# Obsidian Headless

```yaml
description: Obsidian Headless is a command line client for Obsidian services. Sync your vaults without the desktop app.
permalink: headless
aliases:
  - headless
```

Obsidian Headless **(open beta)** is a headless client for Obsidian services. It lets you [sync vaults](/content/help/sync/headless/index.html) from the command line without the desktop app, with all the speed, privacy, and end-to-end encryption benefits of [Obsidian Sync](/content/help/sync/index.html).

Reasons you might use Obsidian Headless:

- Automate remote backups.
- Automate publishing a website.
- Give agentic tools access to a vault without access to your full computer.
- Sync a shared team vault to a server that feeds other tools.
- Run scheduled automations e.g. aggregate daily notes into weekly summaries, auto-tag, etc.

## Obsidian Headless vs Obsidian CLI

[Obsidian CLI](/content/help/cli/index.html) controls the Obsidian desktop app from your terminal. Obsidian Headless is a standalone client that runs independently, no desktop app required.

## Install

Obsidian Headless **(open beta)** requires Node.js 22 or later. Install it from [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/obsidian-headless):

```shell
npm install -g obsidian-headless
```

## Authentication

### Log in

```shell
ob login
```

If already logged in, `ob login` displays your account info. To switch accounts, pass `--email` and/or `--password` to log in again.

```
ob login [--email <email>] [--password <password>] [--mfa <code>]
```

All options are interactive when omitted — email and password are prompted, and 2FA is requested automatically if enabled on the account.

To log out and clear stored credentials:

```shell
ob logout
```

## Services

- [Headless Sync](/content/help/sync/headless/index.html): use [Obsidian Sync](/content/help/sync/index.html) from the command line without the desktop app.
- [Headless Publish](/content/help/publish/headless/index.html): use [Obsidian Publish](/content/help/publish/index.html) from the command line without the desktop app.