Obsidian/CLI

• Obsidian CLI

  • Official obsidian CLI/Tool for scripting, automation, and integration with external tools from the terminal.
  • Supports both one-shot commands and an interactive terminal interface with help, autocomplete, command history, and reverse search.
  • Requires the Obsidian 1.12.7+ installer and a running Obsidian app; installation starts by enabling Command line interface in Settings -> General.

  • Key commands for generating references

    • obsidian file file="NoteName" — returns vault-relative path, name, and extension; useful for handing a file reference to external tools like Claude/Code.
    • obsidian outline file="NoteName" — returns the heading tree (tree / markdown / JSON format); use to identify heading anchors for [[NoteName#Heading]] links.
    • --copy — universal flag; copies the output of any command to the system clipboard (e.g. obsidian outline file="NoteName" --copy).
    • obsidian daily:path — returns the expected path for today's daily note.
    • obsidian links file="NoteName" / obsidian backlinks file="NoteName" — outgoing and incoming link lists.

  • Community / headless alternatives

    • These work without a running Obsidian app:
    • nightisyang/obsidian-cli — headless-first; ripgrep search, backlink index, optional REST API mode.
    • davidpp/obsidian-cli — AI-optimized with REST API; designed for agentic tools like Claude/Code.
    • rjzxui/obsidian-vault-cli — 100+ commands covering note lifecycle and link operations.