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Semantic Notes Vault MCP

Community
An MCP server that runs inside Obsidian, giving AI assistants direct read/write and graph access to your vault.
How to install ↓ Compare GitHub source repository ↗
Category
Filesystem #11 of 24
Stars
★ 466 Very popular
Transport
Streamable HTTP
Runtime
Prebuilt binary
Credentials
API key / credential required
License
MIT
Last commit
Tools
8
59FMRS · C

This server embeds MCP directly into an Obsidian plugin, offering permission-scoped vault access, editing, and knowledge-graph traversal over HTTP/HTTPS. It suits Obsidian users who want AI to understand note relationships deeply, but as a third-party plugin it puts key, certificate, and permission-scope management in the user's hands.

Strongest · Documentation 15/20 Weakest · Reliability 7/20

Reliability
7/20
Security and permissions
11/20
Maintenance
13/20
Documentation
15/20
Setup experience
13/20
Why each score
Reliability 7/20
The README claims 8 tools with 20+ sub-operations (e.g., the vault tool alone has 13 actions), but no cached manifest, test files, or CI workflow evidence is available to confirm the MCP init/tool-list handshake or that declared behavior matches actual behavior. Per the static calibration rule, reliability cannot exceed 12 without verifiable execution evidence; here only README prose exists with no source or tests to inspect, warranting a low score.
Security and permissions 11/20
Positive signals include a read-only mode, per-operation permission controls, path allow/block lists, API key auth, and an explicit warning against NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 (showing security awareness). Gaps remain: a plaintext HTTP port (3001) is available by default, the API key travels as a Bearer token, and there's no statement that the server binds only to localhost; the system tool includes 'web fetch' (external network access), and the edit/vault tools can move, delete, split, and combine files with no described confirmation step for destructive operations. No outright red-line violation, but least-privilege and confirmation coverage are incomplete.
Maintenance 13/20
The project is not archived, carries a clear MIT license, has 455 stars and 13 open issues, and is listed in the official Obsidian Community Plugin directory (implying some vetting). However, the README shows no release cadence, commit history, dependency-update practice, or dedicated security-response channel — none of this is verifiable from the provided material, so it reads as active but with governance details unconfirmed.
Documentation 15/20
Documentation is well-layered: quick start, three client onboarding paths, platform-specific self-signed certificate trust instructions, and links to dedicated docs for vault/edit/graph/dataview/security/configuration/troubleshooting. However, detailed parameters, limits, and cost information live in those linked external files, which were not available to verify in this review, leaving 'documentation exists but is unverified' uncertainty.
Setup experience 13/20
Three clear paths are offered (one-click .mcpb drag-install, a single Claude Code CLI command, and generic JSON config), with detailed platform-specific guidance on trusting the self-signed HTTPS certificate (notably the non-obvious Bun/macOS-keychain issue). Steps are specific but still manual, involving certificate trust and environment-variable propagation that can go wrong, and no executable evidence confirms real-world success, so per the static calibration rule setup cannot exceed 15.

Static review · not runListed 2026-08-26

Read the FMRS scoring method →

Fit and risk

What it can accessReads local filesWrites / deletes local filesUses the network

Best for

  • Users already managing a personal or team knowledge base in Obsidian
  • Scenarios where the AI needs to understand link structure between notes, not just isolated files
  • Users of Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or other local MCP clients

Not for

  • Users who don't use Obsidian
  • Setups requiring a cloud-hosted MCP service with no local server to run
  • Scenarios requiring official support from the Obsidian team (this is a third-party community plugin)

Required permissions

  • API key authentication (Bearer token) to access the local HTTP/HTTPS server port
  • Read, write, create, move, split, and combine permissions on vault files
  • Configurable to read-only mode, per-operation authorization, and path allow/block lists

Risks and side effects

  • In default (non-read-only) mode, the AI can modify, move, or merge notes in the vault; misuse could cause data loss or structural disruption
  • HTTPS relies on a self-signed certificate that must be trusted carefully — avoid globally disabling certificate verification via NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0
  • This is a third-party community plugin (not maintained by the Obsidian team), so updates and long-term support depend on the maintainer

Setup

Before you start

Runtime：Prebuilt binary

Other optional settings (1)
NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS optional Path to the plugin's self-signed certificate (.obsidian/plugins/semantic-vault-mcp/certificates/default.crt in your vault); required for Bun-based clients like Claude Code when connecting over HTTPS.

