Obsidian Semantic Search

io.github.DalecB/obsidian-semantic-mcp · v0.2.1

Read-only semantic search MCP server for Obsidian vaults using local Ollama embeddings.

Source code Set it up

Connect Runs on your machine

Terminal

claude mcp add obsidian-semantic-mcp -e OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT=<OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT> -e OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_MCP_HOME=<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_MCP_HOME> -e OBSIDIAN_EMBED_MODEL=<OBSIDIAN_EMBED_MODEL> -e OLLAMA_BASE_URL=<OLLAMA_BASE_URL> -e OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_STARTUP_INDEX=<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_STARTUP_INDEX> -e OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_ALLOW_SENSITIVE=<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_ALLOW_SENSITIVE> -e OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_EXCLUDE=<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_EXCLUDE> -e OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_SENSITIVE_PATHS=<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_SENSITIVE_PATHS> -- npx -y @dalecb/[email protected]

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-semantic-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@dalecb/[email protected]"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT": "<OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_MCP_HOME": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_MCP_HOME>",
        "OBSIDIAN_EMBED_MODEL": "<OBSIDIAN_EMBED_MODEL>",
        "OLLAMA_BASE_URL": "<OLLAMA_BASE_URL>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_STARTUP_INDEX": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_STARTUP_INDEX>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_ALLOW_SENSITIVE": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_ALLOW_SENSITIVE>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_EXCLUDE": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_EXCLUDE>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_SENSITIVE_PATHS": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_SENSITIVE_PATHS>"
      }
    }
  }
}

~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-semantic-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@dalecb/[email protected]"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT": "<OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_MCP_HOME": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_MCP_HOME>",
        "OBSIDIAN_EMBED_MODEL": "<OBSIDIAN_EMBED_MODEL>",
        "OLLAMA_BASE_URL": "<OLLAMA_BASE_URL>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_STARTUP_INDEX": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_STARTUP_INDEX>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_ALLOW_SENSITIVE": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_ALLOW_SENSITIVE>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_EXCLUDE": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_EXCLUDE>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_SENSITIVE_PATHS": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_SENSITIVE_PATHS>"
      }
    }
  }
}

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "obsidian-semantic-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@dalecb/[email protected]"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT": "<OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_MCP_HOME": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_MCP_HOME>",
        "OBSIDIAN_EMBED_MODEL": "<OBSIDIAN_EMBED_MODEL>",
        "OLLAMA_BASE_URL": "<OLLAMA_BASE_URL>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_STARTUP_INDEX": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_STARTUP_INDEX>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_ALLOW_SENSITIVE": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_ALLOW_SENSITIVE>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_EXCLUDE": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_EXCLUDE>",
        "OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_SENSITIVE_PATHS": "<OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_SENSITIVE_PATHS>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace the values in angle brackets with your own. Keys stay on your machine; we never see them.

Tools

This server runs locally, so its tools are listed by your MCP client once it starts.

Environment variables

Name	Description
`OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT` Required	Absolute path to the local Obsidian vault.
`OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_MCP_HOME` Optional	Directory for the external SQLite index, logs, and cache.
`OBSIDIAN_EMBED_MODEL` Optional	Ollama embedding model name. Defaults to bge-m3.
`OLLAMA_BASE_URL` Optional	Ollama API base URL. Defaults to http://localhost:11434.
`OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_STARTUP_INDEX` Optional	Set to true to run incremental indexing when the server starts.
`OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_ALLOW_SENSITIVE` Optional	Set to true to allow include_sensitive tool calls.
`OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_EXCLUDE` Optional	Comma- or newline-separated folders to always exclude from indexing, search, and read.
`OBSIDIAN_SEMANTIC_SENSITIVE_PATHS` Optional	Comma- or newline-separated folders treated as sensitive (blocked unless unlocked). Defaults to 08_PersonalInfo/.

Details

Package	`@dalecb/[email protected]` (NPM, stdio)
First published	3 Jun 2026
Last updated	3 Jun 2026
Registry name	`io.github.DalecB/obsidian-semantic-mcp`

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Local install

Installed and run on your own machine, so there is no public endpoint to check.

Pair it with live search

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