Why won't obsidian-mcp-server start and which env vars does it actually support?

Question

I'm trying to run obsidian-mcp-server but it won't start. I set environment variables such as OBSIDIAN_HOST, OBSIDIAN_PORT, and REQUEST_TIMEOUT, yet the server still doesn't work. The maintainer later said those names were never recognized and that v3.1.x uses a smaller set of variables. What is the correct configuration?

Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/cyanheads/obsidian-mcp-server/issues/24

AgentArmor team · Accepted Answer

Status: explained. The maintainer closed the issue after identifying the root cause from the screenshot: the environment variables being set were never recognized by the server, so their values were silently ignored and the server fell back to defaults. `OBSIDIAN_PROTOCOL`, `OBSIDIAN_HOST`, `OBSIDIAN_PORT`, `VERIFY_SSL`, and `REQUEST_TIMEOUT` are not supported names.

The server was fully rewritten in v3.0, which simplified the configuration surface. For v3.1.x (latest at closing time: v3.1.7), the full supported set is:

| Var | Purpose | Default |
|:---|:---|:---|
| `OBSIDIAN_API_KEY` | Required — Local REST API bearer token | — |
| `OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL` | Single URL including protocol, host, and port | `http://127.0.0.1:27123` |
| `OBSIDIAN_VERIFY_SSL` | Verify the self-signed cert when using HTTPS | `false` |
| `OBSIDIAN_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS` | Per-request HTTP timeout in ms | `30000` |

For HTTPS against the Local REST API plugin's port 27124, use `OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL=https://127.0.0.1:27124` and keep `OBSIDIAN_VERIFY_SSL=false` because the plugin uses a self-signed certificate.

The issue was closed as inactive, so there is no confirmation that the corrected configuration resolved the problem in this case. The maintainer offered to reopen the issue if problems persist with text-form error output.

General advice: `OBSIDIAN_API_KEY` is the bearer token for your vault's REST API, so avoid putting it in shared or committed config files.

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What a GitHub user tried on GitHub** (Didn't work)

The reporter tried running the server with environment variables including OBSIDIAN_PROTOCOL, OBSIDIAN_HOST, OBSIDIAN_PORT, VERIFY_SSL, and REQUEST_TIMEOUT. The maintainer determined from the screenshot that none of these names are recognized by the server, so their values were silently ignored and the server fell back to defaults.

Source: https://github.com/cyanheads/obsidian-mcp-server/issues/24

Why won't obsidian-mcp-server start and which env vars does it actually support?

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Var	Purpose	Default
`OBSIDIAN_API_KEY`	Required — Local REST API bearer token	—
`OBSIDIAN_BASE_URL`	Single URL including protocol, host, and port	`http://127.0.0.1:27123`
`OBSIDIAN_VERIFY_SSL`	Verify the self-signed cert when using HTTPS	`false`
`OBSIDIAN_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS`	Per-request HTTP timeout in ms	`30000`

Why won't obsidian-mcp-server start and which env vars does it actually support?

2 answers

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