MCP server · Notes
Obsidian MCP server
by louis030195
Let your AI search, read, and update notes in your own Obsidian vault.
This is a small helper that connects your AI assistant to your Obsidian notes. Obsidian is a note-taking app that keeps your notes as plain files on your own computer. If you keep your notes there and want your AI to help you find and read them, this is for you.
What is an MCP server? The 30-second version
On its own, your AI can only chat with you. An MCP server is a small helper program that gives your AI a new skill or a connection to an app. This one connects your AI to your Obsidian vault, the folder of notes on your computer. Once it is set up, you can ask your AI about your notes and it can look them up for you.
What this MCP server does
You ask your AI a question about your notes, like finding everything you wrote about a topic. The AI sends that request to this helper program. The helper reads your Obsidian vault on your computer, either directly from the files or through Obsidian's own small web service. Then the AI shows you the matching notes and answers in the chat.
Click to zoomWhat you can do with it
- Search all your notes for a word or topic
- Find notes even when you misspell the search word
- Read a specific note and summarize it
- List your files and folders
- Show how your notes link to each other
- Run Dataview queries if you use that Obsidian plugin
- Find notes you created in a certain time period
Try asking your AI
- “Search my notes for machine learning”
- “Find all notes I created this week”
- “What meetings did I have last month?”
- “Show me orphaned notes”
What it gives back to you
You get answers in the chat, usually with the note titles and the text that matched. It can also give you lists of notes or files, or a short summary of a note you asked about. Everything shows up as normal chat text you can read and copy.
Before you start
What you need
- The Obsidian app installed on your computer with your notes in it
- Node.js installed (the free program that runs this helper)
- The Local REST API plugin inside Obsidian, turned on, if you want the full features
- The API key that plugin gives you (a kind of password for apps)
Good to know
It can read your private notes, and with the full setup it may also change them, so only connect it to a vault you are comfortable sharing with your AI.
Install it with your AI
Add Obsidian MCP server to your AI, no technical skills needed
You don't install anything by hand. You copy one prompt, paste it into an AI that can work on your computer, and it checks, installs and connects the server for you, asking you when it needs something.
Sign in to get the install prompt
Members get a ready-made prompt that lets the Claude desktop app check Obsidian MCP server, install it and connect it for them, step by step. You don't need any technical skills: you copy, paste and answer a few questions. Your connected AI can also find and install any of the 4,066 MCP servers here for you.
Who it's for
People who keep their notes in Obsidian and want their AI to help them search and read those notes.
