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
S
Semantic Notes Vault MCP
Community
An MCP server that runs inside Obsidian, giving AI assistants direct read/write and graph access to your vault.
GitHub source repository ↗
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.
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.
Tools
vault
File operations: list, read, create, search, move, split, and combine notes (13 operations total).
edit
Content modification: window-based editing, appending content, and patching sections.
view
Content display: view files, edit windows, or the currently active note.
graph
Link navigation: traverse the graph, find paths, and analyze connections between notes.
workflow
Contextual hints: suggests next actions based on the current state.
dataview
Query notes: execute DQL (Dataview Query Language) queries, requires the Dataview plugin.
bases
Database views: query and export Obsidian Bases, if available.
system
Vault info: server status, available commands, and web content fetching.
Setup
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"}}}}}
Fit and risk
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
Troubleshooting
- Verify the Obsidian plugin is enabled and the HTTP (3001) / HTTPS (3443) ports are not blocked by a firewall or already in use
- Confirm the API key in the client configuration matches the one shown in the plugin's settings tab
- 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
- Re-trust the certificate after it regenerates (1-year validity)
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 DesktopFull support
Claude CodeFull support
ClinePartial support
Continue.devPartial support