Obsidian CLI Bases and Bookmarks

Use this skill for Obsidian Bases and Bookmarks operations through official desktop obsidian CLI commands.

Routing contract

Use this skill when:

• the user asks to inspect or query .base files
• the user asks to list base views or query base results in structured formats
• the user asks to create an item through a base view
• the user asks to list or add bookmarks

Do not use this skill when:

• the request is primarily note CRUD, tasks, templates, link cleanup, or history/diff workflows
• the request is plugin/theme/snippet runtime administration
• the request is Sync/Publish operations
• the request is explicitly a named one-command workflow ID (route to obsidian-cli-workflows)
• the request is runtime diagnostics/eval/CDP workflows

Preconditions

Assume these must be true before relying on this skill:

• obsidian command is installed and registered
• Obsidian desktop app is available locally
• first command may launch Obsidian if it is not running
• in Codex Desktop on macOS, direct launches may crash; use the sanitized wrapper

Codex-safe launcher

In Codex Desktop on macOS, prefer this wrapper:

script -q /dev/null /usr/local/bin/zsh -ilc 'unset __CFBundleIdentifier LaunchInstanceID XPC_SERVICE_NAME CODEX_CI CODEX_SANDBOX CODEX_SHELL; export TERM=xterm-256color; obsidian ...'

Escalate the wrapped command only when required by sandbox boundaries.

Core operating policy

1. Use only documented official Bases and Bookmarks CLI commands.
2. Prefer read-only discovery first for mixed flows: bases, base:views, base:query, bookmarks.
3. Use structured output (json, csv, tsv, md, paths) whenever supported and useful.
4. Treat base:create as a mutating operation and summarize created-file side effects before executing.
5. For bookmark, require explicit target type (file, folder, search, or url) and avoid silent assumptions.
6. If base file/path, view name, or bookmark target is ambiguous, stop and ask for disambiguation.
7. Keep scope narrow to requested base/bookmark workflow; do not drift into unrelated note-wide edits.
8. If request is outside official Bases/Bookmarks surface, say so and stop.

Risk levels

• low: bases, base:views, base:query, bookmarks
• medium: bookmark
• high: base:create

Response contract

Always return:

• capability used
• risk level (low, medium, high)
• execution mode (direct or escalated)
• exact command(s) run or proposed
• output format used (if structured)
• side-effect summary (for mutating actions)
• files/bookmarks affected, if any
• blocking reason, if any

Command families

Bases:

• bases
• base:views
• base:query
• base:create

Bookmarks:

• bookmarks
• bookmark

References

• references/obsidian-cli-bases-bookmarks-playbook.md
• references/limitations-and-boundaries.md
• references/validation.md
• references/source-links.md