Obsidian REST API Skill for Claude
Call the Obsidian Local REST API directly (over HTTP) for vault operations the mcp__obsidian__* tools do NOT expose — move/rename a note, overwrite a whole file atomically (PUT), act on the currently-open active file, run an Obsidian command, open a note in the UI, list all tags, or do date-specific periodic-note CRUD. Prefer the mcp__obsidian__* tools for plain read/append/patch/delete/search; fall back to this skill only when the required method is missing from MCP.
Install
one command, takes just this skill from the repositorynpx skills add https://github.com/davepoon/buildwithclaude --skill obsidian-rest-apiWhat comes with it
9 811 bytes besides the instructionThe instruction itself
7 sections, as written by the authorObsidian Local REST API
The connected obsidian MCP server exposes only a subset of the Obsidian
(plugin obsidian-local-rest-api). This skill provides the full API surface plus
an authenticated request wrapper, so a missing MCP method is called over HTTP
instead of being worked around with hacks (e.g. delete+recreate to rename a note).
When to Use This Skill
Use the mcp__obsidian__* tools first for read, append, patch, delete, and search.
Fall back to this skill only for operations that have no MCP tool:
- Move / rename a note (preserves history, updates internal links)
- Overwrite a whole file atomically (PUT) instead of delete+recreate
- Act on the currently-open "active" file in the Obsidian UI
- Run an Obsidian command from the command palette
- Open / focus a note in the UI
- List all vault tags with counts
- Create/update/delete date-specific periodic notes
What This Skill Does
- Resolves the API host, port, and key from the connected obsidian MCP server
config (~/.claude.json) or OBSIDIAN_* env vars — no hardcoded secrets.
- Handles the plugin's self-signed TLS certificate.
- Exposes every endpoint of the Local REST API (see
references/api_reference.md),
with the header enums (Operation, Target-Type, Target-Scope), the custom
MOVE contract, and the search (JsonLogic/Dataview) formats.
How to Use
Call the wrapper scripts/olrapi.sh <METHOD> <path> [curl args...]:
S=scripts/olrapi.sh # adjust to the skill's install path
# rename/move a note (the most common reason to reach for this skill)
"$S" MOVE "/vault/Path/To/Old Name.md" -H 'Destination: Path/To/New Name.md'
# move into a folder, keeping the filename (trailing slash on Destination)
"$S" MOVE "/vault/Inbox/todo.md" -H 'Destination: Archive/'
# atomically overwrite a whole note
"$S" PUT "/vault/Path/Note.md" -H 'Content-Type: text/markdown' --data-binary @/tmp/body.md
# read a note as structured JSON (frontmatter + tags + stat)
"$S" GET "/vault/Path/Note.md" -H 'Accept: application/vnd.olrapi.note+json'
# list tags, run a command, open a note in the UI
"$S" GET /tags/
"$S" POST "/commands/editor:toggle-bold/"
"$S" POST "/open/Path/Note.md?newLeaf=true"
The wrapper prints <<HTTP nnn>> after the body. Success: 200/204.
On MOVE, 409 means the destination exists — add -H 'Allow-Overwrite: true' to force.
For non-trivial calls, load references/api_reference.md.
Path & encoding rules
{filename}is vault-relative (no leading slash on the vault path).- Percent-encode non-ASCII in URL paths and in the
MOVEDestinationheader
(e.g. r%C3%A9sum%C3%A9.md). Destination rejects absolute (/…) paths.
- Target a sub-part of a note with
Target-Type(heading|block|frontmatter)
+ Target headers on GET/PATCH/POST.
Example
User: "Rename 3-Resources/Draft.md to 3-Resources/Final.md in my vault."
Output:
scripts/olrapi.sh MOVE "/vault/3-Resources/Draft.md" \
-H 'Destination: 3-Resources/Final.md'
# <<HTTP 204>> — moved, history preserved, internal links updated
Tips
- Regenerate the reference against the live plugin if it was updated:
scripts/olrapi.sh GET /openapi.yaml. GET / shows the plugin version.
- Prefer
PUTover delete+recreate for whole-file overwrites — it is atomic and
keeps the file's identity.
- The API serves HTTPS on port 27124 (self-signed →
curl -k) and HTTP on 27123.
Other skills for the same job
different authors, same section of the catalogue
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Comprehensive PDF manipulation toolkit for extracting text and tables, creating new PDFs, merging/splitting documents, and handling forms. When Claude needs to fill in a PDF form or programmatically process, generate, or analyze PDF documents at scale.
Presentation creation, editing, and analysis. When Claude needs to work with presentations (.pptx files) for: (1) Creating new presentations, (2) Modifying or editing content, (3) Working with layouts, (4) Adding comments or speaker notes, or any other presentation tasks
Create beautiful visual art in .png and .pdf documents using design philosophy. You should use this skill when the user asks to create a poster, piece of art, design, or other static piece. Create original visual designs, never copying existing artists' work to avoid copyright violations.
Use this skill whenever the user wants to do anything with PDF files. This includes reading or extracting text/tables from PDFs, combining or merging multiple PDFs into one, splitting PDFs apart, rotating pages, adding watermarks, creating new PDFs, filling PDF forms, encrypting/decrypting PDFs, extracting images, and OCR on scanned PDFs to make them searchable. If the user mentions a .pdf file or asks to produce one, use this skill.
Use this skill whenever the user wants to create, read, edit, or manipulate Word documents (.docx files). Triggers include: any mention of 'Word doc', 'word document', '.docx', or requests to produce professional documents with formatting like tables of contents, headings, page numbers, or letterheads. Also use when extracting or reorganizing content from .docx files, inserting or replacing images in documents, performing find-and-replace in Word files, working with tracked changes or comments, or converting content into a polished Word document. If the user asks for a 'report', 'memo', 'letter', 'template', or similar deliverable as a Word or .docx file, use this skill. Do NOT use for PDFs, spreadsheets, Google Docs, or general coding tasks unrelated to document generation.
Use this skill any time a .pptx file is involved in any way — as input, output, or both. This includes: creating slide decks, pitch decks, or presentations; reading, parsing, or extracting text from any .pptx file (even if the extracted content will be used elsewhere, like in an email or summary); editing, modifying, or updating existing presentations; combining or splitting slide files; working with templates, layouts, speaker notes, or comments. Trigger whenever the user mentions \"deck,\" \"slides,\" \"presentation,\" or references a .pptx filename, regardless of what they plan to do with the content afterward. If a .pptx file needs to be opened, created, or touched, use this skill.
Create and edit Obsidian Flavored Markdown with wikilinks, embeds, callouts, properties, and other Obsidian-specific syntax. Use when working with .md files in Obsidian, or when the user mentions wikilinks, callouts, frontmatter, tags, embeds, or Obsidian notes.
How to use it
Take davepoon/obsidian-rest-api from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.