MCP Connector for Obsidian

MCP Connector lets AI applications like Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Continue, Windsurf, and VS Code securely access and work with your Obsidian vault through the Model Context Protocol. [^2]

Architecture

The plugin hosts the MCP server in-process inside Obsidian and exposes Streamable HTTP on 127.0.0.1:27200. No native binary ships from this repository, so there is no platform-specific executable to download and run from GitHub Releases.

HTTP-native MCP clients (Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Continue, Windsurf, VS Code) connect directly to the local HTTP endpoint.
Claude Desktop (which speaks only stdio MCP) connects through the official npx mcp-remote bridge, a two-line config the plugin generates for you. On Windows, where mcp-remote currently hangs on connect, a bundled POST-only Python bridge replaces it (see Troubleshooting).
Native semantic search runs entirely on-device via Transformers.js. No cloud, no Smart Connections requirement.
Everything runs through Obsidian's own APIs. Vault reads, writes, plain-text search, and Dataview queries all go through app.vault, app.metadataCache, and the Dataview plugin API in-process. No external HTTP service is required.

Features

Tip: all 51 tools are active by default. You can cut the per-session token cost with adaptive tool loading, which keeps a small core active and promotes the rest on demand.

When connected to an MCP-compatible client, this plugin enables:

Vault access: read, write, and patch notes through typed tools (get_vault_file, create_vault_file, patch_vault_file, rename_vault_file, rename_heading, list_vault_files, create_vault_directory, delete_vault_directory, and more) with native binary content for images and audio. Missing parent directories on a create or append path are auto-created. rename_vault_file preserves link integrity across the vault via app.fileManager.renameFile; rename_heading renames a heading in place and rewrites every wikilink, markdown link, and subheading-path reference pointing at it across the vault. get_vault_files reads up to 20 text/markdown files in a single call, one result per path, so a multi-note task no longer costs one round-trip per file. get_vault_file text output is capped at a configurable ceiling (Settings → MCP Connector, default 100 KB) — an oversized note comes back truncated with a hint to use get_vault_file_partial for a specific range instead of blowing the client's context window.
Note properties: get_note_property, set_note_property, delete_note_property, and list_property_values read and edit frontmatter fields directly, including listing every value a property takes across the whole vault.
Semantic search: search_vault_smart over an on-device embedding index, each result anchored to a 0-indexed line (null under Smart Connections, which doesn't expose one). While the index is still building (first use, or right after a provider switch), the tool returns a structured error with filesIndexed/filesTotal/percent and, once a build rate is known, an estimated retryAfterSeconds — a client that sends _meta.progressToken also gets a notifications/progress push on the same call. Four providers are available on demand: native MiniLM-L6-v2 (~25 MB, default), Gemma 300M (768d, recommended for non-Latin vaults), Multilingual-E5-Base (768d), and Smart Connections (if installed). Providers download once and swap live without a restart; the vault is re-indexed in the background while the previous provider keeps serving. A startup banner suggests the best provider based on your vault's character distribution. The index persists as 16 segments sharded by file path, so editing one note only rewrites that note's segment, not the whole index, keeping saves fast in large vaults.
Plain-text and structured search: search_vault_simple (text plus context windows, each hit anchored to a 0-indexed line) and search_vault (Dataview DQL or JsonLogic). execute_dataview_query runs Dataview DQL in-process via the plugin API and returns typed results (table, list, task, calendar). DQL needs the Dataview community plugin; the JsonLogic path needs nothing.
Periodic notes: get_or_create_daily_note, get_or_create_periodic_note (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly), and append_to_periodic_note. Each call auto-creates the note with your configured template if it does not exist yet. Works with both the native Daily Notes plugin and the Periodic Notes community plugin.
Vault graph and navigation: get_vault_file_partial (frontmatter field, heading section, block range, raw line range, or document outline, a context-efficient partial read), list_tags (all vault tags with usage counts), get_files_by_tag (hierarchical matching), get_recent_files (ordered by mtime), get_outgoing_links, get_backlinks, and show_file_in_obsidian (reveal a note in the Obsidian UI). get_vault_overview returns a one-call snapshot (active file, note count, top-level folder distribution, top tags, recent files), replacing the 3-5 separate calls a session otherwise needs just to get oriented.
Vault intelligence: find_broken_links (link targets that do not resolve, with source file and line number), find_orphaned_notes (notes with zero incoming resolved links), search_and_replace (regex find-and-replace across the vault or scoped paths, dry_run:"true" by default for a safe preview), get_note_outline (heading TOC with level, text, line number, and anchor slug), and list_bookmarks (the full native Obsidian bookmark hierarchy: files, folders, searches, headings, blocks, groups).
Canvas: get_canvas reads a .canvas file as structured nodes and edges, capping long text-node content with a textTruncated flag to bound token cost. add_canvas_node appends a text, file, or link node with automatic placement to the right of the existing layout, creating the canvas and parent folders if the path does not exist. connect_canvas_nodes draws an edge between two nodes by id. Writes preserve every existing field, including styling, so a canvas edited in Obsidian round-trips through a tool write with clean diffs.
Template execution: invoke Templater templates as MCP tool calls with dynamic parameters.
Prompt library: author MCP prompts as plain markdown files in your vault's Prompts/ folder. No plugins required, the in-process renderer handles everything. See Using prompts below.
Command execution (opt-in): authorize the agent to run specific Obsidian commands (e.g. editor:toggle-bold, graph:open) from a per-vault allowlist. Disabled by default; every invocation is audited. See Command execution below.
Web fetch: the fetch tool retrieves arbitrary URLs and returns Markdown via Turndown, with pagination for long pages.

