Full-text search across all notes in the vault. Ranks literal matches with title/path focus and repeated-line dampening, then returns matching note paths grouped with the line numbers and query-centered snippet content of each matching line. Use to locate notes containing a phrase, keyword, or co...
AI agents call search_notes to retrieve information from Obsidian Mcp Pro without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
search_notes retrieves and queries data without side effects. It searches vault contents and returns results but does not create, modify, delete, or execute any operations. This is a classic Read category tool — informational access only. Severity is low because misuse would only expose existing information the agent might already access through other means; there is no destructive, financial, or code-execution risk.
From the tool's definition Tool performs 'full-text search across all notes' and 'returns matching note paths' with 'snippet content' — purely retrieval operations with no modification, deletion, or execution.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access search_notes gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Obsidian Mcp Pro, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for search_notes:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"search_notes": {}
}
}search_notes is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Full-text search across all notes in the vault. Ranks literal matches with title/path focus and repeated-line dampening, then returns matching note paths grouped with the line numbers and query-centered snippet content of each matching line. Use to locate notes containing a phrase, keyword, or code fragment; pair with get_note to retrieve full bodies. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Obsidian Mcp Pro MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Obsidian Mcp Pro MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for search_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 Pro. Nothing to install.
search_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 search_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 search_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.
search_notes is provided by the Obsidian Mcp Pro MCP server (rps321321/obsidian-mcp-pro). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Obsidian Mcp Pro, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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41 Obsidian Mcp Pro tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.