Obsidian MCP Server
About
Obsidian MCP Server is a lightweight Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI assistants such as Cursor and Claude to read from and write to your Obsidian vault. It provides direct filesystem access without requiring the Obsidian application to be running, making it…
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- Retrieve a list of all filenames in your vault.
- Read the contents of one or multiple files.
- Find all open TODO items across markdown files.
- Create or update any file with new markdown content.
- Standalone server – no need for Obsidian to be open.
Setting up with Highlight
This MCP is not yet compatible with Highlight’s one-click setup. However, you can still use it with Highlight by following these steps:
- Download and install Highlight from highlightai.com/download
- Navigate to the plugins tab and select "Add Custom Plugin"
-
Configure the plugin with the settings below
Plugin Name
Obsidian MCP ServerCommand (node, npx, python, etc.)Please refer to the README for specific instructions on how to obtain API keys or other required environment variables.
- Enable "Start Automatically" if you want the plugin to start when Highlight launches
From the repository
Install via npm (npm install obsidian-mcp-server), build (npm run build), then configure the server in Claude Desktop or Cursor by pointing to the compiled index.js file and your vault’s file path. Example commands are provided for both Claude Desktop and Cursor.
Claude Desktop / Cursor
Paste into your MCP client config file to install this server.
{
"mcpServers": {
"obsidian mcp server": {
"marcelmarais_obsidian-mcp-server": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"obsidian-mcp-server/build/index.js",
"/path/to/your/vault"
]
}
}
}
}McpServers
{
"marcelmarais_obsidian-mcp-server": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"obsidian-mcp-server/build/index.js",
"/path/to/your/vault"
]
}
}Obsidian MCP Server
A lightweight Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI assistants like Cursor & Claude to read from and write to your Obsidian vault.
Example Interactions
- "Create a new note for standup tomorrow describing the code changes I've made today" (should also use Git)
- "Check my notes about project ideas"
- "Check what todos I have related to refactoring"
Tools
Read
1. getAllFilenames
- Gets a list of all filenames in the Obsidian vault
- Useful for discovering what files are available
2. readMultipleFiles
- Retrieves the contents of specified files from the Obsidian vault
- Supports exact filenames, partial filenames, or case-insensitive matches
- Each file's content is prefixed with '# File: filename' for clear identification
3. getOpenTodos
- Retrieves all open TODO items from markdown files in the Obsidian vault
- Finds unchecked checkbox items (lines containing '- [ ] ')
- Returns them with their file locations
Write
1. updateFileContent
- Updates the content of a specified file in the Obsidian vault with new markdown content
- If the file doesn't exist, it will be created
- Automatically creates any necessary directories
Install & build
npm install obsidian-mcp-server
npm run build
Integrating with Claude Desktop and Cursor
To use your MCP server with Claude Desktop add it to your Claude configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"obsidian": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"obsidian-mcp-server/build/index.js",
"/path/to/your/vault"
]
}
}
}
For Cursor go to the MCP tab Cursor Settings (command + shift + J). Add a server with this command:
node obsidian-mcp-server/build/index.js /path/to/your/vault
Comparison with Other Solutions
While this implementation is intentionally lightweight, other solutions like jacksteamdev/obsidian-mcp-tools offer a more feature-rich approach as an Obsidian plugin.
This standalone server has the advantage of direct filesystem access without requiring the Obsidian application to be running.
Resources
- Model Context Protocol Documentation
- MCP Servers Repository
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