Typed output on every tool. Each tool result carries a structuredContent object next to the text payload, so clients that support it (Claude Desktop, Claude Code) get a typed object without parsing a JSON string. The text stays byte-identical, so clients that read only text keep working unchanged. Every tool also declares MCP annotations (readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint), so a client can skip the confirmation prompt on read-only calls and gate it on destructive ones. List and scan tools take a limit (default 200, clamped to 1000) and flag truncated: true with a full total when a large vault would otherwise return an unbounded array.

48 vault tools in total, plus three always-on meta-tools (tool_catalog, activate_tool, activate_tools) that power adaptive tool loading, for 51 tools in all. Full list in the plugin's settings, Tools available section.

Adaptive tool loading

Every tool a server advertises costs context-window tokens on each session: the client downloads the full JSON schema of every active tool before the model says a word. With all 51 tools active that is roughly 10K tokens per session. Adaptive tool loading lets you cut that cost without losing access to any tool.

Profiles

Pick a profile in Settings, MCP Connector, Tool Loading:

Profile	Active tools	Best for
All (default)	All 48 tools + all three meta-tools	Maximum capability, no behavior change from earlier versions
Core	13 essential tools + `tool_catalog`	Minimum token cost, static surface that never changes mid-session
Adaptive	Core + frequency-promoted tools + all three meta-tools	Token savings that converge on your actual usage

The Core set covers the everyday operations: server info, active-file read/write/append, vault file read/create/list, both search tools, tags, note properties, and the daily note.

The three meta-tools

tool_catalog (always active, read-only): returns the full inventory of all tools with their status (active, inactive, promoted), call counts, and descriptions for inactive ones. The model always knows what exists and what is switched off, regardless of profile.
activate_tool (Adaptive and All profiles only): promotes an inactive tool by name. The tool becomes available immediately, no reconnect needed. By default the promotion lasts until the plugin reloads; pass persist: true to write it to the plugin data so it survives reloads. Every promotion shows an Obsidian notice (MCP Connector: "<tool>" promoted to active) so you always see when the model expands its own tool surface. In the Core profile this meta-tool is not exposed: Core means a fixed surface, and the model cannot grow it.
activate_tools (Adaptive and All profiles only): promotes several inactive tools in one call instead of one activate_tool call per tool, refreshing the client's tool list only once. Use it whenever a task needs more than one inactive tool at a time.

