obsidian-vault-mcp

MCP server to query an Obsidian vault via its REST API. List, search and read notes, tags, and images — directly from any MCP-compatible AI client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.).

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 18
• A running instance of vault-api with a valid Bearer token

Installation

Via npx (recommended)

No installation needed. Configure your MCP client directly (see below).

Global install

npm install -g arakei-obsidian-mcp

Configuration

Environment variables

| Variable | Required | Description | | :---------------- | :------- | :------------------------------------------- | | VAULT_API_URL | Yes | Base URL of the Vault API (e.g. http://vault-api.arakei.net) | | VAULT_API_TOKEN | Yes | Bearer token for authentication |

Claude Desktop

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-vault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "arakei-obsidian-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VAULT_API_URL": "http://vault-api.arakei.net",
        "VAULT_API_TOKEN": "your_bearer_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add the following to your Cursor MCP settings:

{
  "obsidian-vault": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "arakei-obsidian-mcp"],
    "env": {
      "VAULT_API_URL": "http://vault-api.arakei.net",
      "VAULT_API_TOKEN": "your_bearer_token_here"
    }
  }
}

Available tools

| Tool | Description | | :----------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | list_notes | List all indexed notes, with optional filtering by tag or modification date | | get_note | Get the full content of a note by its path | | search | Full-text search across notes and image descriptions | | list_tags | List all tags with their occurrence count | | list_images | List all indexed images with their auto-generated descriptions | | get_index_status | Get the current index state (last run, note/image counts, in progress) | | refresh_index | Trigger a manual reindex (incremental by default, full if refresh_all) |

Local development

git clone <repo>
cd arakei-obsidian-mcp
npm install
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your values
npm run dev

npm run build   # Compile TypeScript
npm start       # Run compiled server

Logs

Logs are written to:

• Windows: C:\var\log\obsidian-vault-mcp\server.log
• Linux/macOS: /var/log/obsidian-vault-mcp/server.log