| FMRS | 60 / 100 · C | 84 / 100 · B | 79 / 100 · B |
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| Reliability | 10 / 20 | 17 / 20 | 12 / 20 |
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| Security and permissions | 11 / 20 | 16 / 20 | 18 / 20 |
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| Maintenance | 10 / 20 | 16 / 20 | 15 / 20 |
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| Documentation | 16 / 20 | 17 / 20 | 19 / 20 |
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| Setup experience | 13 / 20 | 18 / 20 | 15 / 20 |
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| Best for | - Obsidian users already running the Local REST API plugin.
- MCP client users who need structured note search and surgical editing.
- Deployments that need vault access restricted by read and write folder allowlists.
| - Local assistants that need to work inside explicitly approved directories
- Individuals and development teams that want path-based data boundaries
| - Serious Obsidian users who want AI agents reading and writing their vault
- Users wanting self-hosted, plugin-free operation with no external APIs
- Mobile/multi-device workflows accessing the vault remotely
- Security-conscious users (OAuth 2.1, atomic writes, container hardening)
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| Not for | - Environments without the Obsidian Local REST API plugin installed and enabled.
- Teams seeking a cloud-native multi-user database or collaboration platform.
- Situations where note write access or local API-key management is unacceptable.
| - Highly sensitive environments that cannot allow model access to local file contents
- Shared remote file-service use cases
| - Users unwilling to run Docker or self-host a server
- Non-Obsidian note tools (Notion, Logseq, etc.)
- Scenarios requiring only a stdio local process without an HTTP server
- Remote multi-device sync without an Obsidian Sync subscription (the remote image requires one)
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| Required permissions | - Requires OBSIDIAN_API_KEY to access the Obsidian Local REST API.
- By default, the full vault is accessible; OBSIDIAN_READ_PATHS and OBSIDIAN_WRITE_PATHS can restrict folders.
- All writes can be disabled globally with OBSIDIAN_READ_ONLY=true.
- HTTP deployments support none, jwt, or oauth authentication; JWT mode requires MCP_AUTH_SECRET_KEY.
| - Read access to every local directory listed in the configuration
- Filesystem write access when write or move tools are enabled
| - Read/write access to the Obsidian vault folder (bind mount /vault, rw)
- Persistent /data volume (search index, OAuth token DB, logs)
- MCP_AUTH_TOKEN as Bearer token (also the JWT signing key)
- Obsidian Sync token for headless sync in remote mode
- Local download of embedding/reranker models (~45MB total), no external API calls
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| Risks and side effects | - Write tools can modify or delete vault content; obsidian_delete_note permanently deletes notes.
- Command-palette commands may be destructive and are disabled by default.
- An unauthenticated public HTTP deployment may let callers use the server's API key to access the vault.
- The HTTPS plugin endpoint uses a self-signed certificate and TLS verification defaults to false.
- The tag list and obsidian://tags resource are vault-wide and may expose tag names outside the read scope.
| - Sensitive files inside an allowed directory may enter model context
- Write and move tools change real files; keep scopes narrow and maintain backups
| - The server can read and write personal notes — guard MCP_AUTH_TOKEN carefully; leaking it exposes the whole vault
- Writes to real note files; despite atomic writes and protected paths, misconfiguration can alter data
- OAuth token DB lives on the /data volume; container compromise could expose valid sessions
- Remote deployments expose a public port — set PUBLIC_URL and reverse proxy correctly
- The remote image bundles proprietary obsidian-headless (not MIT-licensed); requires an active Obsidian Sync subscription
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| Supported clients | Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code | Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, Windsurf | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, claude.ai, Cursor, OpenCode, MCP Inspector |
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| Tools | 14 | 6 | 30 |
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