Links

Links that start with obsidian://mtm- add an Action, open quick add or open an Action, a Matter or a board, from Shortcuts, launchers, other apps or your own notes.

Obsidian answers links that start with obsidian://, and Matters that Matter adds three of its own:

Link	Does
`obsidian://mtm-add`	Adds an Action
`obsidian://mtm-quick-add`	Opens quick add with some text already in it
`obsidian://mtm-open`	Opens an Action’s note, a Matter’s overview or a board

Anything that can open a link can use them: Shortcuts on a Mac, iPhone or iPad, Raycast, Alfred, a button in another app, a link in one of your notes. They work on desktop and mobile, and Obsidian opens if it isn’t running. Links add and open, and nothing else: they never change or delete anything.

Writing a link

A link names the vault, then gives its values as name=value pairs, joined with &:

obsidian://mtm-add?vault=Notes&text=Ring%20the%20bank%20tomorrow

The vault, by its name (the folder’s name, Notes here) or by its ID. Use the ID when two of your vaults have the same name, so the link can’t land in the wrong one. Obsidian keeps every vault’s ID in its list of vaults, obsidian.json: in ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian on macOS, %APPDATA%\obsidian on Windows, ~/.config/obsidian on Linux. The ID is the 16-character key next to the vault’s path.
Values are encoded, as in any web address: a space is %20, # is %23 (otherwise everything after it is lost), & is %26, a line break %0A. Shortcuts, Raycast and Alfred have a step or an option that does it for you. Values are decoded once, so %2523 arrives as %23, not #.

Add an Action

obsidian://mtm-add adds an Action at once, as quick add would. The simplest link gives quick add’s text, tokens and all:

obsidian://mtm-add?vault=Notes&text=Call%20Charlie%20about%20the%20worktop%20%2Fcall%20%23Kitchen%20fri%2010%3A00%20!1

That is Call Charlie about the worktop /call #Kitchen fri 10:00 !1: a call in Kitchen renovation, due on Friday at 10:00, high priority. A notice confirms it, marked “From a link”, with the title and where it went (“Added to Kitchen renovation · Later”). Select the notice to show the Action in the inspector.

Or give the values one by one:

obsidian://mtm-add?vault=Notes&title=Order%20the%20tiles&matter=Kitchen%20renovation&type=buy&due=2026-10-20&checklist=Pick%20a%20colour%0ACount%20the%20boxes&link=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Ftiles

Value	Takes
`text`	Quick add’s text: a title with `/type`, `#Matter`, `@person`, `!1` to `!3` and dates in words
`title`	The title, when it isn’t in `text`
`matter`	A Matter, by name or path
`status`	A status, by label or ID
`type`	An Action type, by label or ID
`priority`	`1`, `2` or `3`, or `high`, `medium` or `low`
`start`, `due`	`2026-10-16`, `2026-10-16T10:00`, or words such as `fri 10:00`
`waiting-on`	A person: someone with a note in your vault. They are added to the people too
`people`	People, separated by commas
`details`	The details, up to 3,000 characters
`checklist`	Checklist items, one per line
`link`	A note in your vault, or a web address starting with `http://` or `https://`, added as a line at the end of the note

Other values are ignored. Values given one by one win over what text says, so text=Pay%20the%20council%20tax%20%2Fbuy&type=call makes a call.

What happens when a value doesn’t fit:

A Matter, type or status that matches nothing falls back, as in quick add: the Inbox, your default type, your backlog status. The notice shows where the Action went. A link never creates a Matter.
A person without a note is left out. A link never creates a person’s note.
A value that can’t be read, such as a date the plugin doesn’t understand, a link that is neither a note nor a web address, or a name that matches several Matters, stops the add. A notice says why, and nothing is written.

Open quick add

obsidian://mtm-quick-add opens the quick add dialog with the link’s text in it. Nothing is added until you press Enter, so you can check, change or cancel it. A link that arrives while the dialog is open is ignored.

obsidian://mtm-quick-add?vault=Notes&text=%2Fbuy%20%23Kitchen

Opens quick add with /buy #Kitchen in it.