Frequency promotion

In Adaptive mode the plugin counts tool calls. When a non-core tool reaches 3 calls, it is promoted automatically and stays active on subsequent connects. The Tool Loading settings section lists the currently promoted tools, lets you remove any of them, and has a Reset button that clears counters and promotions while keeping your profile choice.

Typical flow in Adaptive mode

The model needs a tool that is not active (say find_broken_links).
It calls tool_catalog, sees the tool exists but is inactive.
It calls activate_tool with {"name": "find_broken_links"}, the tool is usable immediately and you see a notice in Obsidian.
If you use that tool often, frequency promotion makes it permanent without anyone asking.

Prerequisites

Required

Obsidian v1.7.2 or higher.
An MCP-compatible client. Examples: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Continue, Windsurf, VS Code.
For Claude Desktop only: Node.js (any LTS version), required to run the npx mcp-remote bridge. The plugin auto-detects your Node install (including Homebrew on macOS) and offers a one-click install if it is missing.

Optional

Templater: needed only for the execute_template tool. The prompt library works without it.
Dataview: needed only for DQL queries through search_vault and execute_dataview_query. The JsonLogic path in search_vault works without it.
Smart Connections: an alternative semantic-search backend. The native MiniLM provider works just as well; Smart Connections is only useful if you are already invested in its ecosystem.

Installation

MCP Connector is available in the Obsidian community plugin store and via BRAT. Use either.

Option A, Community plugin store

Settings, Community plugins, Browse, search "MCP Connector".
Install and enable. Obsidian shows a "This plugin has not been manually reviewed by Obsidian staff" notice; community plugins pass an automated build and security review, not a hand audit.
Open the plugin settings and use the Quick setup for clients section to wire up your MCP client.

Option B, BRAT

Prefer the latest build, or the store entry has not propagated to your client yet? Install via BRAT:

Install and enable the Obsidian42, BRAT plugin from the community store.
Settings, BRAT, Add Beta plugin, paste istefox/obsidian-mcp-connector.
BRAT installs the latest GitHub release; enable MCP Connector in Community plugins.
Jump to Quick setup for clients in the plugin settings.

That's it. No binary to install, no separate download. The MCP server starts as soon as you enable the plugin.

Quick setup for clients

The plugin settings expose three Copy config buttons, one per supported client family. Each button copies a ready-to-paste JSON snippet to the clipboard.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop only speaks stdio MCP. The recommended .mcpb extension bridges to the in-process server directly, with no external runtime dependency. The alternative manual JSON config instead reaches it through the official mcp-remote bridge (Anthropic-maintained, no third-party code in the auth path), which needs Node.js on your PATH.

Recommended: download the .mcpb extension

In the plugin settings, under Quick setup for clients, click Download .mcpb.
Drag the file onto Claude Desktop.
The extension installs with no prompt and shows a blue connector icon in Settings → Extensions.

The bundle embeds your current bearer token and port directly, so no copy-paste step is required. Do not share the file. The extension runs entirely on Claude Desktop's own bundled Node.js runtime, so no separate Node install or PATH configuration is needed for this flow.

If you rotate your token or change the server port, download a fresh .mcpb and drag it onto Claude Desktop to replace the existing extension.

Alternative: manual JSON config

For advanced users or when the .mcpb flow is not available. This path runs npx mcp-remote via your own Node install, so Node.js must be on your PATH; the plugin auto-detects it and offers a one-click Homebrew install if it is missing.

Click Claude Desktop under Copy config snippets. The snippet looks like:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcp-connector": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "http://127.0.0.1:27200/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Paste it into your claude_desktop_config.json (Claude Desktop, Settings, Developer, Edit Config).
Restart Claude Desktop.

Or tick Auto-write Claude Desktop config in the plugin settings. The plugin keeps the file in sync on token rotation, with a .backup written before each rewrite.

