Configuration¶

Configuration options for the MCP server and the Canvas Project Manager plugin.

MCP Server Configuration¶

The MCP server is the bundled bin/mcp-server.mjs from the plugin repository. It uses stdio transport and requires a single environment variable: VAULT_PATH.

Claude Code¶

claude mcp add obsidian-mcp \
  --env VAULT_PATH=/path/to/your/vault \
  -- node /path/to/obsidian_plugin/bin/mcp-server.mjs

Claude Desktop / generic MCP client¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/obsidian_plugin/bin/mcp-server.mjs"],
      "env": {
        "VAULT_PATH": "/path/to/your/vault"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables¶

Variable	Required	Description
`VAULT_PATH`	✅	Absolute path to the Obsidian vault. The server refuses to start without it.
`DEBUG`	❌	Set to enable verbose diagnostic logging.

`schema.json` — the Vault's Runtime Schema¶

The active schema lives at <vault>/schema.json and is the single source of truth for both MCP validation and plugin canvas positioning.

Bootstrapped automatically: on the MCP server's first run against a vault, schema.json is written from the built-in default schema.
Edited via tools: use set_schema (validated; invalid schemas are rejected and not saved) or the get_schema_designer HTML designer. Changes hot-reload without a restart.
Fallback: if schema.json is invalid, the server falls back to the default schema and surfaces the validation errors via get_schema.

See Entity Schemas for the default schema's contents.

Plugin Settings¶

Configure in Obsidian Settings → Canvas Project Manager.

Basics¶

Setting	Description
Notes base folder	Default folder where generated notes are saved
Infer base folder from canvas location	Create notes in the same folder as the canvas file, ignoring the base folder

Templates¶

Setting	Description
Use template folder	Scan a folder for templates and choose from multiple options
Template folder	Folder containing template files (shown when the toggle above is enabled)
Regenerate default templates	Button — recreates the default template files (overwrites existing)

ID Generation¶

Setting	Description
ID zero-padding length	Number of digits for IDs (e.g., 3 for `001`)

Effort Avenues¶

Setting	Description
Effort options	One effort avenue per line
Default effort	Effort avenue to pre-select

Canvas Display¶

Setting	Description
Show ID on cards	Include the item ID in card display
Effort color map	One mapping per line: `effort:colorid` (Obsidian color index or hex)
In progress color	Obsidian color index for "in progress" nodes (1=red, 2=orange, 3=yellow, 4=green, 5=cyan, 6=purple)

Notion Integration¶

Setting	Description
Enable Notion sync	Master toggle for Notion syncing (reveals the settings below)
Integration token	Notion internal integration token
Parent page ID	Notion page ID where the database will be created
Database name	Name for the Notion database
Database ID	Notion database ID (filled after initialization)
Initialize Notion database	Button — creates a new database in Notion with the required schema
Sync on note creation	Automatically sync when a new note is created
Sync on demand only	Disable automatic sync; only sync via manual command
Auto-sync on md file change	Sync when a markdown file is modified (2s debounce)

Entity Navigator¶

Setting	Description
Show dataview warning	Warn if the Dataview plugin is not installed
Open behavior	How to open multiple related files: new tabs, horizontal split, or vertical split
Milestones / Stories / Tasks / Decisions / Documents / Features folder	Folder path per entity type

Developer¶

Setting	Description
Debug mode	Print verbose `console.debug`/`console.log` output to the developer console

See the Installation Guide for setup details.