Claude Code + Obsidian: My Setup

Claude Code + Obsidian: My Setup

January 14, 20262 min read

I've used Obsidian for 3 years. Capturing notes was never the problem. Organizing them? That's where everything broke down šŸ„²

My Inbox was a disaster. Notes never got connected. I'd write something and never find it again.

Then, connecting Claude Code to my vault was a game changer.

The Three Pieces

  1. CLAUDE.md - Context about my vault structure
  2. MCP Obsidian Server - Claude can search and read my entire vault across projects
  3. Custom Slash Commands - Small automations that make my day easy

CLAUDE.md

The CLAUDE.md is simple. Just my folder structure:

ā”œā”€ā”€ Projects/   # Work + side projects
ā”œā”€ā”€ Areas/      # Home, family, habits
ā”œā”€ā”€ Resources/  # Learning notes
ā”œā”€ā”€ Journal/    # Daily, weekly, monthly
ā”œā”€ā”€ Inbox/      # Quick capture
ā””ā”€ā”€ Archive/    # Old stuff

With this context, Claude routes automatically:

  • Python notes ā†’ Resources/Learning/
  • Work bugs ā†’ Projects/Polar/Tasks/
  • Groceries ā†’ Inbox/ as temporary

The Commands

Commands live in .claude/commands/*.md. Each one is just markdown with instructions.

/morning

My daily check-in. One command shows:

  • Top 3 priorities from journal
  • Inbox items due today
  • Active challenges ("Day 5 of No Phone at Meals")
  • Todoist tasks
---
description: Morning check-in
allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, mcp__todoist__find-tasks-by-date
---
 
1. Find today's journal
2. Show priorities
3. Check Inbox for due items
4. Check active challenges in Areas/Rituals/
5. Pull Todoist tasks

/day

This one changed everything. I dump random thoughts:

/day fix checkout bug at Polar. Create a new note on why it happened. Also, buy tomatoes

Claude parses and creates:

  • Projects/Polar/Tasks/Checkout
  • Inbox/2025-01-13

All with proper frontmatter. All with [[wikilinks]] to related notes.

---
description: Brain dump ā†’ auto-creates notes
allowed-tools: Read, Write, Glob, Grep
---
 
Route each item:
| Type | Folder |
|------|--------|
| Work tasks | Projects/Polar/Tasks/ |
| Errands | Inbox/ with date |
| Learning | Resources/Learning/ |
| Unclear | Ask with 3 suggestions |

Why It Works

I capture fast and Claude organizes.

No more decision fatigue about where notes should go. No more orphaned ideas lost in my Inbox. I just dump and move on with my day.