Windows note: use the POST-only bridge

On Windows, mcp-remote has a bug that makes Claude Desktop hang for 60 seconds on connect, then fail with "Could not attach to MCP server". This is not a plugin bug: the same hang shows up against unrelated MCP servers, and Claude Code over direct HTTP is fine. Until mcp-remote ships a fix (geelen/mcp-remote#296), Windows users should skip mcp-remote and run the bundled bridge instead.

scripts/obsidian_mcp_bridge.py is a small Python script, standard library only with nothing to install, that talks to the plugin over POST requests, so it never opens the stream that triggers the hang. Point claude_desktop_config.json at it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["C:\\Users\\you\\obsidian_mcp_bridge.py", "http://127.0.0.1:27200/mcp"],
      "env": { "OBSIDIAN_BEARER_TOKEN": "paste-your-token-here" }
    }
  }
}

Full setup, including how to grab the script and verify it works, is in docs/windows-post-only-bridge.md. macOS and Linux are not affected; use the standard mcp-remote config above.

Claude Code

Claude Code speaks HTTP transport natively. Click Copy config for Claude Code and paste into ~/.claude.json (project scope) or ~/.claude/settings.json (global scope):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcp-connector": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:27200/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or use claude mcp add from the CLI with the same fields.

Cursor / Cline / Continue / Windsurf / VS Code

Click Copy config for streamable-http clients. The snippet uses the generic streamable-http payload shape these clients accept; consult each client's own docs for the exact config-file location and any wrapping keys.

Verifying the setup

Once configured, your client should expose 51 MCP tools from this server (48 vault tools + 3 meta-tools, with the default All profile, fewer if you selected the Core or Adaptive tool loading profile), plus any prompts you have tagged with #mcp-tools-prompt in a Prompts/ folder at your vault root.

To verify the connection works end-to-end, ask the agent to call get_server_info. A successful response confirms the client can reach the in-process server and the bearer token is correct. For deeper inspection (request/response logs, tool schema inspection without an LLM in the loop), use @modelcontextprotocol/inspector:

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
# point it at http://127.0.0.1:27200/mcp with your bearer token

Using prompts

The plugin lets you author MCP prompts as plain markdown files in your vault. Your prompt library lives alongside your notes, in a folder called Prompts/ at the root of the vault. Every MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Continue) will surface these prompts in its own UI, typically as slash commands or attachments.

Requirements

A folder named exactly Prompts (capital P) at the root of your vault. That is it, no additional plugins required. The prompt renderer runs in-process inside the plugin.

If you use other Templater expressions in the prompt body (e.g. <% tp.date.now() %>), they are passed through verbatim; the MCP server does not evaluate them. Only <% tp.mcpTools.prompt(...) %> declarations and {{arg}} placeholders are processed.

Creating a prompt in 60 seconds

Create a new folder called Prompts at the root of your vault (if it does not exist already).
Create a new markdown note inside it, e.g. Prompts/weekly-review.md.

Add frontmatter with the mcp-tools-prompt tag and a short description:

---
tags:
  - mcp-tools-prompt
description: Summarize my recent daily notes on a given topic
---

Summarize my notes from the past **<% tp.mcpTools.prompt("days", "How many days back to look, e.g. 7") %>** days
about **<% tp.mcpTools.prompt("topic", "The subject, e.g. 'writing habits'") %>**.

Give me the three most recurring themes and one action item I should act on this week.

Save the file.
In your MCP client, refresh or reconnect to the server. The new prompt will appear, named after the filename (weekly-review.md), with two parameters: days and topic.
Invoke it from your client's UI (e.g. the attachment or slash-command menu in Claude Desktop), fill in the parameters, and the rendered text becomes the first message of a new conversation.

How parameters work

Parameters are declared anywhere in the prompt body using this syntax:

<% tp.mcpTools.prompt("parameter_name", "Description shown to the user") %>

This line is stripped from the rendered output, it is a declaration only. The actual value is injected wherever you write {{parameter_name}} in the body. You can use the same name multiple times; the client asks for it once and injects the value everywhere.

Summarize my notes about **{{topic}}** from the past {{days}} days.
Focus on how {{topic}} relates to my long-term goals.

Other ways to tag a prompt

Instead of frontmatter, you can drop an inline #mcp-tools-prompt hashtag anywhere in the body. Both forms are accepted by the server. Use whichever fits your note-taking style.

Where is the full reference?

