obsidian-diary-mcp

madebygps/obsidian-diary-mcp

3.3

If you are the rightful owner of obsidian-diary-mcp and would like to certify it and/or have it hosted online, please leave a comment on the right or send an email to henry@mcphub.com.

The Obsidian Diary MCP Server integrates journaling with local AI to enhance personal reflection while ensuring privacy.

Obsidian Diary MCP Server

AI-powered journaling with local processing, automatic backlinks, and smart prompts.

Features

  • AI-generated reflection prompts based on past 3 calendar days
  • Day citations with automatic [[YYYY-MM-DD]] backlinks
  • Brain dump prioritization (analyzes your writing, not prompts)
  • Smart #tag extraction using theme similarity
  • Todo extraction to organized checklists
  • Memory trace analysis with theme evolution
  • Sunday synthesis (weekly reflection prompts)

Requirements

  • uv (Python package manager)
  • Ollama (llama3.1 or compatible model)
  • MCP client (e.g., GitHub Copilot CLI)
  • Obsidian vault (for markdown files)

Setup

1. Clone and install:

git clone https://github.com/madebygps/obsidian-diary-mcp.git

cd obsidian-diary-mcp

uv sync

chmod +x start-server.sh

2. Configure:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env: set DIARY_PATH and PLANNER_PATH (required)

3. Add to MCP client config (e.g., GitHub Copilot CLI):

  • Name: diary
  • Command: /full/path/to/obsidian-diary-mcp/start-server.sh

Configuration (.env):

Required: DIARY_PATH, PLANNER_PATH

Optional: OLLAMA_MODEL (default: llama3.1:latest), OLLAMA_TIMEOUT (60s), OLLAMA_TEMPERATURE (0.7), OLLAMA_NUM_PREDICT (1000 tokens)

Usage

  1. Create: "create a memory log for today" → AI prompts based on past 3 days
  2. Write: Open in Obsidian, write freely in Brain Dump section
  3. Extract: "extract todos from today's entry" → Action items to planner
  4. Link: "link today's memory log" → Auto-generates [[YYYY-MM-DD]] & #tags
  5. Explore: Use Obsidian's backlinks panel and graph view

More Commands: "show themes from last week", "create memory trace for 30 days", "refresh memory links for 30 days"

Debugging

Logs in logs/ directory: server-YYYY-MM-DD.log (protocol), debug-YYYY-MM-DD.log (operations)

tail -f logs/debug-$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log  # Watch in real-time
grep ERROR logs/debug-*.log                # Find errors
grep "similarity" logs/debug-*.log         # Debug backlinks

Troubleshooting

Server issues: Check .env exists with DIARY_PATH and PLANNER_PATH set. Run ./start-server.sh directly to test.

Ollama issues: Verify running with curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags. Pull model: ollama pull llama3.1:latest

No backlinks: Need 2+ entries with similar themes (>8% overlap). Ensure Brain Dump section has substantial content (>50 chars). Check: grep "Brain Dump" logs/debug-*.log

Timeouts: Increase OLLAMA_TIMEOUT (90+) and OLLAMA_NUM_PREDICT (2000+) for reasoning models.

How It Works

  • Local AI: Ollama processes entries locally—content never leaves your machine
  • Calendar-Based: Analyzes past 3 calendar days (not just last 3 entries)
  • Brain Dump Focus: Prioritizes your writing over answered prompts for themes
  • Day Citations: AI cites [Day 1]/[Day 2] → converts to [[2025-10-07]] backlinks
  • Smart Linking: Jaccard similarity connects entries with >8% theme overlap
  • Sundays: 5 weekly synthesis prompts (vs 3 daily)
  • Todo Extraction: AI identifies action items from brain dumps

Entry Format

Each entry (YYYY-MM-DD.md) has plain text headers:

## Reflection Prompts
**1. Question with [[2025-10-06]] backlink (reason)...**

---

## Brain Dump
Your thoughts, experiences, observations...

---

## Memory Links
**Temporal connections:** [[2025-10-05]] • [[2025-10-04]]
**Topic tags:** #career-growth #self-reflection

License

MIT • Python 3.13+ • FastMCP 2.12.4+ • Ollama