How to connect Obsidian to Cursor

Checked against Cursor's documentation on Oct 26, 2026. Commands and config blocks are generated from the same install data as each listing page.

1. 1. Check what you need

   Because Cursor launches the server through npx, Node.js must be installed first. If anything fails to start later, you will at least know this part is in place.

   node --version

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   • It needs OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and OPENAI_API_KEY (next step).

2. 2. Get OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and OPENAI_API_KEY

   The vault path is the value that matters most, because it names the vault to index. The OpenAI key matters only if you want remote embeddings.

   • OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH (required): Absolute path to the Obsidian vault to index and search.
   • OPENAI_API_KEY (optional): Optional API key for OpenAI-compatible remote embeddings; omit to use local embeddings.

3. 3. Add Obsidian Hybrid Search to Cursor

   Cursor takes a single JSON entry, and that entry refers to both values through environment references. The block after it exports them in the shell you start Cursor from.

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "obsidian-hybrid-search": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": [
           "-y",
           "obsidian-hybrid-search@0.17.2",
           "mcp"
         ],
         "env": {
           "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH": "${env:OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH}",
           "OPENAI_API_KEY": "${env:OPENAI_API_KEY}"
         }
       }
     }
   }

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   export OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH="paste-your-value-here"
   export OPENAI_API_KEY="paste-your-value-here"

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   • Cursor expands ${env:NAME} from its own environment, so the variable has to be set where Cursor starts.

4. 4. Restart or reload if it does not appear

   Use this step if the server does not show up in Cursor. It records what the docs say, and do not say, about restarting after edits to mcp.json.

   • The docs do not say whether editing mcp.json needs a restart. They tell you to restart Cursor after updating files of a custom local server.
   • Cursor asks for approval before an agent uses an MCP tool unless you allowlist it.