fix: URL-encode Target header for non-ASCII heading names

[marcoaperez]

Summary

Two fixes for the PATCH endpoint in patch_vault_file and patch_active_file:

1. URL-encode Target header for non-ASCII heading names

patch_vault_file and patch_active_file fail with Header 'Target' has invalid value when the target heading contains non-ASCII characters (e.g., accented letters like ó, é, á, or special characters like –).

This is a common scenario for users writing in Spanish, French, German, and other languages that use diacritics.

Example errors

Header 'Target' has invalid value: 'Información del host'
Header 'Target' has invalid value: 'Diario de acciones – BenditaRespaldo'
Header 'Target' has invalid value: 'Decisiones y convenciones::Método de alta'

Root cause

HTTP headers only accept ASCII characters. The Target header value was passed as-is without encoding. The Local REST API OpenAPI spec explicitly states:

Target to patch; this value can be URL-Encoded and must be URL-Encoded if it includes non-ASCII characters.

(See packages/obsidian-plugin/docs/openapi.yaml, lines 361-362)

2. Prevent replace operation from duplicating headings

When using replace on a heading, content was duplicated instead of replaced. A new heading was created at the end of the file with the new content, while the original heading and its content remained untouched.

Root cause

The Create-Target-If-Missing header was always sent as true, even for replace operations. When the API couldn't find the target heading (e.g., when using a leaf heading name instead of the full path), instead of returning an error, it silently created a new duplicate heading at the end of the file.

For replace, if the target doesn't exist, the operation should fail — you can't replace something that doesn't exist.

Changes

packages/mcp-server/src/features/local-rest-api/index.ts

• Apply encodeURIComponent() to the Target header in both patch_active_file and patch_vault_file
• Apply the same encoding to the Target-Delimiter header
• Only send Create-Target-If-Missing: true for append/prepend operations, not for replace

packages/shared/src/types/plugin-local-rest-api.ts

• Improve target parameter description to emphasize that headings must use the full path delimited by :: (e.g. Heading 1::Subheading 1:1)

packages/shared/src/types/plugin-templater.ts

• Change value imports from "obsidian" to type-only imports (import type { ... })
• All imported symbols are only used in type positions, so they don't need runtime imports

Test plan

• Verified patch_vault_file works with headings containing accented characters (e.g., Información del host)
• Verified replace with full heading path works correctly (content replaced, no duplication)
• Verified replace with leaf-only heading name now returns invalid-target error instead of duplicating
• Verified append with Create-Target-If-Missing still creates headings when missing (no regression)
• TypeScript check passes on both shared and mcp-server packages
• No changes to existing behavior for ASCII-only headings

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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