This section covers the 90% case. For the complete contract (folder naming, frontmatter schema, parameter parsing rules, execution flow, known limitations), see docs/features/prompt-system.md.

Command execution

The agent can run Obsidian commands on your behalf, the same entries you see in the command palette, but only if you explicitly authorize them. This feature is disabled by default and has no effect until you turn it on.

How it works

Two MCP tools are always advertised to the client:

list_obsidian_commands: read-only discovery, always safe. Returns every command registered in the vault (core plus plugins), optionally filtered by a substring. Use this first to find the id of a command you want to allow.
execute_obsidian_command: gated. Every call is checked against your allowlist.
- If the command is on your allowlist, it runs immediately.
- If it is not on your allowlist (and the master toggle is ON), a confirmation modal pops up in Obsidian with three buttons: Deny, Allow once, Allow always. The HTTP call long-polls for up to 30 seconds waiting for your decision. "Allow always" adds the command to your allowlist so future calls skip the modal.
- If the master toggle is OFF, every call is denied immediately. No modal, no prompt.

On top of the allowlist and confirmation flow, execute_obsidian_command is rate-limited to 100 calls per minute (hard limit, server-side tumbling window) to protect the vault from runaway loops. The confirmation modal also surfaces a secondary soft warning at 30 calls/minute, visible to you as a red-bordered notice so you can abort a suspicious burst manually.

Destructive-command heuristic

If the command id or its human name contains a word commonly associated with data loss (delete, remove, uninstall, trash, clean/cleanup, purge, drop, reset, clear, wipe), the confirmation modal shows a red warning and disables the "Allow always" button. You can still run the command via "Allow once", but the heuristic nudges you to think twice before adding it to your persistent allowlist. This is intentionally a nudge, not a gate: plugin authors use words creatively, so the filter catches the obvious cases and lets everything else through.

Enabling it

Open Settings, Community plugins, MCP Connector, Command execution.
Tick Enable MCP command execution. Save.
From this point forward, whenever the agent invokes a command that is not on your allowlist, a modal will pop up asking for confirmation.
If you prefer to pre-authorize commands up front (rather than hit a modal on first call), you have three ways:
- Quick-add presets (fastest): expand Quick-add presets and click Add all next to Editing, Navigation, or Search. Each preset is a curated list of common, non-destructive built-ins; only commands that actually exist in your vault are added, and duplicates are skipped.
- Browse available commands: expand the browser, filter by id or name, and click Add next to each command you trust.
- Paste directly into the allowlist textarea, comma- or newline-separated. Either way, click Save to persist.

Advanced settings

Under the Advanced disclosure you can override the soft rate-limit warning threshold (default: 30 calls/minute). When the agent exceeds this rate, the confirmation modal surfaces a red banner so you can spot a runaway loop. The threshold is informational only; the in-process MCP server's hard limit of 100/minute is enforced server-side and is not configurable from the UI.

What gets logged

Every allow/deny decision is appended to a ring buffer of the last 50 invocations, visible under Recent invocations in the same settings section. The audit log includes the command id, the decision, the timestamp, and (for denied calls) the reason. The buffer is pruned automatically so data.json stays bounded.

You can export the current buffer as CSV via the Export CSV button at the top of the Recent invocations list. The download uses the fixed schema timestamp,commandId,decision,reason and is RFC 4180 quoted, so it opens cleanly in Excel, Numbers, LibreOffice, or any standard CSV reader.

Security model

Deny by default. The master toggle is off out of the box. An empty allowlist with the toggle on is still deny-all.
No wildcards. Allowlist entries must be exact command ids, there is no editor:* pattern.
No auto-discovery dumps. The agent must call list_obsidian_commands or the user must paste ids; the allowlist is never populated automatically.
Per-vault. The allowlist lives in each vault's plugin data.json. A different vault starts from zero.

Troubleshooting

Claude Desktop can't reach the server

Symptom: Claude Desktop logs show Failed to connect, ENOENT, or command not found.
Check: open the plugin settings, Quick setup for clients, the Node.js detection panel reports whether node and npx are reachable on the path Obsidian inherits when launched from Finder or Spotlight (a common gap on macOS for users who installed Node via Homebrew).
Fix: if the panel shows "Not found", click Install via Homebrew (macOS) or follow the platform-specific link to install Node manually. Restart Obsidian after installing.

