Obsidian Vault Management

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when...	Use the alternative instead when...
Listing every vault Obsidian knows about	Listing files inside the active vault — use `vault-files`
Targeting a non-active vault for one command	Switching the active vault permanently — `vault:open` (TUI only)
Reporting vault info (path, file count, size) for diagnostics	Reading a specific note — use `vault-files`

The CLI defaults to the active vault (the one currently focused in the Obsidian app), unless your terminal's working directory is itself inside a vault folder — in which case that vault wins. The vault= prefix overrides both, scoped to a single command invocation.

Prerequisites

Obsidian desktop 1.12.7+ installer with CLI enabled
Obsidian must be running

Vault Info

# Active vault overview
obsidian vault

# Specific fields only
obsidian vault info=name
obsidian vault info=path
obsidian vault info=files
obsidian vault info=folders
obsidian vault info=size

Enumerate Known Vaults

# All known vaults (name only)
obsidian vaults

# Include vault paths (verbose)
obsidian vaults verbose

# Just the count
obsidian vaults total

Target a Specific Vault

vault= is a global prefix — it must come before the command, not as a normal parameter:

# Run against a specific vault by name
obsidian vault=Notes daily
obsidian vault="My Vault" search query="meeting"

# By vault ID (from `obsidian vaults verbose` or settings)
obsidian vault=abc123def files

In the TUI, vault:open name=Notes switches the active vault for the rest of the session. Outside the TUI, prefer the vault= prefix per command.

Working-Directory Default

If the terminal is cd-ed into a vault folder, that vault is the default — no vault= needed:

cd ~/vaults/Work
obsidian search query="status::active"   # runs against ~/vaults/Work

This is convenient for shell scripts that live alongside a specific vault.

Common Patterns

"Diagnostic snapshot of every vault"

obsidian vaults verbose | while read -r line; do
  name=$(echo "$line" | awk '{print $1}')
  echo "=== $name ==="
  obsidian vault="$name" vault info=files
  obsidian vault="$name" vault info=size
done

"Search across one vault while a different one is active"

obsidian vault=Personal search query="trip ideas" format=json

"Confirm which vault a script will hit"

obsidian vault info=name
obsidian vault info=path

Agentic Optimizations

Context	Command
Active vault summary	`obsidian vault`
Active vault path only	`obsidian vault info=path`
Active vault file count	`obsidian vault info=files`
List vaults (verbose)	`obsidian vaults verbose`
Vault count	`obsidian vaults total`
Run command against a vault	`obsidian vault=NAME <command>`

Related Skills

vault-files — File operations within the active or targeted vault
publish-sync — Per-vault Obsidian Sync configuration and status
search-discovery — Search inside a (possibly vault=-prefixed) vault

vault-management