MCP Obsidian vs Filesystem

In-depth architectural comparison of the MCP Obsidian and Filesystem MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose MCP Obsidian when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Other Tools and Integrations domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: API Key required (Free / Open Source).
• You have access to required keys: OBSIDIAN_API_KEY.
• Primary tools included: List vault files and directories, Read individual note contents, Search text across vault files.

Explore MCP Obsidian Details

Choose Filesystem when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Other Tools and Integrations domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: create_entities, create_relations, add_observations.

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	MCP Obsidian MarkusPfundstein Other Tools and Integrations	Filesystem VerifiedOther Tools and Integrations
Summary	MCP server that interacts with Obsidian via the Obsidian rest API community plugin	Secure file operations with configurable access controls.
Category & Scope

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markuspfundstein-mcp-obsidian": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-obsidian"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "YOUR_OBSIDIAN_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "filesystem"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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