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Smart Connections MCP

Semantic search, note retrieval, similarity links, and graph traversal for Obsidian vaults using Smart Connections embeddings.

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Install Smart Connections MCP

Pick your client, then add it in one click or paste the config.

STDIONode.js
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smart-connections-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "smart-connections-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SMART_VAULT_PATH": "YOUR_VALUE_HERE",
        "SMART_VAULT_PATHS": "YOUR_VALUE_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Settings → Developer → Edit Config, merge this into mcpServers, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

Values are written into the snippet above so you can paste it as is. They never leave your browser.

We couldn’t confirm it starts correctly

The install command didn't complete successfully in our automated test.

npx -y smart-connections-mcp

signal: killed

This is an experimental automated check and can have false negatives — missing environment variables, a slow cold install, etc. It doesn’t necessarily mean something’s wrong. Last checked 2d ago.

Overview

The smart-connections-mcp MCP server exposes semantic search and note-relationship tools for Obsidian vaults indexed by the Smart Connections plugin. It loads stored note and block embeddings, embeds queries locally with the same model, and ranks results by cosine similarity without sending vault data to a cloud service. Reach for it when an MCP client needs meaning-based access to one or more local vaults, related-note discovery, or note content retrieval.

Use cases

  • Search Obsidian notes by meaning
  • Find notes similar to a selected note
  • Traverse related ideas across a vault
  • Read specific note blocks through an MCP client

Key features

  • Semantic search across notes and blocks
  • Multi-vault loading
  • Local embedding with transformers.js
  • Similarity-based note discovery
  • Connection graph traversal
  • Keyword fallback with warnings

Security & health

What it can reach and how reliably it runs — from our own checks, not the maintainer’s claims.

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8/8 checks healthy over the last 40d

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No high-severity advisories surfaced by our automated scan.

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Scanned 12d ago via OSV.dev · smart-connections-mcp (npm)

Adoption & maintenance

Factual signals from GitHub, npm, and our automated checks — not a rating.

GitHub stars59Stargazers on the source repository.
npm downloads329Package downloads in the last 30 days.
Last commit2mo agoMost recent push to the default branch.
Install checkInconclusiveInstall command did not finish in our automated test.
Directory activity2 viewsConfig copies, upvotes, and views on AllMCPs.

How Smart Connections MCP works

What smart-connections-mcp MCP server does

The smart-connections-mcp MCP server connects an MCP client to Obsidian vaults that use the Smart Connections plugin. It reads the plugin's stored embeddings from each vault and makes notes, sections, similarity relationships, and vault statistics available as agent-callable tools.

Semantic search can match complete notes or individual blocks and returns ranked results with snippets. The server can also find notes similar to a selected note, follow similarity links to build a connection graph, read complete notes or selected blocks, list loaded vaults, and report counts, models, and loading errors. Multiple vaults can be loaded at once.

How it works

Smart Connections stores vectors for notes and blocks under .smart-env/. On startup, the server loads those vectors into memory. For a semantic query, it runs the same embedding model used by the vault through transformers.js. The model is downloaded once, at roughly 25 MB, and runs locally.

Search results are ordered with cosine similarity. Changes made in Obsidian are detected automatically, so the loaded data can reflect edits without rebuilding the server manually. The server does not require cloud calls for its embedding workflow, and the vault paths remain local to the machine running it.

If the model cannot load, such as during a first run without network access, or if a vault has no generated embeddings, search switches to literal keyword matching. Responses identify this with mode: "keyword-fallback" and include a warning. When only some vaults use fallback matching, semantic results remain first and fallback rows are marked with match: "keyword".

Setup and configuration

Use Node.js 20 or newer, an Obsidian vault with Smart Connections installed, and generated Smart Connections embeddings. Configure the server as a local stdio process through an MCP client. For Claude Desktop, add an entry that runs npx -y smart-connections-mcp and sets SMART_VAULT_PATH to a vault path, then restart the client.

SMART_VAULT_PATH accepts one path or several comma-separated paths. SMART_VAULT_PATHS is also supported as an alias and takes precedence when both variables are set. Claude Code can register the same command with its MCP add command and the vault environment variable.

Tools and capabilities

The smart-connections-mcp MCP server provides these capabilities:

  • search_notes: search notes and blocks by meaning across one or more vaults.
  • get_similar_notes: retrieve notes related to a specified note using stored embeddings.
  • get_connection_graph: traverse similarity links outward to map related ideas.
  • get_note_content: read a note or selected blocks.
  • list_vaults: show which vaults are loaded.
  • get_stats: report counts, embedding models, and load errors.

Limitations and notes

Semantic behavior depends on Smart Connections data already existing in the vault. A vault without embeddings, or an unavailable model on first use, receives keyword fallback rather than vector-based ranking. The server was tested against Smart Connections 3.x data, and the v2 release removed the older get_embedding_neighbors tool. Development commands include build and offline tests, plus an optional live test that downloads the model.

Read the full README View source on GitHub

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Frequently Asked Questions about Smart Connections MCP

smart-connections-mcp is an MCP server that connects Claude or another MCP client to Obsidian vaults indexed by the Smart Connections plugin. Its main tools search notes semantically, find similar notes, traverse similarity graphs, read notes or blocks, and report loaded-vault statistics using local embeddings.

Install it through your MCP client with `npx -y smart-connections-mcp` and set `SMART_VAULT_PATH` to an Obsidian vault. Node.js 20 or newer, Smart Connections, and generated embeddings are required.

Set `SMART_VAULT_PATH` to comma-separated vault paths. You can instead use `SMART_VAULT_PATHS`; when both variables are present, the plural variable takes precedence.

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