NotesMD CLI
CLI for managing Obsidian vaults from the terminal without Obsidian running
Description
NotesMD CLI (formerly Obsidian CLI Community) is a Go-based command-line tool for interacting with Obsidian vaults directly from the terminal. It works without requiring the Obsidian application to be running, making it ideal for scripting, automation, and terminal-centric workflows. Supports creating, opening, searching, moving, renaming, and deleting notes, as well as daily note management with templates, fuzzy search, content search, and YAML frontmatter editing.
Install
brew install yakitrak/yakitrak/notesmd-cliAI Summary
A CLI for managing Obsidian vaults without Obsidian running — create, search, move, rename, and delete notes, manage daily notes, and edit frontmatter from the terminal.
Capabilities
- + Create, open, move, rename, and delete notes in Obsidian vaults
- + Daily note creation with template support
- + Fuzzy search across note titles
- + Content search within notes
- + YAML frontmatter viewing and editing
- + Automatic link updating when renaming notes
- + Open notes in configurable editor (vim, VS Code, nano, etc.)
- + Works without Obsidian running
Use When
- → You manage an Obsidian vault and want CLI access
- → You need to script or automate note creation in Obsidian
- → You want to create daily notes from the terminal
- → You need to search Obsidian notes without opening the app
- → You want to edit note frontmatter from the command line
Avoid When
- x You don't use Obsidian vaults
- x You need graph view or plugin features that require Obsidian running
- x You need rich text editing or live preview
Usage Patterns
Create a new note
notesmd note create my-noteCreates a new note called my-note in the default vault
Open today's daily note
notesmd dailyCreates or opens today's daily note using configured template
Search notes by title
notesmd search my-queryFuzzy searches note titles in the vault
Edit frontmatter
notesmd frontmatter set my-note tags 'cli,automation'Sets the tags field in the note's YAML frontmatter
Input / Output
0 Success 1 Error Typical Pipelines
notesmd search query | fzf | xargs notesmd note open