How do I install Obsidian Turbocharged?

Copy the stdio config for Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or VS Code on this page. It uses the publisher's install, not a PlugMCP proxy.

Does Obsidian Turbocharged need an API key?

The publisher lists these environment variables: OBSIDIAN_TC_CONFIG, OBSIDIAN_TC_DEFAULT_VAULT.

What transport does Obsidian Turbocharged use?

Obsidian Turbocharged runs locally over stdio.

When was Obsidian Turbocharged last checked?

Last checked 2026-11-10. Governed Obsidian vault access: hybrid retrieval, Markdown-native memory, HITL confirmations.

Obsidian Turbocharged MCP server

Power your agent

Add this server

The publisher's own command. Not a PlugMCP endpoint.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code Run on PlugMCP

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Local command

npx -y [email protected]

Credentials from the publisher

OBSIDIAN_TC_CONFIG — Absolute path to the obsidian-tc JSON config (vaults, ACL, transports). May also be passed as the first CLI argument.
OBSIDIAN_TC_DEFAULT_VAULT — Optional id of the vault to bind tool calls to when a request omits one.

Claude Code has no install link for a local command. Copy the command below and run it in a terminal.

shClaude Code

1OBSIDIAN_TC_CONFIG=<value> OBSIDIAN_TC_DEFAULT_VAULT=<value> claude mcp add io.github.the-40-thieves-obsidian-tc -- npx -y obsidian-tc@1.34.0

Run in a terminal.

jsonClaude Desktop

1{2  "mcpServers": {3    "io.github.the-40-thieves-obsidian-tc": {4      "command": "npx",5      "args": [6        "-y",7        "[email protected]"8      ],9      "env": {10        "OBSIDIAN_TC_CONFIG": "<value>",11        "OBSIDIAN_TC_DEFAULT_VAULT": "<value>"12      }13    }14  }15}

claude_desktop_config.json

Local · npmPublisher installStep-by-step: add this in Claude

Remote URL or a command on your machine? How the two installs differ

Run on PlugMCP

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

A new server you create. It is not this listing's official endpoint. Use the publisher install when you want their URL and their credentials.

Launch

Server facts

Local

Transport: stdio
Version: 1.34.0

Tools

No tool list yet. Remote servers get one after the first health check.

FAQ

Questions

obsidian-tc

obsidian-tc quickstart demo

Obsidian Turbocharged — governed, agent-ready vault access over MCP.

What it is

obsidian-tc is a governed, agent-ready Model Context Protocol server for Obsidian vaults, for humans and agents alike. Instead of raw filesystem access to years of notes, every tool call runs through one pipeline — auth, folder ACLs, a read-only kill switch, HITL confirmation on destructive ops, and an audit log. It also adds fused retrieval (full-text, vector, graph) and a memory tier — episodes, decay, forgetting — living inside your vault under that same ACL. A full tool surface across every domain (all visible by default; a smaller set with opt-in profile: "core"), via a 3-tool discovery facade plus the standard search/fetch pair, listed in the tool catalog. Pitch: docs/WHY.md.

60-second start

No install:

npx obsidian-tc /path/to/vault

Every note tool and lexical search work immediately. Semantic search defaults to a bundled embedder — see When NOT to use for which install methods it reaches.

For multi-vault, auth, or ACLs, use a config file:

npm install -g obsidian-tc
obsidian-tc ./obsidian-tc.config.json   # Node >= 24 or Bun >= 1.1

Also ships as a Docker image, .mcpb bundle, and standalone binaries. More: docs/QUICKSTART.md.

When NOT to use obsidian-tc

Honest guidance — this is a heavier product than most:

Smallest possible footprint, read-only access, or no MCP at all. A single trusted human over one vault, a read-only wrapper, or the Obsidian URI/Local REST API plugin may be all you need — see the full comparison.
Zero setup, source checkouts only. The vault is read off disk; semantic search defaults to a bundled offline embedder; npm/Docker need an explicit provider until published — see Embeddings.
Zero-config trades away auth/ACLs. obsidian-tc /path/to/vault boots with auth off, no folder ACL — fine only because it's local-only; governance is opt-in. Detail: SECURITY.md.
AGPL-3.0's network-copyleft terms. Not permissive; a commercial license may exist — see License.
Single-maintainer project.
Everything inside Obsidian, or vault-independent memory. See the comparison above.

Migrating from another MCP server: docs/CUTOVER.md.

How it compares

Most Obsidian MCP projects are vault-access servers, retrieval engines, or memory engines, rarely more than one. obsidian-tc is the only one we know of that is all three, with memory living in the vault under the same ACL as every other write. Full 9-project table and "where the others win".

