Obsidian VFS
Browse, search, and edit your Obsidian vault directly in VS Code via a virtual file system (obs://). Mount vault folders into the Explorer sidebar, navigate [[wikilinks]], and open notes in Obsidian — all without leaving your editor.
Features
- Mount vault folders into the Explorer tree view
- Browse and read Markdown files through the
obs:// virtual file system
- Edit existing files with writes going directly to the vault on disk
- Wikilink navigation, click
[[links]] in Markdown to jump between notes (resolves to file:// paths for seamless navigation in workspace folders)
- Search notes via Quick Pick across all vault Markdown files
- Open in Obsidian, jump to the current file in the Obsidian app
- Auto-mount configured folders on startup
- Status bar showing vault name and connection mode (
full / degraded)
- Workspace folder, vault browsable in Explorer with Quick Open (
Cmd+P) and Search (Ctrl+Shift+F) support
- File watching, changes in the vault are reflected in real time
Commands
Available via the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P):
| Command |
Description |
Obsidian VFS: Mount Folder |
Pick a top-level vault folder and add it to the Explorer tree view |
Obsidian VFS: Unmount Folder |
Remove a mounted vault folder from the tree view |
Obsidian VFS: Open in Obsidian |
Open the active vault file in the Obsidian app (works from both obs:// and file:// documents) |
Obsidian VFS: Search Notes |
Quick Pick search across all vault Markdown files |
Settings
Configure via Settings UI or settings.json:
| Setting |
Type |
Default |
Description |
obsidianVFS.cliPath |
string |
"obsidian" |
Path to the Obsidian CLI binary |
obsidianVFS.timeoutMs |
number |
10000 |
CLI operation timeout in milliseconds |
obsidianVFS.treeViewTitle |
string |
"" |
Custom title for the Explorer tree view (defaults to obs://<vault>) |
obsidianVFS.autoMount |
string[] |
[] |
Vault-relative folders to display in the Explorer tree view on activation |
obsidianVFS.explorer |
boolean |
true |
Show the Obsidian VFS tree view in the Explorer sidebar |
obsidianVFS.statusBar |
boolean |
true |
Show vault name and mode in the status bar |
obsidianVFS.workspace |
boolean |
true |
Add the vault as a workspace folder for Explorer browsing (see below) |
All three toggle settings (explorer, statusBar, workspace) take effect immediately — no reload required.
Workspace Folder
When obsidianVFS.workspace is enabled, the extension adds each autoMount folder as a file:// workspace folder pointing to the actual directory on disk, named obs://<folder>. Because these are native file-system paths, VS Code's built-in file indexer (ripgrep) can index them — so vault files appear in Quick Open (Cmd+P) and Search (Ctrl+Shift+F).
The obs:// FileSystemProvider remains registered for internal operations (stat, read, write, file watching). All user-facing navigation — wikilinks, search results, tree view items — resolves to file:// URIs so they work seamlessly with workspace folders.
Requirements:
- At least one local folder must be open — vault folders are appended to the workspace folder list to avoid triggering an extension host restart.
Notes:
- The Explorer tree view and the workspace folders both appear in the sidebar. This duplication is an accepted trade-off — the tree view provides custom UI (welcome view, context menus), while the workspace folders enable Quick Open and cross-extension visibility.
- The vault's
.git repository is automatically added to git.ignoredRepositories (user-level setting) when workspace folders are mounted, preventing VS Code's Git extension from listing it in Source Control. The entry is removed when obsidianVFS.workspace is disabled.
Prerequisites
- Obsidian installed with a vault open
- The
obsidian CLI on your PATH (or set obsidianVFS.cliPath)
Installation
From VSIX
code --install-extension obsidian-vfs.vsix
Or via the Extensions sidebar: ··· menu > Install from VSIX...
From Source
git clone https://github.com/otaviof/obsidian-vfs.git
cd obsidian-vfs
pnpm install
pnpm package:vscode
code --install-extension packages/vscode/obsidian-vfs.vsix
Reload the window after installing (Developer: Reload Window).