Open an Action, a Matter or a board

obsidian://mtm-open takes one of:

Value	Opens
`file`	An Action’s note, by its path or title
`matter`	A Matter’s overview, by its name or path
`board`	A board, by its path, or its name in the boards folder

obsidian://mtm-open?vault=Notes&file=MTM%2FActions%2FConfirm%20the%20worktop%20measurements.md
obsidian://mtm-open?vault=Notes&matter=Kitchen%20renovation
obsidian://mtm-open?vault=Notes&board=Matters

With none of them, it opens your board, as the ribbon button does. An Action opens in the tab that already shows it, or in an empty tab, or in a new one, never over another note. A name that matches several Actions, Matters or boards opens nothing; the notice suggests the path to use instead.

Actions are named with file, as in Obsidian’s own links, because Obsidian keeps the name action for itself.

Ideas

Shortcuts. A shortcut with three actions: Ask for Input (“What needs doing?”), URL Encode the answer, and Open URLs with obsidian://mtm-add?vault=Notes&text= followed by the encoded text. Add it to the Home Screen or the Action button. Put #Kitchen or /buy in the URL to make a shortcut for one Matter or one kind of Action.
Raycast. A quicklink to obsidian://mtm-add?vault=Notes&text= with an argument where the text goes. Type its name and your Action, press Return, and it’s on the board.
Alfred. A custom web search with the same link and {query} for the text. Use mtm-quick-add instead of mtm-add to see the dialog before adding.
Your notes and templates. A Markdown link in a daily note template, such as [Plan tomorrow](obsidian://mtm-quick-add?vault=Notes&text=tomorrow), which opens quick add with tomorrow in it, or links to your Matters’ overviews on a home note: [Kitchen](obsidian://mtm-open?vault=Notes&matter=Kitchen%20renovation).
Other apps. An app that can open a link of your own making, with an item’s title in it, can add an Action for that item, with the item’s web address as link.

From a terminal or a script, mtm open builds an open link and opens it for you.

What a link can’t do

Any web page, email or app can open an obsidian:// link, sometimes with one tap. So links are limited by what they can do, not by who sends them:

Add and open only. No link changes, moves, completes or deletes an Action, and none creates a Matter or a person.
Text stays text. Whatever a link brings is written so that nothing in it can run, load or lead elsewhere when the note is shown. HTML is written as text. Code blocks, inline code and queries that other plugins run (such as dataviewjs or $=) are written as plain characters. Embeds become plain links, so nothing loads. Links to anything but a note or a web address (obsidian://, javascript: and the like) stop being links. Invisible characters, which can hide or reorder text, are dropped. Links to notes and web addresses keep working.
Sizes are capped. A title is cut as quick add cuts it, details at 3,000 characters, a checklist at 50 items.
Ten a minute. When more than ten Actions arrive through links within a minute, Matters that Matter stops adding them for a minute and says so once: “Stopped adding Actions from links: more than ten arrived in a minute. Links work again in a minute.” Quick add and open links have a limit of their own: “Stopped opening things from links: more than ten arrived in a minute. Links work again in a minute.”
Always visible. Every Action added through a link shows a notice.

Your browser may ask before opening Obsidian from a web page. Matters that Matter doesn’t count on it, since it’s easy to tick “always allow”.

Turn adding off

If you never add Actions through links, turn off Let links add Actions in Settings → Matters that Matter → Other tools. Adding links are then refused with a notice (once a minute at most): “A link tried to add an Action, but links can’t add Actions in this vault. You can allow it in Settings → Matters that Matter → Other tools.” Quick add and open links still work: they change nothing on their own.

Notices

When	The notice says
An Action is added	“From a link”, the title, and where it went: “Added to Kitchen renovation · Later”
Adding is turned off	“A link tried to add an Action, but links can’t add Actions in this vault. You can allow it in Settings → Matters that Matter → Other tools.”
Setup hasn’t run	“Matters that Matter isn’t set up in this vault yet, so the link wasn’t used. Run setup first.”
A value stops the add	“A link tried to add an Action, but it wasn’t added.” and the reason, such as ““javascript:alert(1)” isn’t a note in this vault or a web address (http or https).”
No such Action	“No Action called “Ring the bank” here.”
Several Actions	“Several Actions are called “Call Marco”. Use its path in the link, such as MTM/Actions/Call Marco about the quote.md.”
No such Matter, or several	“No Matter called “Gym” here.” or “Several Matters are called …”
No such board, or several	“No board called “Work” here.” or “Several boards are called …”
Too many links	The two notices under what a link can’t do