Obsidian

Work with Obsidian vaults (plain Markdown notes) and automate via obsidian-cli. Search, create, move, and rename notes with link refactoring.

The Obsidian skill enables OpenClaw to work with Obsidian vaults — the popular Markdown-based knowledge management system. It wraps the obsidian-cli tool by Yakitrak (a community Go binary) for creating, searching, moving, renaming, and deleting notes, with automatic link refactoring when notes are reorganized. Obsidian's philosophy is 'your notes are plain Markdown files in a folder.' This makes it inherently AI-friendly — no proprietary format, no API dependency, just files on disk. The CLI extends this with vault-aware operations: it understands Obsidian's link syntax ([[wikilinks]] and standard Markdown links), so when you move or rename a note, all references across the vault update automatically. As of February 2026, Obsidian also released its own official CLI (v1.12+), which adds even more capabilities: vault-wide search, plugin management, theme control, and deep integration with Obsidian's core features. The OpenClaw skill supports both the community yakitrak CLI and the official Obsidian CLI, depending on what's installed. For OpenClaw users, the value proposition is clear: your AI assistant can maintain your knowledge base hands-free. 'Create a note about today's meeting under Projects/Acme' or 'Search my vault for anything about API design patterns' become simple operations. Combined with Obsidian's plugin ecosystem (Dataview, Templater, Tasks), the CLI provides the automation backbone. The community yakitrak CLI works without Obsidian running (it operates on raw files), while the official CLI requires Obsidian to be installed. Both are Go binaries installable via Homebrew. The yakitrak variant is more portable; the official CLI is more tightly integrated. Best suited for: Obsidian users who want AI-managed knowledge bases, developers building second-brain systems, anyone who prefers local Markdown files over cloud-based note apps, teams automating documentation workflows.

Tags: obsidian, notes, markdown, knowledge-base, productivity

Category: Productivity

Use Cases

  • Daily journal creation: cron creates a templated note each morning
  • Knowledge base search during conversations: find relevant notes on any topic
  • Meeting notes: create structured notes under the right project folder
  • Note organization: move and rename notes with automatic link updates
  • Documentation maintenance: AI updates docs based on code changes
  • Second brain management: AI captures insights and links them to related notes
  • Vault analytics: count notes, find orphaned links, identify gaps

Tips

  • Use the yakitrak CLI if you need to work without Obsidian running (CI/CD, servers)
  • Use the official Obsidian CLI (v1.12+) for deeper integration with Obsidian's features
  • Set your default vault in the CLI config to skip specifying it every time
  • Combine with OpenClaw cron for automated note creation (daily journals, standup templates)
  • Use fuzzy search to find notes quickly: `obsidian-cli search 'API design'`
  • When moving notes, the CLI automatically updates all [[wikilinks]] across the vault
  • Pair with git for version control of your vault — CLI changes are just file operations
  • Create symlinks from OpenClaw workspace files into your Obsidian vault for visibility

Known Issues & Gotchas

  • Two CLIs exist: yakitrak/obsidian-cli (community, works without Obsidian running) and official Obsidian CLI (v1.12+, requires Obsidian)
  • The community CLI (yakitrak) is what this skill originally targets — check which is installed
  • Official CLI requires Obsidian v1.12+ installed on the system
  • Link refactoring only works within the targeted vault — cross-vault links won't update
  • Vault path must be configured correctly — the CLI won't auto-discover vaults
  • Large vaults (10K+ notes) may have slower search performance with the community CLI
  • Obsidian plugins (Dataview, Tasks) don't execute via CLI — they're app-only features

Alternatives

  • Apple Notes (memo)
  • Bear Notes (grizzly)
  • Notion (API)
  • Logseq
  • Dendron (VS Code)

Community Feedback

I posted about the obsidian-cli I made 2 months ago and I got some really good feedback. You now have access to a lot more commands like moving, renaming and deleting notes and all of the links will be updated.

— Reddit r/ObsidianMD

Obsidian CLI is the new best way to automate your notes. Obsidian's CLI lets you automate repetitive manual tasks and perform vault-wide operations with ease.

— XDA Developers

Obsidian CLI + OpenClaw are a great combo if you want daily automation — two launchd plists: auto-cancel stale items at 6am, reindex at 6:05am. Total new code: one Python script (50 lines).

— Reddit r/ObsidianMD

OpenClaw needs a control panel. Obsidian CLI might just be it. Symlinks connect them into my Obsidian vault so I can see and edit all boards without leaving the app.

— CrowdTamers

Configuration Examples

Install community CLI (yakitrak)

# Install via Homebrew
brew install yakitrak/yakitrak/obsidian-cli

# Set default vault
obsidian-cli set-default /path/to/your/vault

# Verify
obsidian-cli search "test"

Common note operations

# Create a new note
obsidian-cli create "Projects/Acme/Meeting Notes 2026-03-21" --content "## Attendees\n- Alice\n- Bob"

# Search the vault
obsidian-cli search "API design patterns"

# Move with link refactoring
obsidian-cli move "old/path/note" "new/path/note"

# Open in Obsidian
obsidian-cli open "Projects/Acme/Overview"

Automated daily journal (cron)

# OpenClaw cron job config
{
  "schedule": { "kind": "cron", "expr": "0 7 * * *", "tz": "Asia/Calcutta" },
  "payload": { "kind": "agentTurn", "message": "Create today's daily note in Obsidian vault under Journal/YYYY-MM-DD" },
  "sessionTarget": "isolated"
}

Installation

brew install yakitrak/yakitrak/obsidian-cli

Homepage: https://help.obsidian.md

Source: bundled