QuickAdd for Obsidian

Run your QuickAdd choices from Raycast. The forms, the pickers, and the finish message are Raycast's. The work is QuickAdd's, running inside Obsidian through Obsidian's command-line interface. Nothing is re-implemented, so every capture, template, and macro you already have works the day you install this.

I write QuickAdd, and this is its official Raycast extension.

What you can do

Run any choice as a native form

Captures, templates, and macros run from one searchable list. A choice's inputs arrive together as one form: text fields, a dropdown for {{VALUE:a,b,c}}, a tag picker for |multi, a date picker for {{VDATE}}, and a note picker for {{FILE:...}} that starts empty. Prompts that a macro script raises later, such as inputPrompt and suggester, arrive one at a time.

A number field with min and max rejects values outside the range before anything reaches the vault. A required field that is empty says so on the field.

Link and tag completion

Type [[ in any text field and a searchable list of your notes and aliases opens. Pick one and the link lands where you typed. Type # at the start of a word and the same happens with your tags, most used first. Both need QuickAdd 2.31 or later.

Capture without a form

Three commands send text to a capture choice you name in their preferences and never open a view. Quick Capture takes the text as an argument in Raycast's root search. Capture Selection takes the text selected in the frontmost app. Capture Clipboard takes the clipboard. Give each a hotkey and capturing is one keystroke and one line of typing.

Choose the current note

A choice that links to the current note or reads from it asks which note that is before it runs, from a searchable list of your notes. When the choice can do without one, No current note comes first. The run never falls back to whatever tab is open in Obsidian. The capture commands cannot ask, so a capture choice that needs a current note runs only from Run QuickAdd Choice.

Pin a choice, or run it in Obsidian

Every choice has two pin actions. Pin as Quicklink makes the choice searchable from Raycast's root, where you can give it a hotkey. Pin as Quicklink with Argument makes a Quicklink that takes text inline: type its name, press Tab, type the text, press Enter, and the text runs as the choice's {{VALUE}}. Run in Obsidian (⌘↵) runs the choice with QuickAdd's own modals when you want them.

A finish message that says what happened

When a run ends, the toast reads "Created Books/Piranesi.md" or "Added to Inbox.md", and Open in Obsidian is one keystroke away. A run that changed nothing reads "Ran Journal".

Cancel Run (⇧⌘⌫) tells QuickAdd to stop. A macro that is mid-work stops at its next prompt instead of finishing behind your back. Leaving the form does the same.

Finds your vault and starts Obsidian

The extension reads Obsidian's vault list and uses the one vault that has QuickAdd enabled. When several vaults have it, Run QuickAdd Choice lists them and the capture commands ask you to set the Vault preference. When the vault is closed, the extension opens it, waits until QuickAdd answers, and brings Raycast back to the front.

Requirements

What	Needs
Everything	macOS. Obsidian 1.12 or later from the installer (an in-app update is not enough), with Settings → General → Command line interface turned on
Quick Capture, Capture Selection, Capture Clipboard	QuickAdd 2.15 or later
Run QuickAdd Choice, with a choice's inputs on one form	QuickAdd 2.17.2 or later
Cancel Run that stops the run, "Created" and "Added to" messages	QuickAdd 2.20 or later
[[ and # completion, note pickers that start empty	QuickAdd 2.31 or later
Asking for the current note	QuickAdd 2.32 or later

Commands

Command	What it does
Run QuickAdd Choice	Lists every runnable choice, grouped by Multi folder, with the five you use most at the top. Runs the one you pick.
Quick Capture	Sends its text argument to the capture choice named in its preferences.
Capture Selection	Sends the text selected in the frontmost app to the capture choice named in its preferences.
Capture Clipboard	Sends the clipboard text to the capture choice named in its preferences.

Preferences

Preference	What it does
Vault	The vault QuickAdd runs in. Leave it empty to use the one vault with QuickAdd enabled. Set it when several vaults have QuickAdd.
Obsidian CLI Path	Leave it empty. The extension finds the CLI at /opt/homebrew/bin/obsidian, /usr/local/bin/obsidian, or inside Obsidian.app.
Capture Choice (per capture command)	The capture choice that Quick Capture, Capture Selection, or Capture Clipboard sends text to. Pick one whose target note exists or that creates it.

Tips

• Give Quick Capture, Capture Selection, and your pinned Quicklinks hotkeys in Raycast. A pinned Quicklink with an argument then captures from anywhere in two keystrokes and a line of text.
• A Quicklink with an argument only fills a plain {{VALUE}}. Other prompts in the same choice still open in Raycast. A choice without a plain {{VALUE}} ignores the text.
• For a big text area, declare the value as multi-line in QuickAdd: {{VALUE:Entry|type:multiline}}, or a macro user script whose quickadd.inputs entry has type: "textarea". The form renders what the vault describes.
• A lightning bolt next to a choice means you added it as a command in QuickAdd. Those are good candidates to pin.

Limitations

• Templater's own prompts, such as tp.system.prompt, open in Obsidian. When a run has waited three seconds with no prompt, Raycast says QuickAdd may be asking something in Obsidian and offers Open Obsidian (⌘O).
• {{selected}} inside a choice reads the selection in Obsidian's editor, not the text selected on your Mac. Use Capture Selection for the Mac selection.
• Two registered vaults with the same folder name cannot be told apart, because Obsidian's CLI addresses a vault by name. The extension refuses to run in either until one folder is renamed.
• A prompt type added by a newer QuickAdd shows a screen that names the type and asks you to update the extension.

How it works

Obsidian ships a command-line interface, and QuickAdd registers handlers on it. The extension shells out to that CLI to list choices and to start a choice, and QuickAdd sends each prompt to Raycast over a local connection instead of opening a modal. Raycast renders the prompt as a native control and sends the answer back, and QuickAdd does the rest inside Obsidian. ARCHITECTURE.md has the protocol, the vault lookup, and the reasons behind each choice.