	Tools	Group	What it's for
obsidian-tc	full surface (3-tool facade)	all three	governed access + retrieval + in-vault memory
obsidian-local-rest-api	18	access	Obsidian's own built-in MCP server; one bearer key, no ACL
basic-memory	~35	memory	entities/relations in a separate, portable markdown KB

TC Bridge · Status · Architecture · The interface · Claude Code / Cursor / VS Code · Docs · Trademark · License · Contributing

TC Bridge: the companion Obsidian plugin

If you arrived here from Obsidian's plugin browser: the TC Bridge listing points here because the plugin lives in this repo, but it's a small optional bridge, not the server described above. It extends Local REST API with endpoints for Obsidian-only features (Templater, Dataview, Tasks, Excalidraw, Git, Remotely Save). Every filesystem-level feature works without it.

Install Local REST API first; TC Bridge reuses its bearer-token auth, desktop-only. The server is installed separately (60-second start); reaching the bridges needs restApiUrl/restApiKey in the vault config (step 6). That key is a vault root password — read the trust boundary first.
Formerly "Obsidian Turbocharged." Settings migrate on first load — details in packages/plugin/README.md.

Status

Shipped — v1.33.1, published to npm as provenance-signed packages, container image on GHCR. Milestones: Roadmap; releases: CHANGELOG.md.

Retrieval changes are measured, not asserted: a statistical ship rule gates every ranking change against a private golden set. Headline figures once on this README were withdrawn 2026-08-07 as unreproducible — full account and a public-corpus result since: docs/EVALUATION.md.

Architecture

Polyglot monorepo:

Package	Language	Purpose
`packages/server`	TypeScript (Bun)	MCP layer, auth, routing, tools, plugin bridges
`packages/plugin`	TypeScript	Companion Obsidian plugin extending Local REST API
`packages/shared`	TypeScript	Shared Zod schemas and types
`packages/native`	Rust (napi-rs)	Optional acceleration, pure-JS fallback

Dispatch-pipeline and package-layout detail: ARCHITECTURE.md.

Every capability is a governed tool with declared access scopes. Read tools (read_note, search_vault, get_backlinks, ...) never mutate the vault. Write tools cover whole-note and partial edits: write_note, append_note, patch_note (heading- and block-anchored edits), update_frontmatter, tag and link maintenance. Separate scope classes gate delete and move (delete_note, move_note), bulk operations (bulk_set_property), execute (execute_command) and admin (add_vault, reload_vault). The complete, always-current list, grouped by access scope and generated from the tool registry, is the tool catalog.

The interface: five tools, every governed capability

By default the server advertises just five tools instead of a wall of 164: three meta-tools, find_capability, describe_capability, call_capability (invoke by name, same pipeline as a direct call), plus the standard search and fetch tools ChatGPT deep research needs. toolFacade.mode selects triad (default), domain or flat (a superseded auto also exists) — boundary-only, no gate bypassed. Per-client advice: MCP clients.

Install in Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code

Claude Code plugin (launches npx -y obsidian-tc, asks for your config file path on enable):

claude plugin marketplace add The-40-Thieves/obsidian-tc
claude plugin install obsidian-tc@the-40-thieves

Grok Build and Muse Code (1.4.0+) read the same marketplace; details in Installation.

Add to Cursor Install in VS Code Insiders

Or by hand — Cursor (mcpServers) / VS Code (servers), same object: {"command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "obsidian-tc"], "env": {"OBSIDIAN_TC_CONFIG": "/ABS/config.json"}}. A .mcpb bundle (bun run bundle) also installs into Claude Desktop / other MCPB hosts. For claude.ai and ChatGPT (remote HTTP), see distribution.

Docs

docs/QUICKSTART.md — install to first governed write, ~5 min
docs/WHY.md / SECURITY.md — threat model, governance
docs/CUTOVER.md — migrating from another Obsidian MCP server
docs/EVALUATION.md — how retrieval changes are measured
ARCHITECTURE.md — dispatch pipeline, package layout
Docs site: https://obsidian-tc.the40thieves.io (full comparison under Getting Started)

Trademark

obsidian-tc is independent and community-built, not affiliated with or endorsed by Obsidian or its maker, Dynalist Inc. "Obsidian" is a Dynalist Inc. trademark, used only nominatively. Official app: obsidian.md.

License

AGPL-3.0-only. See LICENSE and the licensing FAQ; a commercial exception may exist — open a discussion. Contributions under the DCO; sign-off in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md / Code of Conduct. Security: SECURITY.md.

Add this server

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Server facts

Tools

Questions

How do I install Obsidian Turbocharged?

Does Obsidian Turbocharged need an API key?

What transport does Obsidian Turbocharged use?

When was Obsidian Turbocharged last checked?

Documentation

obsidian-tc

What it is

60-second start

When NOT to use obsidian-tc

How it compares

More

TC Bridge: the companion Obsidian plugin

Status

Architecture

The interface: five tools, every governed capability

Install in Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code

Docs

Trademark

License

Contributing