Easy Obsidian MCP vs Penfield MCP

obsidian_simple_search

simple search for documents matching a specified text query across all files in the vault. use this tool when you want to do a simple text search

obsidian_dataview_search

execute a dataview query language (dql) query. dql is a powerful, sql-like language for querying obsidian notes based on metadata (frontmatter, inline fields), tags, folders, links, file properties (name, path, dates), and tasks. use it to filter, sort, group, and transform data from your obsidian vault. **key difference from sql:** dql executes queries sequentially, line by line, passing results between commands. this allows multiple 'where', 'sort', or 'group by' steps, unlike declarative sql. **finding people/names:** - search note titles: 'table file.name where contains(file.name, "ben")' - find notes linking to person: 'list from [[Ben]]' - search by person tag: 'list from #person/ben' **common patterns:** - get note metadata: 'table file.name, file.mtime from "NOTENAME"' - search by tag: 'list from #tag' - folder search: 'list from "folder/"' - backlinks: 'list from [[FILENAME]]' - all notes: 'list from ""' this tool is especially good at finding relationships between notes, metadata searches, and structured queries. use it when simple text search doesn't find what you need. see dataview documentation for full syntax: https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview/

obsidian_get_file_content

retrieves the full content of a specific file from the obsidian vault.