"Server disconnected" or ECONNREFUSED in Claude Desktop

Symptom: Claude Desktop shows Server disconnected; its logs show ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:<port>.
Fix: fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q on macOS) and reopen it. Claude Desktop only re-reads claude_desktop_config.json at launch, so closing the window or an in-app restart is not enough. With auto-write on (the default) the plugin keeps the config in sync afterward.
Still failing? Confirm the port in claude_desktop_config.json (http://127.0.0.1:<port>/mcp) matches the port the plugin logs on start (Settings, Open Logs), and make sure only one Obsidian vault has the plugin enabled (two instances contend for the port). Then fully restart Claude Desktop again.

Claude Desktop extension (.mcpb) shows disconnected most of the time

Symptom: the installed Claude Desktop extension is disconnected, stuck, or "busy" on most connection attempts, with no clear error in Claude.
Cause (fixed in v0.26.0): before that version, the downloaded .mcpb baked the HTTP port and bearer token into manifest.json as a literal command, captured once at export. If the plugin later bound to a different port (no Fixed Port set, multiple vaults open) or the token changed, the installed extension kept using the stale values indefinitely.
Fix: update the plugin to v0.26.0 or later, then re-export the .mcpb from Settings, Quick setup for clients, Download .mcpb, and reinstall it in Claude Desktop once. From that version on, the bundle reads the live port and token from the vault at connect time, so it keeps working across a token rotation or a port change with no further re-export.

Claude Desktop hangs ~60s on Windows, then "Could not attach to MCP server"

Symptom: on Windows, the connection starts, the logs show the initialize request sent, then 60 seconds of silence and a timeout. Reproducible across restarts and across different MCP servers on the same machine.
Cause: a bug in the mcp-remote bridge on Windows, not in the plugin. The plugin answers an identical request in milliseconds over direct HTTP, and Claude Code is unaffected. Tracked upstream at geelen/mcp-remote#296.
Fix: replace mcp-remote with the POST-only bridge in scripts/obsidian_mcp_bridge.py, confirmed working on Windows. See docs/windows-post-only-bridge.md for setup, and the Windows note in Quick setup for clients.

Claude Desktop extension hangs ~60s on macOS with "Use Built-in Node.js for MCP" enabled

Symptom: the extension installs and shows as enabled, but every connection attempt sits silent for exactly 60 seconds, then Claude Desktop's logs show MCP error -32001: Request timed out. No response, not even the connector's own internal timeout error, ever reaches Claude Desktop first.
Cause: a bug in Claude Desktop's UtilityProcess sandbox, used when "Use Built-in Node.js for MCP" is on (Settings, Extensions). Not specific to this connector: korotovsky/slack-mcp-server#152 documents an identical failure signature for a different .mcpb extension under the same setting.
Fix: Claude Desktop, Settings, Extensions, disable Use Built-in Node.js for MCP, then fully quit (Cmd+Q) and reopen Claude Desktop. This makes Claude Desktop spawn the connector as a normal child process on system Node.js instead of the sandboxed one. The connector needs no npx or shell PATH resolution (fixed in v0.27.0), so any system Node.js install works.

`tool/call` returns HTTP 401

The bearer token in your client config does not match the plugin's current token. Open the plugin settings, Bearer token, click Show to reveal the current token and Copy to copy it. Update your client config and restart the client.

Native semantic search downloads slowly on first call

Expected. The first search_vault_smart call (when provider="native", or "auto" without Smart Connections) downloads ~25 MB from HuggingFace. The model is cached in the browser Cache API; subsequent reloads are instant.
A non-fatal warning Unable to determine content-length from response headers may appear in DevTools console during the first download; onnxruntime-web recovers via an expandable buffer and search results are unaffected.

General logs

Open the plugin settings, Open Logs under Resources, or look at Obsidian's developer console (Cmd+Opt+I / Ctrl+Shift+I).

