MCP Tools for Obsidian

Features | Installation | Configuration | Troubleshooting | Security | Development | Support

⚠️ Project Archived

I'm grateful to all the users who have downloaded this plugin over the past year. Watching the Obsidian store install count climb to 87k has been fun! I never expected it to become the #1 MCP-related Obsidian plugin.

This project was originally a labor of love for my partner, who was using Obsidian and wanted to chat with her notes. We're not using Obsidian currently, so I have decided to step aside to allow plugin developers who have a vested interest in the Obsidian ecosystem to gain users.

There are at least five alternatives published to the Obsidian Community Plugins store, with many more MCP-related beta plugins available through BRAT. I'm not going to make recommendations for a specific plugin; I'll leave that to the user's discretion.

MCP Tools for Obsidian enables AI applications like Claude Desktop to securely access and work with your Obsidian vault through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). MCP is an open protocol that standardizes how AI applications can interact with external data sources and tools while maintaining security and user control. [^2]

This plugin consists of two parts:

1. An Obsidian plugin that adds MCP capabilities to your vault
2. A local MCP server that handles communication with AI applications

When you install this plugin, it will help you set up both components. The MCP server acts as a secure bridge between your vault and AI applications like Claude Desktop. This means AI assistants can read your notes, execute templates, and perform semantic searches - but only when you allow it and only through the server's secure API. The server never gives AI applications direct access to your vault files. [^3]

Privacy Note: When using Claude Desktop with this plugin, your conversations with Claude are not used to train Anthropic's models by default. [^1]

Features

When connected to an MCP client like Claude Desktop, this plugin enables:

• Vault Access: Allows AI assistants to read and reference your notes while maintaining your vault's security [^4]
• Semantic Search: AI assistants can search your vault based on meaning and context, not just keywords [^5]
• Template Integration: Execute Obsidian templates through AI interactions, with dynamic parameters and content generation [^6]

All features require an MCP-compatible client like Claude Desktop, as this plugin provides the server component that enables these integrations. The plugin does not modify Obsidian's functionality directly - instead, it creates a secure bridge that allows AI applications to work with your vault in powerful ways.

Prerequisites

Required

• Obsidian v1.7.7 or higher
• Claude Desktop installed and configured
• Local REST API plugin installed and configured with an API key

Recommended

• Templater plugin for enhanced template functionality
• Smart Connections plugin for semantic search capabilities

Installation

[!Important]
This plugin requires a secure server component that runs locally on your computer. The server is distributed as a signed executable, with its complete source code available in packages/mcp-server/. For details about our security measures and code signing process, see the Security section.

1. Install the plugin from Obsidian's Community Plugins
2. Enable the plugin in Obsidian settings
3. Open the plugin settings
4. Click "Install Server" to download and configure the MCP server

Clicking the install button will:

• Download the appropriate MCP server binary for your platform
• Configure Claude Desktop to use the server
• Set up necessary permissions and paths

Installation Locations

• Server Binary: {vault}/.obsidian/plugins/obsidian-mcp-tools/bin/
• Log Files:
  • macOS: ~/Library/Logs/obsidian-mcp-tools
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\obsidian-mcp-tools\logs
  • Linux: ~/.local/share/obsidian-mcp-tools/logs

Configuration

After clicking the "Install Server" button in the plugin settings, the plugin will automatically:

1. Download the appropriate MCP server binary
2. Use your Local REST API plugin's API key
3. Configure Clau