Obsidian

Obsidian vaults are normal folders on disk. Notes are usually *.md. Do not touch .obsidian/, *.canvas files, or plugin data unless the user explicitly asks.

Typical Vault Structure

• notes: *.md
• config: .obsidian/
• canvases: *.canvas
• attachments: images, PDFs, and other files in normal folders

Vault Location

Resolve the vault path first. Use this order:

1. user-provided vault path
2. remembered vault path from MEMORY.md
3. OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH
4. obsidian-cli print-default --path-only
5. macOS config: ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json Use the vault with "open": true.
6. common defaults:
   • ~/Documents/Obsidian Vault
   • ~/Documents/Obsidian
   • ~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents

Do not treat the current workspace as the vault unless the user explicitly says so, the workspace contains .obsidian/, or Obsidian's config points there.

If the resolved vault came from steps 3-6, tell the user which path you found and ask for confirmation before making write changes. For read-only discovery or search, you may proceed, but note the source of the vault path.

If you find a stable, unambiguous vault path, save a short fact to MEMORY.md, for example Obsidian vault: /absolute/path/to/vault. Do not save ambiguous or temporary vaults.

Quick Start

Assume:

VAULT="/absolute/path/to/vault"

Prefer obsidian-cli when available for vault-aware search and safe moves. Otherwise use the shell commands below.

Pick default vault:

obsidian-cli print-default --path-only

printenv OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH
cat "$HOME/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json"

• Read: sed -n '1,220p' "$VAULT/Folder/Note.md" This is a bounded first read. If the note is longer than 220 lines, say so and continue with a wider or full read instead of pretending you saw the whole file.
• List: rg --files "$VAULT" -g '*.md'
• Search: obsidian-cli search "keyword" obsidian-cli search-content "keyword" Shell fallback: rg --files "$VAULT" -g '*.md' | rg -i 'keyword' rg -n --glob '*.md' 'keyword' "$VAULT"
• Create: obsidian-cli create "Folder/New note" --content "# Title" Shell fallback: set -C && printf '# Title\n' > "$VAULT/Folder/New note.md"; set +C
• Append: printf '\nNew content\n' >> "$VAULT/Folder/Existing note.md"
• Move / rename: obsidian-cli move "Old Path/Note" "New Path/Note" Shell fallback: mv -n "$VAULT/Old Path/Note.md" "$VAULT/New Path/Note.md" If you move manually, search for and fix stale links before finishing.
• Delete: obsidian-cli delete "Path/Note" Shell fallback: rm "$VAULT/Path/Note.md"

Wikilinks:

• prefer [[Note Name]] when nearby notes use wikilinks
• match the vault's existing frontmatter, heading, tag, and link style
• search before creating to avoid duplicate notes
• read before write; do not delete or overwrite notes unless the user asked