Tutorial

Connect Claude Code to Obsidian

Search, create, and edit your knowledge base using AI — without leaving your terminal.

Obsidian is a powerful knowledge management tool built on local markdown files. Claude Code is Anthropic's AI coding agent for the terminal. By connecting them, you get an AI assistant that can search your notes, create new ones, and link ideas across your vault — all from the command line.

This guide covers three integration approaches, from zero-config file access to a full MCP bridge with real-time vault interaction.

Why connect them?

Prerequisites

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Method A: Direct vault access (zero config)

The simplest approach: launch Claude Code from your vault directory. Since Obsidian vaults are just folders of markdown files, Claude can read and edit them directly.

bash # Navigate to your vault cd ~/Documents/MyVault # Launch Claude Code claude # Now ask Claude to work with your notes: # "Summarize all notes tagged #project-alpha" # "Create a new note linking the ideas from meeting-2026-03.md and roadmap.md"
Tip: Add a CLAUDE.md file to your vault root explaining your folder structure, tagging conventions, and templates. Claude reads this automatically and adapts to your system.
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Method B: Obsidian MCP Server

The obsidian-claude-code-mcp server gives Claude structured access to your vault through the Model Context Protocol. This enables searching by tags, listing backlinks, and working with vault metadata — not just raw file contents.

Install the Obsidian plugin

  1. Open Obsidian Settings → Community Plugins → Browse
  2. Search for "Claude Code MCP" and install it
  3. Enable the plugin — it starts a local WebSocket server on port 22360

Configure Claude Code

json // .claude/mcp_servers.json { "obsidian": { "command": "npx", "args": ["obsidian-claude-code-mcp"], "env": { "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH": "/path/to/your/vault" } } }

What you can do

prompt # Search across your vault Search my Obsidian vault for notes about "authentication patterns" # Create linked notes Create a new note summarizing the key decisions from my last 5 daily notes, with backlinks to each source note. # Generate from code context Read the API routes in ./src/routes/ and create Obsidian documentation notes for each endpoint in my vault's /Engineering/API/ folder.
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Method C: Claudian plugin (embedded agent)

For the deepest integration, the Claudian plugin embeds Claude Code directly inside Obsidian as an AI collaborator. Instead of switching between terminal and editor, you interact with Claude from a panel within Obsidian.

Install

  1. Clone the Claudian repo into your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory
  2. Build the plugin: npm install && npm run build
  3. Enable "Claudian" in Obsidian's community plugins settings

With Claudian, Claude has full vault context and can respond to natural language commands directly in your note-taking flow.

Workflow patterns

Developer knowledge base

Keep architecture decision records (ADRs), runbooks, and debugging notes in Obsidian. When coding with Claude, it can reference these notes for context:

prompt Check my Obsidian vault for any ADRs related to the payment service before making changes to the checkout flow.

Research synthesis

Collect research notes in your vault, then ask Claude to synthesize them:

prompt Read all notes in my /Research/LLM-Evaluation/ folder and create a synthesis note comparing the different evaluation frameworks mentioned across all sources.

Meeting-to-code pipeline

Turn meeting notes into actionable tasks and code:

prompt Read today's standup notes from my vault and create GitHub issues for the action items mentioned in the "Next Steps" section.
What's next? Pair your Obsidian workflow with Excalidraw diagrams to add visual architecture maps alongside your notes.

Need help building AI-powered workflows?

Rivok Labs helps teams design knowledge systems and AI integrations that amplify how you work.

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