MCP tools

Tool	Cost	What it does
search	cheap	Full-text and, when on, meaning search over the index. Filters: folder, status, tag, kind, area, path_prefix, since, include_archive, include_superseded, limit.
context	cheap	The session-start bundle for a path and repo; format: "json" answers it as data.
backlog	cheap	The backlog by priority then age, filtered by area and priority.
list_files	cheap	Paths only.
whoami	cheap	The account a connection signs in as and whether it may write.
read_file	moderate	One note, prefixed with etag: <version>. A superseded note carries a warning callout.
lint	moderate	Reads every note and reports drift.
write_file	write	Validates against the schema and refuses the write if it does not hold. Stamps updated, fills date. expected_etag makes the write conditional; "*" creates a note that must not exist yet. Only .md notes outside dot-folders are written.
append_file	write	Appends and bumps updated; the note must exist and still satisfy the schema.
set_status	write	Changes a note's status, with priority and source for the backlog.
close	write	Finishes a note and moves it into the archive.
backlog_add	write	Files a backlog note.
log_append	write	One dated line in the repo log, with the commits and the branch.
move_file	write	Moves or renames a note; it must satisfy the schema at the destination.
delete_file	write	Deletes for good. Prefer close.
init	write	Sets up a vault without a schema: the schema of the preset it is given and the Bases views. On a vault with a schema it only writes the missing views.
obsidian_access	write	Server only. Mints the WebDAV password for Obsidian's Remotely Save and shows it once.

The init tool sets up only a vault without a schema, so an MCP client cannot change the rules that check its own writes.

A server also serves claim, release, snapshot, changelog, lint_and_park and view to a machine signed in with login, for the task, log and snapshot commands, changelog, lint --write --park-stale and the terminal output of the command line that run through it. Connectors and keys made on a vault's page never see them.

Over HTTP, a connection carries vault:read or vault:read vault:write. A write tool called on a read-only connection fails with an error saying so, rather than half-writing.

Lifecycle explains how close, set_status, backlog_add and log_append work together.