Security

No binary shipped

This plugin does not ship a platform-specific binary. The MCP server runs in-process inside Obsidian's Electron renderer. Removing the binary closes the supply-chain attack surface that comes with auto-downloading and executing a signed-but-pre-built executable from GitHub Releases.

Local-only HTTP

The MCP server listens on 127.0.0.1:27200. The bind address is hardcoded to loopback; no external network exposure. Bearer-token authentication is required on every request; the token is generated per install and can be rotated from the plugin settings.

Bearer token

Generated locally on first plugin load, stored in the plugin's data.json (per-vault).
Visible in the plugin settings, Bearer token, Show (hidden by default).
Rotate invalidates the in-process transport and restarts it immediately, so the new token takes effect on the next request. Update your client configs after rotating.

Plugin runtime

All vault access goes through Obsidian's app.vault and app.workspace APIs, so Obsidian's permission model applies.
Command execution is opt-in with a per-vault allowlist; see Command execution.

Reporting Security Issues

Please report security vulnerabilities via our security policy. Do not report security vulnerabilities in public issues.

Development

This project uses a Bun monorepo with a feature-based architecture. For the full architecture contract see docs/project-architecture.md.

Workspace

packages/
├── obsidian-plugin/   # The plugin: in-process MCP server, registered tools, settings UI, transport
├── shared/            # Shared ArkType schemas and types
└── test-site/         # SvelteKit harness (dev-only, not shipped)

Building

bun install                    # Install workspace dependencies
bun run check                  # Type-check every package
bun run dev                    # Watch all packages
bun run build                  # Production build

The plugin's main.js is written at the package root (packages/obsidian-plugin/main.js); Obsidian expects that path. Do not move it.

Requirements

Bun latest (pinned via mise.toml)
TypeScript 5+

Contributing

Before contributing, please read our Contributing Guidelines including our community standards and behavioral expectations.

Fork the repository.
Create a feature branch from main.
Make your changes; keep PRs scoped.
Run tests:
```
bun test
```
Submit a pull request.

We welcome genuine contributions but maintain strict community standards. Be respectful and constructive in all interactions.

Support

Open an issue for bug reports and feature requests.
GitHub issues are the right channel for help with MCP Connector.

Please read our Contributing Guidelines before posting. We maintain high community standards and have zero tolerance for toxic behavior.

Changelog

See GitHub Releases and CHANGELOG.md for the detailed changelog.

Other MCP servers by istefox

istefox-dt-mcp: MCP server for DEVONthink 4 (macOS). Six outcome-oriented tools, preview-then-apply with audit log and selective undo, optional local RAG (ChromaDB plus sentence-transformers), .mcpb bundle for Claude Desktop. Privacy-first, local-only. Listed on Glama. MIT.

License

MIT License.

Footnotes

[^2]: For more information about the Model Context Protocol, see MCP Introduction.

Obsidian MCP Connector

README

MCP Connector for Obsidian

Architecture

Features

Adaptive tool loading

Profiles

The three meta-tools

Frequency promotion

Typical flow in Adaptive mode

Prerequisites

Required

Optional

Installation

Option A, Community plugin store

Option B, BRAT

Quick setup for clients

Claude Desktop

Claude Code

Cursor / Cline / Continue / Windsurf / VS Code

Verifying the setup

Using prompts

Requirements

Creating a prompt in 60 seconds

How parameters work

Other ways to tag a prompt

Where is the full reference?

Command execution

How it works

Destructive-command heuristic

Enabling it

Advanced settings

What gets logged

Security model

Troubleshooting

Claude Desktop can't reach the server

"Server disconnected" or ECONNREFUSED in Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop extension (.mcpb) shows disconnected most of the time

Claude Desktop hangs ~60s on Windows, then "Could not attach to MCP server"

Claude Desktop extension hangs ~60s on macOS with "Use Built-in Node.js for MCP" enabled

tool/call returns HTTP 401

Native semantic search downloads slowly on first call

General logs

Security

No binary shipped

Local-only HTTP

Bearer token

Plugin runtime

Reporting Security Issues

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Other MCP servers by istefox

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`tool/call` returns HTTP 401