How to Connect Obsidian to OpenClaw

Before configuring OpenClaw, you need the exact filesystem path to your Obsidian vault. The vault is a regular folder on your computer — Obsidian just opens it as a special folder containing your notes. To find the path in Obsidian: open Settings (Cmd+, on Mac or Ctrl+, on Windows), then go to 'About' at the top of the settings sidebar. You will see 'Current vault' with the full path listed — for example `/Users/yourname/Documents/MyVault` or `C:\Users\yourname\Documents\MyVault`. Alternatively, right-click on the vault name at the bottom of the Obsidian sidebar and choose 'Reveal in Finder' (Mac) or 'Show in Explorer' (Windows). The path shown in the file manager's address bar is your vault path. Note the path exactly — including the correct case for folder names, since OpenClaw's filesystem operations are case-sensitive on Linux and macOS. On macOS, you can use `~` as shorthand for your home directory in OpenClaw's config (e.g., `~/Documents/MyVault`).

1# Find your vault path in Terminal (macOS/Linux):
2# Method 1: Drag the vault folder from Finder into Terminal to print the path
3
4# Method 2: Search for .obsidian hidden folders (marks vault root)
5find ~/Documents -name '.obsidian' -type d 2>/dev/null
6# Output example: /Users/yourname/Documents/MyVault/.obsidian
7# Your vault path is: /Users/yourname/Documents/MyVault (without /.obsidian)
8
9# Verify the vault exists and contains .md files:
10ls ~/Documents/MyVault/*.md 2>/dev/null || ls ~/Documents/MyVault/
11# Should list your note files

Open your OpenClaw config file at `~/.openclaw/config.yaml` and add the Obsidian integration under the `integrations` key. The `vault_path` field is the most important setting — it tells OpenClaw where your vault lives on the filesystem. The `notes_folder` setting is optional but recommended — it specifies a subdirectory within the vault where OpenClaw creates new notes by default. This prevents OpenClaw from cluttering the vault root. Common values are `Inbox`, `OpenClaw`, or `AI Notes`. The `daily_notes_folder` setting maps to the folder your Obsidian daily notes plugin uses — set this to match Obsidian's configuration (Settings > Core Plugins > Daily Notes > New file location). The default in Obsidian is the vault root. The `daily_notes_format` must exactly match the date format Obsidian uses for daily note filenames — the default is `YYYY-MM-DD`. If you changed this in Obsidian's settings, update this field to match. Run `clawhub reload` after saving to apply the config.

1# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml
2integrations:
3  obsidian:
4    vault_path: "~/Documents/MyVault"    # Full path to your vault
5    notes_folder: "Inbox"                # Where to create new notes (relative to vault root)
6    daily_notes_folder: "Daily Notes"    # Folder for daily notes (match Obsidian setting)
7    daily_notes_format: "YYYY-MM-DD"     # Filename format (match Obsidian setting)
8    frontmatter:
9      auto_add: true                     # Auto-add frontmatter to created notes (default: true)
10      tags: ["openclaw"]                 # Default tags added to all OpenClaw-created notes
11      author: "OpenClaw"                 # Default author field
12    create_folders: true                 # Create subdirectory if notes_folder doesn't exist

Verify the integration by having OpenClaw create a test note in your Obsidian vault. The test creates a .md file in your configured `notes_folder`, adds frontmatter (title, date, tags), and writes test content. Open Obsidian and verify the note appears in the file list. The note content OpenClaw writes must be valid Obsidian Markdown — frontmatter at the top enclosed in `---` delimiters, followed by the note body. Obsidian reads the frontmatter as metadata (visible in Properties view) and displays the body as formatted text. Also test reading an existing note to confirm OpenClaw can retrieve vault content. Reading uses the note's file path relative to the vault root. Wikilinks in the format `[[Note Title]]` are preserved as-is when OpenClaw reads them — OpenClaw does not resolve backlinks during reads, it returns the raw Markdown.

1# Test note creation — creates a file at YOUR_VAULT/Inbox/OpenClaw-Test.md
2# This is the Markdown format OpenClaw writes to your vault:
3
4---
5title: OpenClaw Integration Test
6date: 2026-03-30
7tags: [openclaw, test]
8author: OpenClaw
9---
10
11# OpenClaw Integration Test
12
13This note was created by OpenClaw to verify the Obsidian vault integration.
14
15## Summary
16
17- Vault path configured correctly
18- Note creation working
19- Frontmatter parsed by Obsidian
20
21## Related Notes
22
23- [[Daily Notes/2026-03-30]]
24
25---
26*Created by OpenClaw on 2026-03-30*

With basic read/write confirmed, configure OpenClaw workflows that automate vault operations. Common patterns include: appending to daily notes at session end, creating research notes after web search tasks, and tagging notes based on content type. The daily note append workflow constructs the current day's note path dynamically using the date format from your config. If the daily note does not exist yet, OpenClaw creates it with a basic template. If it does exist, OpenClaw appends to the end of the file without overwriting existing content. For research note creation, the workflow triggers after search tasks complete and creates a structured note with the query as the title, a summary section, and source URLs in the frontmatter. Notes are saved to the configured `notes_folder` and immediately visible in Obsidian. The vault search workflow scans .md files for keyword matches using filesystem search, then reads the matching files and synthesizes a summary. This is slower than a true search index but requires no additional setup.

1# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml — Obsidian automation workflows
2workflows:
3  daily-note-append:
4    trigger:
5      type: session-end
6    actions:
7      - type: obsidian-append
8        integration: obsidian
9        path: "Daily Notes/{{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}.md"
10        create_if_missing: true
11        content: |
12          ## OpenClaw Session — {{timestamp}}
13
14          **Tasks completed:** {{session.task_count}}
15          **Searches run:** {{session.search_count}}
16
17          {{session.summary}}
18
19  research-note-create:
20    trigger:
21      type: task-complete
22      task_type: web-search
23    actions:
24      - type: obsidian-create
25        integration: obsidian
26        filename: "Research/{{trigger.query|slugify}}.md"
27        frontmatter:
28          title: "{{trigger.query}}"
29          date: "{{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}"
30          tags: ["research", "openclaw"]
31          sources: "{{trigger.sources}}"
32        body: |
33          # {{trigger.query}}
34
35          ## Summary
36
37          {{trigger.summary}}
38
39          ## Sources
40
41          {{trigger.sources_list}}