Obsidian CLI Automation

Overview

Automate Obsidian workflows with deterministic CLI commands. Use this skill to map natural-language requests into safe, repeatable

obsidian

command sequences with explicit verification.

When to Use

Use this skill when requests include any of the following intents:

Automate Obsidian workflows from terminal scripts
Batch create, update, move, rename, or delete notes
Operate daily notes, tasks, links, tags, aliases, properties
Query vault structure, search content, generate hygiene reports
Manage plugins, themes, snippets, tabs, workspace, bookmarks
Inspect or recover history and Obsidian Sync versions
Execute developer diagnostics commands such as
```
dev:*
```
or
```
eval
```

Quick Start

Confirm CLI availability:
bash
```
command -v obsidian
obsidian version
```
Discover vault names:
bash
```
obsidian vaults
```

Pin target vault and run a read-only probe:

bash

VAULT='My Vault'
obsidian vault="$VAULT" vault info=path
obsidian vault="$VAULT" files total

Execution Workflow

Discover command surface before automation.
- Run
```
obsidian --help
```
  .
- Run
```
scripts/collect_obsidian_help.sh
```
  for a complete snapshot.
Resolve targets with deterministic selectors.
- Prefer
```
path=
```
  over
```
file=
```
  when ambiguity exists.
- Use
```
vault=<name>
```
  on all non-trivial runs.
Execute read-first probes.
- Use
```
read
```
  ,
```
file
```
  ,
```
tasks
```
  ,
```
properties
```
  ,
```
search
```
  ,
```
sync:history
```
  before mutation.
Execute minimal mutation steps.
- Apply
```
append
```
  ,
```
prepend
```
  ,
```
create
```
  ,
```
property:set
```
  ,
```
task
```
  ,
```
move
```
  ,
```
rename
```
  in small steps.
Verify post-change state.
- Re-run read/query commands and compare expected vs actual output.

Command Families

Vault discovery and structure:
```
vaults
```
,
```
vault
```
,
```
folders
```
,
```
files
```
,
```
folder
```
,
```
file
```

Note lifecycle:

create

read

append

prepend

move

rename

delete

open

Daily workflow:

daily

daily:path

daily:read

daily:append

daily:prepend

Tasks and links:

tasks

task

links

backlinks

orphans

deadends

unresolved

Metadata:

tags

tag

aliases

properties

property:read

property:set

property:remove

Search and outline:
```
search
```
,
```
search:context
```
,
```
search:open
```
,
```
outline
```
Bases:
```
bases
```
,
```
base:views
```
,
```
base:query
```
,
```
base:create
```

UI/system controls:

tabs

tab:open

workspace

command

commands

reload

restart

Theme/snippet/plugin management:

themes

theme:*

snippets

snippet:*

plugins

plugin:*

plugins:restrict

Sync/history and recovery:
```
sync:*
```
,
```
history:*
```
,
```
diff
```

Developer diagnostics:

dev:*

devtools

eval

dev:console

dev:errors

dev:screenshot

High-Value Automation Patterns

Daily planning block

bash

VAULT='My Vault'
obsidian vault="$VAULT" daily:append content=$'## Plan\n- [ ] Top 1\n- [ ] Top 2\n'
obsidian vault="$VAULT" daily:read

Batch frontmatter update for a folder

bash

VAULT='My Vault'
obsidian vault="$VAULT" files folder='Projects' ext=md | while IFS= read -r p; do
  [ -z "$p" ] && continue
  obsidian vault="$VAULT" property:set path="$p" name=reviewed value=false type=checkbox
done

Vault hygiene snapshot

bash

VAULT='My Vault'
obsidian vault="$VAULT" unresolved total
obsidian vault="$VAULT" orphans total
obsidian vault="$VAULT" deadends total
obsidian vault="$VAULT" recents total

Sync inspection before restore

bash

VAULT='My Vault'
TARGET='Projects/Example.md'
obsidian vault="$VAULT" sync:history path="$TARGET"
obsidian vault="$VAULT" sync:read path="$TARGET" version=1

Safety Guardrails

Avoid destructive commands (

delete permanent

sync:restore

history:restore

theme:uninstall

plugin:uninstall

) without explicit confirmation.

Use mutation commands only after a read probe confirms target scope.
Split large automations into idempotent, restart-safe steps.
Log command output for rollback decisions when running bulk operations.

Bundled Resources

```
scripts/collect_obsidian_help.sh
```
: Dump top-level help, all command helps, and a markdown report.
```
references/automation-recipes.md
```
: Copy-paste automation recipes for recurring workflows.

references/obsidian-cli-full-help.md

: Full command traversal output for

obsidian

CLI.

Validation Checklist

Run target command(s) with explicit
```
vault=
```
and
```
path=
```
.
Run verification command(s) immediately after each mutation step.
Report changed files, properties, tasks, or sync versions with exact command evidence.

obsidian-cli-automation

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Obsidian CLI Automation

Overview

When to Use

Quick Start

Execution Workflow

Command Families

High-Value Automation Patterns

Daily planning block

Batch frontmatter update for a folder

Vault hygiene snapshot

Sync inspection before restore

Safety Guardrails

Bundled Resources

Validation Checklist