History Service

View and restore local file history (File Recovery).

Service Overview

The History service provides access to Obsidian's local file history (File Recovery feature). View historical versions of notes and restore previous versions.

Base URL

/api/utilities/history

Endpoints

GET /api/utilities/history

Get file history overview.

CLI Command: obsidian history

Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`vault`	string	No	Target vault name

Example Request:

curl "http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history?vault=youtube"

Example Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "type": "list",
    "data": [
      "Notes.md - 5 versions",
      "Projects/Overview.md - 3 versions"
    ]
  }
}

GET /api/utilities/history/file/:name

Get history for a specific file.

CLI Command: obsidian history

URL Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`name`	string	Yes	File name

Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`vault`	string	No	Target vault name

Example Request:

curl "http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history/file/Notes.md?vault=youtube"

Example Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "type": "list",
    "data": [
      "2026-05-09 14:30",
      "2026-05-09 10:15",
      "2026-05-08 16:45"
    ]
  }
}

GET /api/utilities/history/read

Read a specific historical version of a file.

CLI Command: obsidian history:read

Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`file`	string	No	Target file
`path`	string	No	Full path
`timestamp`	string	No	Specific version timestamp
`vault`	string	No	Target vault name

Example Request:

curl "http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history/read?file=Notes.md&vault=youtube"

Example Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "type": "message",
    "data": "# Notes (Previous Version)\n\nContent from the past..."
  }
}

Read specific timestamp:

curl "http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history/read?file=Notes.md&timestamp=2026-05-08T16:45:00&vault=youtube"

Python (specific timestamp):

response = requests.get("http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history/read", params={
    "file": "Notes.md",
    "timestamp": "2026-05-08T16:45:00",
    "vault": "youtube"
})

POST /api/utilities/history/restore

Restore a file from history.

CLI Command: obsidian history:restore

Request Body:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`file`	string	No	Target file
`path`	string	No	Full path
`timestamp`	string	No	Version timestamp to restore
`vault`	string	No	Target vault name

Example Request:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history/restore?vault=youtube" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"file": "Notes.md", "timestamp": "2026-05-08T16:45:00"}'

Example Request:

curl "http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history/open?file=Notes.md&vault=youtube"

# Compare current with yesterday's version
CURRENT=$(curl -s "http://localhost:3000/api/file/read?file=Notes.md&vault=youtube" | jq -r '.data')
PREVIOUS=$(curl -s "http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history/read?file=Notes.md&vault=youtube" | jq -r '.data')

echo "=== Current ==="
echo "$CURRENT"
echo ""
echo "=== Previous ==="
echo "$PREVIOUS"

# Find the version before the mistake
HISTORY=$(curl -s "http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history/file/Notes.md?vault=youtube" | jq -r '.data.data[1]')

# Restore
TIMESTAMP=$(echo "$HISTORY" | grep -oP '\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2} \d{2}:\d{2}')
curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/utilities/history/restore?vault=youtube" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file\": \"Notes.md\", \"timestamp\": \"$TIMESTAMP\"}"

History

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