Obsidian

by Cal Deacon

v1.0.0

Repository Docs npm

Files & Storage

obsidiannotesmarkdownknowledge-base

Summary

Let an AI client read and search your Obsidian vault — or any folder of Markdown notes.

Features

Search across an Obsidian vault by content
Read individual notes including frontmatter
Works with any directory of Markdown files

Installation

Set up this MCP server in your favorite AI agent — copy a ready-made configuration below.

Any MCP-compatible agent

Most agents (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, and more) read a standard mcpServers configuration.

Open your agent's MCP configuration file.
Merge the snippet below into it.
Restart the agent — the "Obsidian" tools will be available.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-obsidian",
        "/path/to/vault"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add the server with a single CLI command.

claude mcp add obsidian -- npx -y mcp-obsidian /path/to/vault

Claude Desktop

Add the server to claude_desktop_config.json (Settings → Developer → Edit Config).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-obsidian",
        "/path/to/vault"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": [
    "-y",
    "mcp-obsidian",
    "/path/to/vault"
  ]
}

Windsurf

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": [
    "-y",
    "mcp-obsidian",
    "/path/to/vault"
  ]
}

VS Code

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": [
    "-y",
    "mcp-obsidian",
    "/path/to/vault"
  ]
}

Description

This MCP server exposes a directory of Markdown files — an Obsidian vault, or any notes folder — to an AI assistant for reading and searching.

What it does

Full-text search across every note in the vault, returning matches with context
Reading notes by path, including YAML frontmatter and the links and tags within
Directory listing so the assistant can navigate a vault's structure

Why it is worth setting up

An Obsidian vault is usually years of accumulated notes: meeting records, research, project histories, and half-finished thinking. Being able to ask questions of that corpus — what did we decide about this, where did I write about that pattern, what have I already read on this topic — is a substantially better interface than search-and-scroll.

It is also excellent context for writing: an assistant that can read your existing notes writes in a way that fits them.

Setup

npx -y mcp-obsidian /path/to/vault. Read-only, which is the right default for a personal knowledge base — nothing gets rewritten without you doing it.

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