Obsidian Brain

io.github.sweir1/obsidian-brain · v1.7.24

Obsidian MCP server: semantic search, knowledge graph, and vault editing. No plugin required.

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Terminal

claude mcp add obsidian-brain -e VAULT_PATH=<VAULT_PATH> -e DATA_DIR=<DATA_DIR> -e EMBEDDING_PRESET=<EMBEDDING_PRESET> -e EMBEDDING_MODEL=<EMBEDDING_MODEL> -e EMBEDDING_PROVIDER=<EMBEDDING_PROVIDER> -e OLLAMA_BASE_URL=<OLLAMA_BASE_URL> -e OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_DIM=<OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_DIM> -e OLLAMA_NUM_CTX=<OLLAMA_NUM_CTX> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_AUTO_PULL=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_AUTO_PULL> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_BYOM_AUTO_PULL=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_BYOM_AUTO_PULL> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_CATCHUP=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_CATCHUP> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_COMMUNITY_DEBOUNCE_MS=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_COMMUNITY_DEBOUNCE_MS> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_MAX_CHUNK_TOKENS=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_MAX_CHUNK_TOKENS> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_CONFIG_DIR=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_CONFIG_DIR> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_DEBUG=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_DEBUG> -e OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_LOG_FORMAT=<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_LOG_FORMAT> -- npx -y [email protected]

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-brain": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "[email protected]"
      ],
      "env": {
        "VAULT_PATH": "<VAULT_PATH>",
        "DATA_DIR": "<DATA_DIR>",
        "EMBEDDING_PRESET": "<EMBEDDING_PRESET>",
        "EMBEDDING_MODEL": "<EMBEDDING_MODEL>",
        "EMBEDDING_PROVIDER": "<EMBEDDING_PROVIDER>",
        "OLLAMA_BASE_URL": "<OLLAMA_BASE_URL>",
        "OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_DIM": "<OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_DIM>",
        "OLLAMA_NUM_CTX": "<OLLAMA_NUM_CTX>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_AUTO_PULL": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_AUTO_PULL>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_BYOM_AUTO_PULL": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_BYOM_AUTO_PULL>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_CATCHUP": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_CATCHUP>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_COMMUNITY_DEBOUNCE_MS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_COMMUNITY_DEBOUNCE_MS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_MAX_CHUNK_TOKENS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_MAX_CHUNK_TOKENS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_CONFIG_DIR": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_CONFIG_DIR>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_DEBUG": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_DEBUG>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_LOG_FORMAT": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_LOG_FORMAT>"
      }
    }
  }
}

~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-brain": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "[email protected]"
      ],
      "env": {
        "VAULT_PATH": "<VAULT_PATH>",
        "DATA_DIR": "<DATA_DIR>",
        "EMBEDDING_PRESET": "<EMBEDDING_PRESET>",
        "EMBEDDING_MODEL": "<EMBEDDING_MODEL>",
        "EMBEDDING_PROVIDER": "<EMBEDDING_PROVIDER>",
        "OLLAMA_BASE_URL": "<OLLAMA_BASE_URL>",
        "OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_DIM": "<OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_DIM>",
        "OLLAMA_NUM_CTX": "<OLLAMA_NUM_CTX>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_AUTO_PULL": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_AUTO_PULL>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_BYOM_AUTO_PULL": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_BYOM_AUTO_PULL>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_CATCHUP": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_CATCHUP>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_COMMUNITY_DEBOUNCE_MS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_COMMUNITY_DEBOUNCE_MS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_MAX_CHUNK_TOKENS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_MAX_CHUNK_TOKENS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_CONFIG_DIR": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_CONFIG_DIR>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_DEBUG": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_DEBUG>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_LOG_FORMAT": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_LOG_FORMAT>"
      }
    }
  }
}

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "obsidian-brain": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "[email protected]"
      ],
      "env": {
        "VAULT_PATH": "<VAULT_PATH>",
        "DATA_DIR": "<DATA_DIR>",
        "EMBEDDING_PRESET": "<EMBEDDING_PRESET>",
        "EMBEDDING_MODEL": "<EMBEDDING_MODEL>",
        "EMBEDDING_PROVIDER": "<EMBEDDING_PROVIDER>",
        "OLLAMA_BASE_URL": "<OLLAMA_BASE_URL>",
        "OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_DIM": "<OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_DIM>",
        "OLLAMA_NUM_CTX": "<OLLAMA_NUM_CTX>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_AUTO_PULL": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_AUTO_PULL>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_BYOM_AUTO_PULL": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_BYOM_AUTO_PULL>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_CATCHUP": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_CATCHUP>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_COMMUNITY_DEBOUNCE_MS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_COMMUNITY_DEBOUNCE_MS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_MAX_CHUNK_TOKENS": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_MAX_CHUNK_TOKENS>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_CONFIG_DIR": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_CONFIG_DIR>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_DEBUG": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_DEBUG>",
        "OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_LOG_FORMAT": "<OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_LOG_FORMAT>"
      }
    }
  }
}

