List notes in the Obsidian vault. By default lists all notes recursively.
AI agents call list_notes to retrieve information from Obsidian MCP without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool performs a simple enumeration/query of existing notes within the vault without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any operations. It is purely informational, making it a Read category risk. Severity is low because listing note metadata has minimal blast radius—the worst outcome is information disclosure of note titles/structure, which is typically already visible to users of the Obsidian vault.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'list_notes' and description 'List notes in the Obsidian vault. By default lists all notes recursively' indicate a retrieval operation with no modification or execution of external operations.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access list_notes gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Obsidian MCP, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for list_notes:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"list_notes": {}
}
}list_notes is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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List notes in the Obsidian vault. By default lists all notes recursively. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Obsidian MCP MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Obsidian MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for list_notes: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Obsidian MCP. Nothing to install.
list_notes is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the list_notes rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for list_notes. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
list_notes is provided by the Obsidian MCP server (newtype-01/obsidian-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Deterministic rules across all 11 Obsidian MCP tools. Per-identity grants. Full audit log. Live in minutes. Nothing to install.
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11 Obsidian MCP tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 42,500+ MCP servers.