MCP Tools Reference

The Noteriv MCP server exposes 22 tools organized into six categories. This page documents each tool with its parameters, behavior, and usage examples.

Vault Management

list_vaults

List all Noteriv vaults configured on this machine.

Parameters: None

Returns: A list of vaults with their name, ID, path, and whether they are currently active.

Example response:

My Notes (abc123)
  Path: /home/user/notes
  [ACTIVE]

Work (def456)
  Path: /home/user/work-notes

get_active_vault

Get the currently active vault name and path.

Parameters: None

Returns: The active vault's name, path, and ID. If a manual vault path was set via command-line argument or set_vault_path, that path is returned instead.

Example response:

My Notes
Path: /home/user/notes
ID: abc123

switch_vault

Switch to a different vault by name or ID. All subsequent operations will target the new vault.

Parameters:

Example: switch_vault({ name_or_id: "Work" })

Returns: Confirmation with the new vault name and path.

set_vault_path

Set a custom vault path for vaults that are not in the Noteriv configuration. Useful for pointing the server at any directory containing markdown files.

Parameters:

Example: set_vault_path({ path: "/home/user/my-project/docs" })

Returns: Confirmation of the new vault path. Returns an error if the path does not exist.

Note CRUD

read_note

Read the full content of a note by its relative path within the vault.

Parameters:

Example: read_note({ path: "Projects/roadmap.md" })

Returns: The full markdown content of the note, or an error if the file does not exist.

write_note

Create a new note or overwrite an existing one. Parent directories are created automatically if they do not exist.

Parameters:

Example: write_note({ path: "Ideas/new-feature.md", content: "# New Feature\n\nDescription here." })

Returns: Confirmation that the note was written.

append_to_note

Append text to the end of an existing note. A newline is inserted between the existing content and the appended text if the file does not already end with one.

Parameters:

Example: append_to_note({ path: "Daily/2026-03-20.md", content: "\n## Evening\n\nWrapped up the documentation." })

Returns: Confirmation that the text was appended. Returns an error if the note does not exist.

delete_note

Move a note to the trash (soft delete). The note is moved to .noteriv/trash/ with a metadata file recording its original path and deletion time. The note can be restored later.

Parameters:

Example: delete_note({ path: "Archive/old-draft.md" })

Returns: Confirmation that the note was trashed.

rename_note

Rename or move a note to a new path. Parent directories for the new path are created automatically.

Parameters:

Example: rename_note({ old_path: "Inbox/idea.md", new_path: "Projects/idea.md" })

Returns: Confirmation showing the old and new paths.

Browsing

list_notes

List all markdown notes (.md and .markdown files) in the vault or a specific subfolder. Does not include directories or non-markdown files.

Parameters:

Example: list_notes({ folder: "Projects" })

Returns: Newline-separated list of relative file paths.

list_folders

List all folders in the vault, including nested subfolders. Hidden directories (starting with .) and node_modules are excluded.

Parameters: None

Returns: Newline-separated list of relative folder paths.

list_all_files

List all files in the vault or a subfolder, including non-markdown files like images, PDFs, and other attachments.

Parameters:

Returns: Newline-separated list of relative file paths.

search_notes

Full-text search across all notes in the vault. Searches both file names and file content (case-insensitive). Returns up to 20 matching files with up to 5 matching lines per file.

Parameters:

Example: search_notes({ query: "API design" })

Returns: Matching files with line numbers and matching line text:

Projects/api-spec.md
  L12: ## API Design Principles
  L45: The API design follows REST conventions.

Notes/meeting-2026-03-15.md
  L8: Discussed API design for the new endpoints.

Folders

create_folder

Create a new folder in the vault. Intermediate directories are created automatically.

Parameters:

Example: create_folder({ path: "Projects/2026/Q1" })

delete_folder

Permanently delete a folder and all of its contents. This is not a soft delete -- files are removed from disk.

Parameters:

Warning: This operation is permanent. Consider moving important files before deleting a folder.

Knowledge Graph

get_tags

List all #tags found across all notes in the vault, along with the notes that use each tag. Tags are sorted by frequency (most-used first). Up to 5 file paths are shown per tag.

Parameters: None

Example response:

#project (8): Projects/alpha.md, Projects/beta.md, Notes/planning.md, ...
#meeting (5): Daily/2026-03-15.md, Daily/2026-03-16.md, Notes/standup.md, ...
#idea (3): Inbox/feature-x.md, Inbox/research.md, Ideas/brainstorm.md

get_backlinks

Find all notes that contain a [[wiki-link]] pointing to a given note. This is the inverse of get_outgoing_links -- it answers "who links to this note?"

Parameters:

Example: get_backlinks({ path: "Concepts/react-hooks.md" })

Returns: Newline-separated list of notes that link to the target. The search matches both [[react-hooks]] and [[react-hooks|display text]] link formats.

get_outgoing_links

List all [[wiki-links]] found in a given note. Returns the link targets (note names), deduplicated.

Parameters:

Example: get_outgoing_links({ path: "Projects/roadmap.md" })

Returns: Newline-separated list of wiki-link targets.

Stats & Meta

get_vault_stats

Get aggregate statistics for the active vault.

Parameters: None

Example response:

Vault: /home/user/notes
Notes: 247
Words: 89,432
Characters: 512,876

get_note_info

Get detailed metadata about a specific note, including frontmatter fields, word count, line count, tags, and outgoing wiki-links.

Parameters:

Example: get_note_info({ path: "Projects/roadmap.md" })

Example response:

Path: Projects/roadmap.md
Words: 342
Lines: 48
Tags: #project, #roadmap
Links: milestones, team, timeline
Frontmatter:
  title: Project Roadmap
  status: active
  due: 2026-06-30

Daily Notes

create_daily_note

Create today's daily note in the Daily/ folder, or return the existing one if it already exists. The filename follows the YYYY-MM-DD.md format.

Parameters:

Example: create_daily_note({ content: "# 2026-03-20\n\n## Tasks\n\n- [ ] Write documentation\n- [ ] Review PRs" })

Returns: Confirmation that the note was created, or the full content of the existing note if one already exists for today.

get_recent_daily_notes

List the most recent daily notes. Looks for files matching the YYYY-MM-DD.md pattern in the Daily/ folder, sorted by date (newest first).

Parameters:

Example: get_recent_daily_notes({ count: 14 })

Returns: Newline-separated list of daily note paths:

Daily/2026-03-20.md
Daily/2026-03-19.md
Daily/2026-03-18.md
Daily/2026-03-17.md
Daily/2026-03-16.md
Daily/2026-03-15.md
Daily/2026-03-14.md