Obsidian MCP Server

About

The Obsidian MCP server connects AI assistants to your local Obsidian vault through the Obsidian Local REST API community plugin, enabling read, write, and search operations on your personal knowledge base. With 4,280+ GitHub stars, mcp-obsidian by MarkusPfundstein is the most widely adopted Obsidian MCP integration available. The server exposes seven tools: list_files_in_vault (enumerate all vault files and directories), list_files_in_dir (browse a specific folder), get_file_contents (read any note by path), search (full-text search across all vault notes), patch_content (insert text relative to a heading, block reference, or frontmatter field), append_content (add text to a new or existing note), and delete_file (remove a note or folder). Install via a single uvx command; set OBSIDIAN_API_KEY, OBSIDIAN_HOST, and OBSIDIAN_PORT environment variables (default port 27124). You must first install and enable the Obsidian Local REST API community plugin inside your vault settings — it exposes the HTTP endpoint this server bridges. Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and any MCP-compatible client. Ideal for summarizing meeting notes, searching research across hundreds of Markdown files, drafting new pages from AI output, or building second-brain workflows where Claude reads and writes your full knowledge base.

Installation

uvx mcp-obsidian

Setting up the Obsidian MCP server

1. 1.Install the Local REST API plugin first

   In Obsidian: Settings → Community plugins → Browse → "Local REST API" (coddingtonbear). Install, enable, then copy the API key from the plugin's settings screen. Nothing below works until this plugin is running.

2. 2.Add the server to your client config

   The published package runs through uvx. Set OBSIDIAN_API_KEY to the key from the plugin; host defaults to 127.0.0.1 and port to 27124, so both can be omitted unless you changed them. If Claude cannot find uvx, put the absolute path from `which uvx` in the command field — a known rough edge called out in the README.

   claude_desktop_config.json

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "mcp-obsidian": {
         "command": "uvx",
         "args": ["mcp-obsidian"],
         "env": {
           "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "<your_api_key_here>",
           "OBSIDIAN_HOST": "127.0.0.1",
           "OBSIDIAN_PORT": "27124"
         }
       }
     }
   }

3. 3.Tell the assistant to use Obsidian once

   The README's own advice: open with an instruction to use Obsidian, and the tools get called reliably from then on. Without it, models tend to answer from memory rather than reaching for the vault.

The seven tools

That is the whole surface — small, and worth knowing exactly, because it tells you what to ask for.

What people use it for

Which one should you use?

Two servers are commonly confused because both are called "Obsidian MCP".

Categories

Works With

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Guides