obs — Open Vault CLI

obs is a community-built CLI for Obsidian vaults. It reads and writes vault files directly on disk — no running Obsidian instance needed.

Installation

npm install -g obsidian-vault-cli

Setup

obs init                              # Auto-detect vaults
obs vault config defaultVault /path   # Or set manually

Global Options

Flag	Description
--vault <path>	Path to Obsidian vault (overrides config)
--json	Output as JSON for scripting
--help	Show help for any command

Command Groups

vault — Vault information and configuration

obs vault info                        # Name, path, file count, plugins
obs vault stats                       # Sizes, extensions, top tags
obs vault config                      # Print all config
obs vault config defaultVault /path   # Set default vault

files — File operations

obs files list                        # List all files
obs files list --folder Notes --sort modified --limit 20
obs files read path/to/note.md        # Print file content
obs files read path/to/note.md --head 10
obs files write path/to/note.md --content "New content"
obs files create path/to/new.md       # Create a new file
obs files create path/to/note.md --template Meeting
obs files delete path/to/note.md      # Delete (with confirmation)
obs files move old/path.md new/path.md
obs files rename path/to/note.md new-name.md
obs files total                       # Count of markdown files

search — Search vault content

obs search content "search term"      # Full-text search
obs search content "TODO" --case-sensitive --limit 10
obs search path "meeting"             # Find files by name
obs search path "**/*.canvas"         # Glob pattern
obs search regex "TODO|FIXME"         # Regex search
obs search regex "\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}" --flags gi

tags — Manage tags

obs tags list path/to/note.md         # Tags from frontmatter
obs tags add path/to/note.md project  # Add a tag
obs tags remove path/to/note.md project
obs tags all                          # All tags with counts
obs tags all --sort name --min-count 5

daily — Daily notes

obs daily create                      # Create today's note
obs daily create --date 2025-01-15    # Specific date
obs daily create --template "Daily Template"
obs daily open                        # Print today's note
obs daily open --date 2025-01-15
obs daily list                        # Recent daily notes
obs daily list --limit 30 --days 7

properties — Frontmatter properties

obs properties read path/to/note.md           # All properties
obs properties read path/to/note.md title     # Specific property
obs properties set path/to/note.md status draft
obs properties set path/to/note.md tags "a,b,c"

templates — Template management

obs templates list                    # List templates
obs templates apply "Meeting" Notes/standup.md
obs templates create "Weekly Review"
obs templates create "Bug Report" --content "## Bug\n\n## Steps"

tasks — Find and manage tasks

obs tasks all                         # All tasks in vault
obs tasks pending                     # Unchecked only
obs tasks done                        # Completed only
obs tasks pending --file path/to/note.md
obs tasks add path/to/note.md "Buy groceries"
obs tasks toggle path/to/note.md 15   # Toggle at line 15
obs tasks remove path/to/note.md 15

bookmarks — Vault bookmarks

obs bookmarks list
obs bookmarks add path/to/note.md
obs bookmarks remove path/to/note.md

links — Analyze links

obs links list path/to/note.md       # Outgoing links
obs links outgoing path/to/note.md
obs links backlinks path/to/note.md  # Incoming links
obs links broken                     # Unresolved wikilinks
obs links broken --limit 20

plugins — Plugin management

obs plugins list                     # All plugins with status
obs plugins list --enabled
obs plugins list --disabled
obs plugins versions                 # Community plugin versions
obs plugins enable dataview
obs plugins disable dataview

dev — Developer tools

obs dev eval "vault.listFiles()"     # Evaluate JS
obs dev script ./my-script.js        # Run script with vault context

sync — Git sync

obs sync status                      # Git status
obs sync push                        # Stage, commit, push
obs sync push --message "Updated notes"
obs sync pull                        # Pull latest

themes — Theme management

obs themes list                      # Installed themes
obs themes apply "Minimal"           # Apply a theme

canvas — Canvas files

obs canvas list                      # List canvases
obs canvas read path/to/canvas.canvas
obs canvas create path/to/new.canvas
obs canvas create path/to/new.canvas --text "Hello"
obs canvas nodes path/to/canvas.canvas

bases — Base files

obs bases list                       # List base files
obs bases read path/to/base.base
obs bases create path/to/new.base
obs bases create path/to/new.base --source Notes

import — Import content

obs import url https://example.com/article
obs import url https://example.com --name "My Article"

JSON Mode & Scripting

All commands support --json for machine-readable output:

obs vault stats --json | jq '.fileCount'
obs tasks pending --json | jq -r '.[] | [.file, .line, .text] | @csv'
obs tags all --json | jq '.[0:5]'
obs search content "TODO" --json | jq '[.[].file] | unique'

More Details

See references/COMMANDS.md for full option details and advanced examples.