cli-anything-obsidian

Knowledge management and note-taking via the Obsidian Local REST API. Designed for AI agents and power users who need to manage notes, search the vault, and execute commands without the GUI.

Installation

This CLI is installed as part of the cli-anything-obsidian package:

pip install cli-anything-obsidian

Prerequisites:

• Python 3.10+
• Obsidian must be installed and running with the Local REST API plugin enabled

Usage

Basic Commands

# Show help
cli-anything-obsidian --help

# Start interactive REPL mode
cli-anything-obsidian

# List vault files
cli-anything-obsidian vault list

# Run with JSON output (for agent consumption)
cli-anything-obsidian --json vault list

REPL Mode

When invoked without a subcommand, the CLI enters an interactive REPL session:

cli-anything-obsidian
# Enter commands interactively with tab-completion and history

Command Groups

Vault

Vault file management commands.

Command	Description
list	List files in the vault or a subdirectory
read	Read the content of a note
create	Create a new note
update	Overwrite an existing note
delete	Delete a note from the vault
append	Append content to an existing note

Search

Vault search commands.

Command	Description
query	Search using Obsidian query syntax
simple	Plain text search across the vault

Note

Active note commands.

Command	Description
active	Get the currently active note in Obsidian
open	Open a note in the Obsidian editor

Command

Obsidian command palette commands.

Command	Description
list	List all available Obsidian commands
execute	Execute a command by its ID

Server

Server status and info commands.

Command	Description
status	Check if the Obsidian Local REST API is running

Session

Session state commands.

Command	Description
status	Show current session state

Examples

List and Read Notes

# List all vault files
cli-anything-obsidian vault list

# List files in a subdirectory
cli-anything-obsidian vault list "Daily Notes"

# Read a note
cli-anything-obsidian vault read "Projects/my-project.md"

Create and Update Notes

# Create a new note
cli-anything-obsidian vault create "Projects/new-project.md" --content "# New Project"

# Update (overwrite) a note
cli-anything-obsidian vault update "Projects/new-project.md" --content "# Updated Content"

# Append to a note
cli-anything-obsidian vault append "Projects/new-project.md" --content "\n## New Section"

Search

# Plain text search (GET /search/simple/)
cli-anything-obsidian search simple "meeting notes"

# Dataview DQL query — default --type dql, sent as
# application/vnd.olrapi.dataview.dql+txt
cli-anything-obsidian search query 'TABLE file.link FROM "Projects"'

# JsonLogic query — application/vnd.olrapi.jsonlogic+json
cli-anything-obsidian search query --type jsonlogic \
  '{"==":[{"var":"frontmatter.status"},"active"]}'

Commands

# List available commands
cli-anything-obsidian command list

# Execute a command by ID
cli-anything-obsidian command execute "editor:toggle-bold"

Interactive REPL Session

Start an interactive session for exploratory use.

cli-anything-obsidian
# Enter commands interactively
# Use 'help' to see available commands

API Key Configuration

# Via flag
cli-anything-obsidian --api-key YOUR_KEY vault list

# Via environment variable (recommended for agents)
export OBSIDIAN_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY
cli-anything-obsidian vault list

State Management

The CLI maintains lightweight session state:

• API key: Configurable via --api-key or OBSIDIAN_API_KEY environment variable
• Host URL: Defaults to https://localhost:27124; configurable via --host

Output Formats

All commands support dual output modes:

• Human-readable (default): Tables, colors, formatted text
• Machine-readable (--json flag): Structured JSON for agent consumption

# Human output
cli-anything-obsidian vault list

# JSON output for agents
cli-anything-obsidian --json vault list

For AI Agents

When using this CLI programmatically:

1. Always use --json flag for parseable output
2. Check return codes - 0 for success, non-zero for errors
3. Parse stderr for error messages on failure
4. Set OBSIDIAN_API_KEY environment variable to avoid passing --api-key on every call
5. Verify Obsidian is running with server status before other commands

More Information

• Full documentation: See README.md in the package
• Test coverage: See TEST.md in the package
• Methodology: See HARNESS.md in the cli-anything-plugin

Version

1.1.0