Vault as MCP

This Obsidian plugin runs an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server directly inside Obsidian, letting external LLM tools access your vault. Supports HTTP transport natively (Open WebUI, remote LLMs). An optional bridge script provides a bridge from HTTP to stdio (Claude Desktop).

Important Notes

• Network Use: This plugin runs a local HTTP server on your machine to accept inbound MCP connections. It does not send your vault data to external LLM services by itself.
• Privacy: This plugin lets you control vault access through Obsidian APIs and path ACLs instead of giving external tools direct filesystem access.
• Desktop Only: This plugin requires a desktop environment and will not work on mobile devices.

Features

• HTTP-based MCP server: Runs a Fastify server implementing the MCP protocol
• Status Bar Indicator: Shows server status (stopped/running/error) with click-to-toggle functionality
• Configurable Settings: Adjust server port, auto-start behavior, logging, and path ACLs to control access to areas of your vault
• CORS Support: Enables access from remote machines via Tailscale or local network
• MCP Tools: Read, search, list, create, edit, rename, and delete notes; templates and periodic notes — see MCP Tools Reference

Installation

Community Plugins

1. Open Settings → Community Plugins
2. Click "Browse" and search for "Vault as MCP"
3. Install and enable the plugin

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release from GitHub
2. Extract the files to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/vault-as-mcp/ directory
3. Reload Obsidian
4. Enable "Vault as MCP" in Settings → Community Plugins

Install with BRAT

Assuming you have the BRAT plugin installed and enabled:

1. Open BRAT plugin settings
2. Click 'Add beta plugin'
3. Use https://github.com/ebullient/obsidian-vault-mcp as the URL, select the latest version and install
4. Enable "Vault as MCP", either as part of installing via BRAT, or in Settings → Community Plugins

Usage

Starting the Server

The plugin provides three ways to control the server:

1. Status Bar: Click the status indicator in the bottom-right to toggle the server on/off
2. Commands: Use the command palette to:
   • Start MCP server
   • Stop MCP server
   • Restart MCP server
3. Auto-start: Enable in settings to automatically start the server when Obsidian loads

Configuration

Open Settings → Vault as MCP:

• Server Port: Port number for the MCP server (default: 8765)
• Bearer Token: Optional authentication token for secure access
• Auto-start Server: Automatically start when Obsidian loads
• Debug: Enable debug messages

Authentication

Bearer token authentication is optional but recommended for security, especially when accessing your vault over a network.

To enable authentication:

1. Open Settings → Vault as MCP
2. Click "Generate" to create a secure random token (or enter your own)
3. Copy the token for use in client configuration
4. Save settings and restart the server if it's running

To disable authentication:

1. Open Settings → Vault as MCP
2. Click "Clear" to remove the token
3. Save settings and restart the server if it's running

Connecting from Open WebUI

In Open WebUI's MCP configuration, add a new server: http://localhost:8765/mcp

If Open WebUI is running on a remote machine (e.g., via Tailscale): http://<your-machine-ip>:8765/mcp

With authentication enabled, add the bearer token from your MCP server configuration in Open WebUI using the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer <your-token-here>

Connecting with Claude Code

claude mcp add -t http -s local Obsidian http://localhost:8765/mcp -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

Notes:

• Make sure your port matches what you've configured in plugin settings
• Enable authentication and use the bearer token from plugin settings

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop uses stdio transport for MCP servers, so you'll need the mcp-bridge.js script to bridge stdio to HTTP.

Requirements:

• Node.js 18+ (for native fetch support)
• "Vault as MCP" plugin enabled with the server running in Obsidian

Setup a stdio bridge (alternative to http):

1. Download mcp-bridge.js from the latest GitHub release and save it somewhere accessible (e.g., ~/.obsidian/scripts/mcp-bridge.js). Source is in the bridge branch.

2. Find your Claude Desktop config file:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
   • Linux: ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json

3. Add the MCP server configuration:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "obsidian-vault": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-bridge.js"],
         "env": {
           "VAULT_MCP_URL": "http://localhost:8765/mcp"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

   With authentication enabled, add the VAULT_MCP_TOKEN environment variable:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "obsidian-vault": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-bridge.js"],
         "env": {
           "VAULT_MCP_URL": "http://localhost:8765/mcp",
           "VAULT_MCP_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

4. Important: Replace /absolute/path/to/mcp-bridge.js with the actual path where you saved the bridge script

5. Restart Claude Desktop

Testing:

• The bridge logs to stderr, so you can see its activity in Claude Desktop's logs
• In Claude, you should see the vault's MCP tools available
• Try asking Claude to "read my note at path Daily Notes/today.md"

Troubleshooting:

• Verify the plugin server is running (check Obsidian status bar)
• Check the path to mcp-bridge.js is correct and absolute
• Ensure Node.js 18+ is installed: node --version
• Look for bridge errors in Claude Desktop's logs

MCP Tools Reference

Tool names, parameters, and behavior are defined in src/vaultasmcp-Tools.ts and served live via the MCP tools/list endpoint — that's the source of truth for exact parameter names, types, and descriptions. The summary below is for orientation only.

• read_note — Read a note's content by path; optionally filtered to one heading, windowed by file-relative lines, or metadata-only (links/embeds/outline/frontmatter, no content)
• read_multiple_notes — Read several notes in one request (max 25)
• search_notes — Find notes by folder, tag(s), frontmatter, modification time, or text content
• list_notes — List notes and subfolders in a directory (non-recursive)
• create_note — Create a note or binary file, optionally from a template
• append_to_note — Append content to a note, at the end or after a heading
• update_note — Replace a note's entire content
• patch_note — Replace an exact string in a note using old_text and new_text; prefer over update_note for surgical edits. Matching is exact, so use enough surrounding context to make old_text unique, and pass literal quote characters directly rather than over-escaping them. When exact text appears multiple times, optional lineOffset can pick the nearest 0-based file line.
• delete_note — Move a note to the system trash
• rename_note — Rename or move a note, rewriting links that point to it
• read_periodic_note — Get the path (and content, if it exists) for a periodic note
• list_templates — List available Templater templates

Development

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, build commands, and architecture details. AI assistants should also review CLAUDE.md for working guidelines.

License

MIT

Author

ebullient