Read

references/command-reference.md

when you need specific flags, output formats, or subcommands for any command group. It covers all 130+ commands with full parameter tables and has a table of contents at the top.

• macOS / Linux: The

  obsidian

  binary is registered in PATH automatically when you enable CLI in settings.
• Windows: Requires an

  Obsidian.com

  redirector file placed alongside

  Obsidian.exe

  . Must run with normal user privileges — admin terminals produce silent failures.
  • If colon subcommands (

    property:set

    ,

    daily:append

    , etc.) with parameters return exit 127, check that

    Obsidian.com

    exists alongside

    Obsidian.exe

    . If missing, you have an outdated installer — download the latest from obsidian.md/download and reinstall.
  • Git Bash / MSYS2 users: Bash resolves

    obsidian

    to

    Obsidian.exe

    (GUI) instead of

    Obsidian.com

    (CLI), causing colon+params to fail with exit 127 even when

    Obsidian.com

    is present. Create a wrapper script — see Troubleshooting.
• Headless Linux: Use the

  .deb

  package (not snap). Run under

  xvfb

  . Prefix commands with

  DISPLAY=:5

  (or your xvfb display number). Ensure

  PrivateTmp=false

  if running as a service.

• Completed: feature branch merge
• Next: code review for PR #42
• Blocked: waiting on API credentials"

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1. Paths are vault-relative — use

   folder/note.md

   , not absolute filesystem paths.

2. create

   paths omit

   .md

   — the extension is added automatically.

3. move

   requires full target path including

   .md

   extension.
4. Pipe-friendly — plain text output works with

   grep

   ,

   awk

   ,

   sed

   ,

   jq

   .
5. JSON output — use

   format=json

   on

   search

   for a JSON array of file paths. The

   files

   command does not support JSON output.
6. Stderr noise — GPU/Electron warnings on headless are harmless; filter with

   2>/dev/null

   .

7. daily:prepend

   inserts content after frontmatter, not at byte 0.
8. Use

   eval

   to run arbitrary JavaScript against the Obsidian API (

   app.*

   ).

9. template:insert

   inserts into the currently active file in the Obsidian UI — it does not accept a

   path=

   parameter. If no file is open, it returns

   Error: No active editor. Open a file first.

   To create a file from a template via CLI, use

   obsidian create path="..." template="..."

   instead.

10. property:set

    stores list values as strings —

    value="tag1, tag2"

    writes a literal comma-separated string, not a YAML array. For proper array fields, edit the note's frontmatter directly (e.g. via

    read

    → modify →

    create --force

    ) or use

    eval

    to call the Obsidian API.

11. eval

    requires single-line JavaScript — multiline JS passed inline fails with a token error. Write the script to a temp file instead:
    bash

    cat > /tmp/obs.js << 'JS'
    var files = app.vault.getMarkdownFiles();
    files.length;
    JS
    obsidian eval code="$(cat /tmp/obs.js)"

12. Multi-vault targeting may not work in all environments —

    obsidian "My Vault" command

    can return

    Error: Command "My Vault" not found

    on some setups. If this happens, omit the vault name (CLI targets the most recently active vault) and switch vaults manually in the Obsidian UI.
13. When colon subcommands are unavailable (e.g. Windows Git Bash without wrapper), prefer non-colon alternatives: use

    properties

    instead of

    property:read

    , and

    obsidian daily:path

    +

    append

    instead of

    daily:append

    .