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
`VAULT_PATH` Required	Absolute path to your Obsidian vault (or any folder of .md files).
`DATA_DIR` Optional	Where to store the SQLite index + embedding cache. Defaults to $XDG_DATA_HOME/obsidian-brain or ~/.local/share/obsidian-brain.
`EMBEDDING_PRESET` Optional	Preset name: english (default, bge-small-en-v1.5), english-fast, english-quality, multilingual, multilingual-quality, multilingual-ollama. Ignored when EMBEDDING_MODEL is set.
`EMBEDDING_MODEL` Optional	Power-user override: any transformers.js checkpoint or Ollama model id. Takes precedence over EMBEDDING_PRESET. Switching auto-reindexes.
`EMBEDDING_PROVIDER` Optional	Embedding backend. 'transformers' (local, default) or 'ollama' (requires a running Ollama server).
`OLLAMA_BASE_URL` Optional	Base URL of a local Ollama server. Only used when EMBEDDING_PROVIDER=ollama.
`OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_DIM` Optional	Override the embedding dimensionality when EMBEDDING_PROVIDER=ollama. If unset, the server probes the model on startup.
`OLLAMA_NUM_CTX` Optional	Override Ollama's num_ctx for embed requests. Leave UNSET to let obsidian-brain auto-detect via `/api/show`'s `context_length` (e.g. nomic-embed-text=2048, bge-m3=8192, qwen3-embedding:0.6b=32 768). Setting this manually imposes a hard cap and may silently truncate longer inputs — see https://githu…
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_AUTO_PULL` Optional	Auto-pull the configured Ollama model when /api/show returns 404 (model not present). Default ON — choosing an Ollama-backed preset is implicit consent to download its model. Streams /api/pull progress to stderr. Set to '0' to disable auto-pull entirely (master kill-switch) and fall back to the act…
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_OLLAMA_BYOM_AUTO_PULL` Optional	Opt-in to auto-pull for BYOM (custom EMBEDDING_MODEL) Ollama models OUTSIDE Ollama's official `library/` namespace. Default OFF — third-party models (e.g. `user/custom-fork`, `myregistry.com/team/model`) require this env var to be set to `1` before they will auto-pull, to prevent silent downloads o…
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH` Optional	Set to '1' to disable the live chokidar file watcher. Useful on SMB/NFS vaults where FSEvents/inotify don't fire reliably — fall back to running `obsidian-brain index` on a schedule (launchd/systemd).
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_CATCHUP` Optional	Set to '1' to skip the startup catchup reindex pass that picks up edits made while the server was down. The live file watcher still starts (via OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_NO_WATCH=1 to disable that separately), and first-time indexing on an empty DB is unaffected — this knob only governs the post-restart `enqu…
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS` Optional	Per-file reindex debounce for the live watcher, in milliseconds.
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_COMMUNITY_DEBOUNCE_MS` Optional	Graph-wide community-detection (Louvain) debounce for the live watcher, in milliseconds. Louvain is the only expensive op — batching it prevents per-edit CPU spikes.
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS` Optional	Per-tool-call timeout in milliseconds. Tools exceeding this return an MCP error instead of hanging.
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_MAX_CHUNK_TOKENS` Optional	Override the adaptive chunk-size budget (in tokens). When set, this beats the capacity probed from the model's tokenizer or Ollama /api/show. Use for debugging or for models with stale tokenizer configs.
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_CONFIG_DIR` Optional	Override the per-user config directory where obsidian-brain stores model overrides (`model-overrides.json`) and the user-fetched seed (`seed-models.json`). Default is `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/obsidian-brain` on macOS/Linux (or `~/.config/obsidian-brain`) and `%APPDATA%/obsidian-brain` on Windows. Both fil…
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_DEBUG` Optional	Set to "1" to print a verbose synchronous startup trace to stderr — every preflight, createContext, server.connect, and shutdown step is logged with a monotonic timestamp. The LAST line before any silent failure tells you exactly which step the server reached. No-op when unset (no overhead). Use to…
`OBSIDIAN_BRAIN_LOG_FORMAT` Optional	Set to 'ndjson' for one-JSON-object-per-line stderr output (timestamp + level + message + structured fields). Default is human-readable plain text (`obsidian-brain: <message>`). Useful for piping logs into aggregators (Datadog, Loki, Vector, journald) that index structured fields.

Details

Package	`[email protected]` (NPM, stdio)
First published	16 May 2026
Last updated	16 May 2026
Registry name	`io.github.sweir1/obsidian-brain`

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