1) Install "Semantic Notes Vault MCP" from Obsidian's Settings → Community plugins (or via BRAT for beta builds). 2) Generate an API key and server URL from the plugin's Settings tab. For Claude Desktop, download the .mcpb bundle from the plugin's settings page or the latest GitHub release, drag it onto Claude Desktop, and paste the key; for Claude Code, run the ready-made claude mcp add --transport http command shown in the plugin's settings; for other clients (Cline, Continue.dev), add the provided JSON snippet (URL plus Bearer key) to the client's MCP config file. 3) For HTTPS, manually trust the plugin's auto-generated self-signed certificate (macOS Keychain, or set NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS — required for Bun-based runtimes like Claude Code).

claude_desktop_config.json 
{"mcpServers":{"obsidian-vault":{"transport":{"type":"http","url":"http://localhost:3001/mcp","headers":{"Authorization":"Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}}}}}

Shown for Claude Desktop. Other clients may use a different file or key (VS Code uses "servers") — the configurator below converts it.

.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "servers": {
    "obsidian-vault": {
      "transport": {
        "type": "http",
        "url": "http://localhost:3001/mcp",
        "headers": {
          "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Goes in your project's .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code uses a "servers" key).

Generate and validate client config

Check that it works

The 8 tools (vault, edit, view, graph, workflow, dataview, bases, system) should appear in the client's tool list; you can also ask "What notes are in my vault?" to confirm the connection.

Troubleshooting

  1. Verify the Obsidian plugin is enabled and the HTTP (3001) / HTTPS (3443) ports are not blocked by a firewall or already in use
  2. Confirm the API key in the client configuration matches the one shown in the plugin's settings tab
  3. For Bun-based clients like Claude Code, HTTPS failures usually require setting NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS to the plugin's certificate rather than relying on the system keychain
  4. Re-trust the certificate after it regenerates (1-year validity)

Things to try

Once connected, you can ask your AI assistant things like:

  • List all notes in my vault root
  • Search my notes for content matching tag:psychology
  • Find connections between my psychology and philosophy notes
  • Summarize my meeting notes from this week

Tools 8

vault writes
File operations: list, read, create, search, move, split, and combine notes (13 operations total).
edit writes
Content modification: window-based editing, appending content, and patching sections.
view read-only
Content display: view files, edit windows, or the currently active note.
graph read-only
Link navigation: traverse the graph, find paths, and analyze connections between notes.
workflow read-only
Contextual hints: suggests next actions based on the current state.
dataview read-only
Query notes: execute DQL (Dataview Query Language) queries, requires the Dataview plugin.
bases read-only
Database views: query and export Obsidian Bases, if available.
system read-only
Vault info: server status, available commands, and web content fetching.

Use cases

Have an AI assistant summarize, search, or synthesize information across multiple notes in a vault
Discover hidden connections between notes on different topics via graph traversal
Let an AI directly create, edit, or reorganize notes (split, combine, move)
Query and analyze structured note data via Dataview or Bases

Supported clients

Claude Desktop
Claude Code
ClinePartial support
ContinuePartial support

Listed from the project's documentation, not tested by this site.

Overview

Semantic Notes Vault MCP is a high-performance Model Context Protocol server that runs as an Obsidian plugin, exposing direct vault access to any MCP-compatible AI client over HTTP/HTTPS. The server is the plugin itself, so there is no separate Node process to launch or REST-API bridge plugin required. It provides 8 tool families covering dozens of operations: listing, reading, creating, searching, moving, splitting, and combining files; window-based content editing; graph traversal across links, tags, and backlinks; and optional Dataview query and Obsidian Bases integration. All operations are subject to user-configured permissions, including read-only mode, per-operation controls, and path allow/block lists.

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Source revision 945996ab98aa Data synced 2026-10-19 Read the FMRS scoring method