Kobsidian

What is Kobsidian?

Kobsidian is a filesystem-first MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Obsidian vaults, adding an LLM-Wiki layer inspired by Andrej Karpathy’s LLM Wiki idea. It provides 90 typed MCP tools for notes, links, tags, tasks, Dataview, Canvas, Kanban, Mermaid, Marp, and Templates — all validated with Zod. The server operates directly on the vault directory; Obsidian does not need to be running for over 80 of the tools. It is built for users who want to curate sources while an LLM handles bookkeeping, turning a vault into a compounding knowledge base.

How to use Kobsidian?

Install via npx -y kobsidian-mcp (or bunx for faster cold start), by dragging a .mcpb bundle into Claude Desktop, through Smithery, or from source. Configure three environment variables: OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH, OBSIDIAN_API_URL, and OBSIDIAN_REST_API_KEY (the latter only required for REST-bridged tools). A typical session starts with prompts like “Set up a wiki in this vault,” “Ingest this URL,” or “Audit the wiki,” using the wiki.* tool namespace.

Key features of Kobsidian

• Filesystem-first — works directly on the vault without Obsidian running
• 90 typed MCP tools with Zod validation and client‑safety hints
• LLM‑Wiki orchestration: ingest, index, lint, and cross‑reference pages
• Both stdio and Streamable HTTP transports with optional bearer auth
• Ships via npm, .mcpb bundles, Smithery, and the MCP Registry

Use cases of Kobsidian

• Personal research wiki — ingest papers, auto‑generate concept and entity stubs, maintain an index
• Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) — model ADRs as sources, patterns as concepts, services as entities
• Any knowledge‑base that benefits from automatic cross‑linking and linting via an LLM

FAQ from Kobsidian

What is the minimum setup needed to use Kobsidian?

Just an Obsidian vault path. No plugins are required for 80+ of the 90 tools (notes, tags, links, tasks, kanban, mermaid, marp, canvas, many dataview tools, template expansion/list/create, and the entire wiki.* namespace).

Which Obsidian plugins unlock the full tool surface?

The Obsidian Local REST API plugin is required for workspace., commands., live DQL queries (dataview.query*), and Templater runtime rendering. The Dataview, Templater, Marp, Kanban, and Tasks plugins enhance specific namespaces but are not required for the filesystem‑first tools.

Does Kobsidian require Obsidian to be running?

No. Kobsidian is filesystem‑first; it operates on the vault directory directly. REST‑bridged tools (workspace., commands., live DQL, Templater rendering) need the Local REST API plugin and its API key, but Obsidian itself does not need to be open for the majority of tools.

What transport methods does Kobsidian support?

It supports classic stdio for local MCP clients and Streamable HTTP (Hono) for remote access, with CORS preflight, MCP‑Protocol‑Version handling, origin 403, and optional bearer authentication — all per the 2025‑11‑25 MCP specification.

How can I install Kobsidian?