Verify visually** with a screenshot or DOM inspection:
   ```bash
   obsidian dev:screenshot path=screenshot.png
   obsidian dev:dom selector=".workspace-leaf" text
   ```
4. **Check console output** for warnings or unexpected logs:
   ```bash
   obsidian dev:console level=error
   ```

### Additional developer commands

Run JavaScript in the app context:

```bash
obsidian eval code="app.vault.getFiles().length"
```

Inspect CSS values:

```bash
obsidian dev:css selector=".workspace-leaf" prop=background-color
```

Toggle mobile emulation:

```bash
obsidian dev:mobile on
```

Run `obsidian help` to see additional developer commands including CDP and debugger controls.

Overview

This skill provides command-line control of an open Obsidian vault using the official obsidian CLI. It lets you read, create, append, search, and manage notes, tasks, and properties, and includes developer commands for plugin/theme reloads, DOM inspection, screenshots, and error collection. Use it to automate vault operations, integrate Obsidian into scripts, or speed up plugin development and debugging.

How this skill works

The skill constructs obsidian CLI commands and runs them against the focused or specified vault. It accepts file or path targets, supports flags like silent or overwrite, and can copy command output to the clipboard. For plugin development it exposes reload, eval, dev:errors, dev:screenshot, dev:dom, and console inspection commands for a rapid edit–reload–verify loop.

When to use it

Automate note creation, updates, or batch edits from scripts or CI
Search vault content or extract snippets programmatically
Manage tasks, tags, and properties across notes from the command line
Develop or debug Obsidian plugins and themes with reloads, error checks, and screenshots
Integrate Obsidian operations into agents, tooling, or editor workflows

Best practices

Ensure Obsidian is running and focused on the target vault before invoking commands
Prefer file=<name> for wikilink-style targets and path=<path> for exact file locations
Use silent to prevent the app from opening files during automated runs
Use --copy to capture output to the clipboard for downstream steps
Follow the reload → dev:errors → dev:screenshot cycle when developing plugins to catch regressions early

Example use cases

Create daily notes and append templated tasks automatically via obsidian daily:append
Search the vault for a term and export results to another tool or script using obsidian search
Set or update YAML properties across many notes with property:set in batch jobs
Reload a plugin after changes, run obsidian dev:errors to capture runtime issues, and take a dev:screenshot to verify UI changes
Run arbitrary JS in the app context with obsidian eval to inspect state or compute derived data

FAQ

Do I need Obsidian open to use the CLI?

Yes — the obsidian CLI controls a running Obsidian instance, so the app must be open and the target vault focused or specified.

How do I target a specific vault?

Include vault="Vault Name" as the first parameter in the command to target a non-focused vault.

What’s the difference between file and path?

file resolves like a wikilink (name only, no extension or path), while path is the exact path from the vault root (folder/note.md).