Obsidian

Obsidian vault = a normal folder on disk.

Vault structure (typical)

• Notes:

  *.md

  (plain text Markdown; edit with any editor)
• Config:

  .obsidian/

  (workspace + plugin settings; usually don’t touch from scripts)
• Canvases:

  *.canvas

  (JSON)
• Attachments: whatever folder you chose in Obsidian settings (images/PDFs/etc.)

Find the active vault(s)

Obsidian desktop tracks vaults here (source of truth):

• ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json

notesmd-cli

resolves vaults from that file; vault name is typically the folder name (path suffix).

Fast “what vault is active / where are the notes?”

• If you’ve already set a default:

  notesmd-cli print-default --path-only

• Otherwise, read

  ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian/obsidian.json

  and use the vault entry with

  "open": true

  .

notesmd-cli quick start

Pick a default vault and open behavior (once):

• notesmd-cli set-default "<vault-folder-name>"

• notesmd-cli set-default --open-type editor

  (Sets default to use your terminal/GUI

  $EDITOR

  instead of opening the Obsidian app)

• notesmd-cli print-default

  /

  notesmd-cli print-default --path-only

Search

• notesmd-cli search

  (Interactive fuzzy search for notes; respects Obsidian's excluded files)

• notesmd-cli search-content "query"

  (Searches inside notes; shows snippets + lines)

Create

• notesmd-cli create "Folder/New note" --content "..."

• notesmd-cli create "New note" --open

  (Opens in Obsidian, or

  $EDITOR

  if

  --editor

  flag is passed)
• Note: Works directly on disk (headless supported); Obsidian does not need to be running. Reads

  .obsidian/app.json

  for default new file locations.

Daily Notes

• notesmd-cli daily

  (Creates or opens today's daily note directly on disk)
• Automatically reads your

  .obsidian/daily-notes.json

  for folder, format, and template configurations.

Frontmatter (YAML Metadata)

• notesmd-cli frontmatter "NoteName" --print

• notesmd-cli frontmatter "NoteName" --edit --key "status" --value "done"

• notesmd-cli frontmatter "NoteName" --delete --key "draft"

Move/rename (safe refactor)

• notesmd-cli move "old/path/note" "new/path/note"

• Updates

  [[wikilinks]]

  and common Markdown links across the vault (this is the main win vs standard

  mv

  ).

Delete

• notesmd-cli delete "path/note"

Prefer direct edits when appropriate: open the

.md

file in any editor (

notesmd-cli open "note" --editor

) and change it; Obsidian will automatically pick it up.