MCP server for Obsidian vaults that survives iCloud — reads, searches and writes notes without hanging on evicted files
Connect Obsidian to Claude, Cursor or any other MCP client and it stops being a tab you switch to. MCP server for Obsidian vaults that survives iCloud — reads, searches and writes notes without hanging on evicted files. The obsidian mcp server is what makes that connection.
obsidian-vault-mcp on npm is all you need. Most clients run it directly, so configuration is a few lines and a restart.
The toolset is worth reading before you wire it up, because it tells you what the integration is really for:
obsidian_list_notes — List Markdown notes, optionally under a subdirectoryobsidian_search_notes — Full-text search with path, line number and excerptobsidian_read_note — Read one noteobsidian_create_note — Create a note; refuses to overwriteobsidian_update_note — Atomic overwrite of an existing noteobsidian_vault_health — Materialized vs evicted counts, bytes pending, largest evicted notes — stat-only, never blocksobsidian_warm_notes — Opt-in background downloads for evicted notes, bounded per callConfiguration is passed through the environment: OBSIDIAN_VAULTS. Treat anything key-shaped as a real credential — scope it to the minimum the server needs, and rotate it if it ever lands in a shared config.
Among the planning and project tracking options, the useful question is rarely "what can it do" but "what does it cost you to run" — permissions, credentials, and how much of your context its toolset consumes. Obsidian's toolset — obsidian_list_notes, obsidian_search_notes, obsidian_read_note and 4 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by qebellavita; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.
SyncDev reviews every entry in this directory against the project's own documentation before publishing, and revisits them as servers change.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| obsidian_list_notes | List Markdown notes, optionally under a subdirectory |
| obsidian_search_notes | Full-text search with path, line number and excerpt |
| obsidian_read_note | Read one note |
| obsidian_create_note | Create a note; refuses to overwrite |
| obsidian_update_note | Atomic overwrite of an existing note |
| obsidian_vault_health | Materialized vs evicted counts, bytes pending, largest evicted notes — stat-only, never blocks |
| obsidian_warm_notes | Opt-in background downloads for evicted notes, bounded per call |
{
"mcpServers": {
"obsidian": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "obsidian-icloud-mcp"],
"env": {
"OBSIDIAN_VAULTS": "{\"Personal\":\"/Users/you/Documents/Notes\"}"
}
}
}
}Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| OBSIDIAN_VAULTS | Configuration value read at startup. | Optional |
Your workspace, on speaking terms with AI — search, read and write Notion pages and databases.
Issue tracking at the speed of conversation — Linear's official hosted server with OAuth and zero install.
Search and read your Drive — Docs, Sheets and files become context your assistant can actually use.
Your assistant inside the workspace — read channels, search history, post messages and tame the noise.
Metabase ships its own MCP endpoint — search your BI content, build and run queries, and save questions and dashboards without leaving the chat.
Stop letting your assistant hallucinate n8n node parameters — this server hands it the real schemas, templates and validation.