mdvault

CLI and MCP Server for Markdown Vault Management

mdvault is a Rust-based CLI tool and MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for managing markdown vaults. It's designed for knowledge workers who need structure without friction—particularly those who excel at capturing information but struggle with retrieval and maintenance.

Design Philosophy

Pull-Optimised, Not Push-Optimised: Notes get created correctly during hyperfocus but go stale without maintenance. Retrieval is the primary failure mode, so mdvault focuses on finding information when you need it rather than optimising capture.

Opinionated Structure: Rather than maximising flexibility, mdvault enforces structure through required frontmatter fields, automatic scaffolding, validation workflows, and enforced linking patterns.

ADHD-Friendly Principles:

• Reduce cognitive load with smart defaults
• Progressive capture—quick entry, structured cleanup later
• Automated maintenance—proactive detection of stale/broken/orphaned content
• Passive surfacing—don't wait for searches, show relevant context

Features

• Unified Note Creation: mdv new <type> "Title" creates notes with type-aware behaviour, schema-driven prompts, and lifecycle hooks — all through a single creation flow
• Task & Project Management: mdv task list, mdv task done, mdv project status, mdv project archive
• Meeting Notes: Auto-generated IDs (MTG-YYYY-MM-DD-NNN), date-based organisation
• Focus Mode: mdv focus PROJECT sets context for frictionless task creation
• Captures & Macros: Quick append and multi-step workflow automation
• Lua Scripting: Sandboxed Lua runtime for type definitions, schemas, validation, and lifecycle hooks
• Date Math: Expressions like {{today + 1d}}, {{week_start + 3d}}
• Template Filters: {{title | slugify}}, {{name | lowercase}}, etc.
• Vault Indexing: SQLite-based index with note metadata, link graph, and incremental updates
• Validation: mdv validate checks notes against type schemas with auto-fix support
• Activity Tracking: Daily dashboard, progress reports, context queries
• TUI: Interactive palette for templates, captures, and macros
• MCP Server: AI-assisted vault interaction via companion project

Installation

Pre-built Binaries (Recommended)

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.

# macOS/Linux: Extract and move to PATH
tar xzf mdv-*.tar.gz
sudo mv mdv /usr/local/bin/

# Verify installation
mdv --version

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install agustinvalencia/tap/mdvault

Cargo (Rust)

cargo install mdvault

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/agustinvalencia/mdvault.git
cd mdvault
cargo build --release
# Binary is at target/release/mdv

Quick Start

1. Create a configuration file:

mkdir -p ~/.config/mdvault
cat > ~/.config/mdvault/config.toml << 'EOF'
version = 1
profile = "default"

[profiles.default]
vault_root    = "~/Notes"
templates_dir = "{{vault_root}}/automations/templates"
captures_dir  = "{{vault_root}}/automations/captures"
macros_dir    = "{{vault_root}}/automations/macros"
typedefs_dir  = "{{vault_root}}/automations/types"

[security]
allow_shell = false
allow_http  = false
EOF

1. Verify your setup:

mdv doctor

1. Launch the TUI:

mdv

Commands

See mdv --help for full options.

Note Types

mdvault enforces note types via frontmatter. Types can be customized with Lua definitions in your typedefs_dir (default: ~/.config/mdvault/types/):

MCP Integration

mdvault has a sister project being developed for an MCP server for AI-assisted vault interaction

This enables Claude and other MCP clients to:

• Browse and search vault contents
• Create properly structured notes
• Surface relevant context automatically
• Prompt for maintenance tasks

Documentation

• Getting Started — Installation and common workflows
• Architecture and Design — Full design philosophy and technical details
• Lua Scripting — Using the Lua scripting layer
• Project & Task Management — Projects, tasks, and archiving

Compatibility

Works with any markdown-based vault system:

• Obsidian
• Logseq
• Dendron
• Foam
• Plain markdown folders

License

See LICENSE.