ObsidianActions

ObsidianActions

Deprecated — The official Obsidian CLI (1.12+) replaces this functionality with property:set, rename, create. See /ObsidianCLI for the current reference. This skill remains for users on Obsidian < 1.12.

Reference for the Obsidian Actions URI plugin. Communicates with Obsidian via URL schemes (obsidian://actions-uri/...). Fire-and-forget — sends commands, no response to the shell.

Best for atomic writes that Obsidian processes internally (property updates, renames with backlink tracking). Falls back to safe-write / Write tool when unavailable.

Setup

1. Install: Obsidian Settings → Community Plugins → search "Actions URI"
2. Enable the plugin — no API key needed

Wrapper Script

Hooks/obsidian-uri.sh wraps common operations. The vault name defaults to Personal (override with OBSIDIAN_VAULT env var).

Set frontmatter properties

Hooks/obsidian-uri.sh props-set "vault/relative/path.md" '{"keywords": ["[[Security]]"], "related": ["[[Obsidian]]"]}'

Uses mode=update (merge) — existing properties are preserved, new ones are added/updated. Safe for append-only fields like keywords: and related:.

Remove frontmatter keys

Hooks/obsidian-uri.sh props-remove "vault/relative/path.md" '["obsolete_key", "deprecated_field"]'

Rename with backlink updates

Hooks/obsidian-uri.sh rename "old/path.md" "new/path.md"

Obsidian updates all [[wikilinks]] across the vault that pointed to the old name. This is the only way to rename with automatic backlink tracking — file-system mv breaks links.

Create a note

Hooks/obsidian-uri.sh create "path/to/note.md" "Optional initial content"

Open a note in Obsidian

Hooks/obsidian-uri.sh open "path/to/note.md"

Check note existence

Hooks/obsidian-uri.sh exists "path/to/note.md"

Warning: This is unreliable — open on macOS always returns exit 0 regardless of whether the note exists. Use the REST API GET /vault/{path} (200 vs 404) for reliable existence checks, or the Glob tool as fallback.

Raw URI Format

If the wrapper script is unavailable, construct URIs directly:

# URL-encode the path
FILE=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse,sys; print(urllib.parse.quote(sys.argv[1], safe=''))" "path/to/note.md")
VAULT="${OBSIDIAN_VAULT:-Personal}"

# Set properties
open "obsidian://actions-uri/note-properties/set?vault=${VAULT}&file=${FILE}&properties=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse,sys; print(urllib.parse.quote(sys.argv[1], safe=''))" '{"key":"value"}')&mode=update&silent=true"

# Rename
NEW=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse,sys; print(urllib.parse.quote(sys.argv[1], safe=''))" "new/path.md")
open "obsidian://actions-uri/note/rename?vault=${VAULT}&file=${FILE}&new-filename=${NEW}&silent=true"

When to Prefer Actions URI Over File I/O

Scenario	Why Actions URI wins
Setting frontmatter on AMBER files	Atomic update — no read-modify-write cycle, no Linter race
Renaming notes	Obsidian updates all backlinks vault-wide
Creating notes that need Linter formatting	Obsidian applies Linter rules on creation
Rapid successive property updates	Each props-set is independent — no stale-file conflicts

Detecting Availability

if [ -f "${FORGE_USER_ROOT}/.obsidian/plugins/actions-uri/main.js" ]; then
  echo "Actions URI available"
else
  echo "Actions URI unavailable — falling back to safe-write"
fi

Fallback

Actions URI operation	File-system fallback
props-set	safe-write edit (read → modify YAML → write)
props-remove	safe-write edit
rename	command mv + manual backlink updates (lossy)
create	Write tool or safe-write write
open	No equivalent

Constraints

• Fire-and-forget — no return value, no error feedback to the shell
• Requires Obsidian desktop app to be running
• exists command is unreliable (always exit 0) — use REST API instead
• mode=update merges properties — use mode=overwrite only when intentionally replacing all properties
• URL encoding is required for all path and property arguments
• Does not work in headless/CI environments