--- name: obsidian-cli description: Skill for the official Obsidian CLI (v1.12+). Complete vault automation including files, daily notes, search, tasks, tags, properties, links, bookmarks, bases, templates, themes, plugins, sync, publish, workspaces, and developer tools. version: 2.0.0 author: adolago tags: - obsidian - cli - notes - automation - vault triggers: - obsidian - vault - daily note - obsidian cli ---

Obsidian CLI (Official, v1.12+)

The official Obsidian CLI connects to a running Obsidian instance via IPC. Requires Obsidian 1.12+ with CLI enabled in Settings > General.

Prerequisites

• Obsidian 1.12+ installed and running
• CLI enabled: Settings > General > Enable CLI
• The obsidian binary must be in your PATH

Important: Obsidian must be running for CLI commands to work. The CLI communicates with the running instance via IPC.

Platform Notes

• macOS/Windows: The Obsidian installer typically places the CLI binary in PATH automatically.
• Linux: You may need a wrapper script to avoid Electron flag injection that breaks CLI arg parsing. Ensure your wrapper is in PATH before the system obsidian binary. If running as a service, ensure PrivateTmp=false for IPC to work.

Complete Command Reference

Basics

obsidian version                            # Show Obsidian version
obsidian help                               # List all available commands
obsidian vault                              # Show vault info (name, path, files, size)
obsidian vault info=name                    # Just vault name
obsidian vault info=path                    # Just vault path
obsidian reload                             # Reload the vault
obsidian restart                            # Restart the app

Daily Notes

obsidian daily                              # Open today's daily note
obsidian daily silent                       # Open without focusing
obsidian daily:read                         # Read daily note contents
obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] Task"  # Append to daily note
obsidian daily:prepend content="# Header"   # Prepend to daily note
obsidian daily paneType=tab                 # Open in new tab (tab|split|window)

Files

obsidian read file=Recipe                   # Read by name (wikilink resolution)
obsidian read path="Work/notes.md"          # Read by exact path
obsidian file file=Recipe                   # Show file info (path, size, dates)
obsidian create name=Note content="Hello"   # Create a new note
obsidian create name=Note template=Travel   # Create from template
obsidian create path="Work/note.md" content="text"  # Create at exact path
obsidian create name=Note overwrite         # Overwrite if exists
obsidian create name=Note silent newtab     # Create silently in new tab
obsidian open file=Recipe                   # Open in Obsidian
obsidian open file=Recipe newtab            # Open in new tab
obsidian delete file=Old                    # Delete (to trash)
obsidian delete file=Old permanent          # Delete permanently
obsidian move file=Old to="Archive/Old.md"  # Move/rename (include .md in target)
obsidian append file=Log content="Entry"    # Append to file
obsidian append file=Log content="text" inline  # Append inline (no newline)
obsidian prepend file=Log content="Header"  # Prepend to file
obsidian unique name="Meeting" content="notes"  # Create note with unique timestamp
obsidian wordcount file=Note                # Word and character count
obsidian wordcount file=Note words          # Words only
obsidian wordcount file=Note characters     # Characters only
obsidian random                             # Open a random note
obsidian random:read                        # Read a random note
obsidian random folder="Work"               # Random note from folder
obsidian recents                            # List recently opened files
obsidian recents total                      # Count of recent files

Search

obsidian search query="meeting notes"               # Search vault
obsidian search query="TODO" matches                 # Show match context
obsidian search query="project" path="Work" limit=10 # Scoped search
obsidian search query="test" format=json             # JSON output
obsidian search query="Bug" case                     # Case-sensitive search
obsidian search query="error" total                  # Count matches only
obsidian search:open query="TODO"                    # Open search view in Obsidian

Tasks

obsidian tasks daily                        # Tasks from daily note
obsidian tasks daily todo                   # Incomplete daily tasks
obsidian tasks daily done                   # Completed daily tasks
obsidian tasks all todo                     # All incomplete tasks in vault
obsidian tasks file=Recipe done             # Completed tasks in file
obsidian tasks verbose                      # Tasks with file paths + line numbers
obsidian tasks total                        # Count of tasks
obsidian tasks status="/"                   # Tasks with custom status character
obsidian task daily line=3 toggle           # Toggle task completion
obsidian task daily line=3 done             # Mark task done
obsidian task daily line=3 todo             # Mark task incomplete
obsidian task ref="Work/todo.md:5" toggle   # Toggle by file:line reference
obsidian task daily line=3 status="/"       # Set custom status

Tags & Properties

# Tags
obsidian tags all counts                    # All tags with counts
obsidian tags all counts sort=count         # Sorted by frequency
obsidian tags file=Note                     # Tags in specific file
obsidian tags total                         # Total tag count
obsidian tag name=project verbose           # Tag details with file list
obsidian tag name=project total             # Count of files with tag

# Properties (frontmatter)
obsidian properties all counts              # All properties with counts
obsidian properties all counts sort=count   # Sorted by frequency
obsidian properties file=Note               # Properties of specific file
obsidian properties name=status             # Files with specific property
obsidian properties format=yaml             # YAML output
obsidian properties format=tsv              # TSV output
obsidian property:read name=status file=Note       # Read a property value
obsidian property:set name=status value=done file=Note  # Set a property
obsidian property:set name=due value="2026-03-01" type=date file=Note  # Set with type
obsidian property:remove name=status file=Note     # Remove a property

# Aliases
obsidian aliases                            # List all aliases in vault
obsidian aliases all                        # Include files without aliases
obsidian aliases file=Note                  # Aliases for specific file
obsidian aliases total                      # Count of aliases
obsidian aliases verbose                    # With file paths

Links & Structure

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