Claude × Obsidian (Claude Skill) — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

/wiki — query your accumulated knowledge
/save — capture chat as structured wiki note (with backlinks, frontmatter)
/autoresearch — do real research, output a wiki entry
Karpathy LLM Wiki pattern — self-organizing
Pure markdown, no plugin lock-in beyond Obsidian's own format
Free (MIT)

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

ready

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-obsidian-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-obsidian"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-obsidian-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-obsidian"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-obsidian-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-obsidian"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-obsidian-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-obsidian"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "claude-obsidian-skill",
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian",
        "~/.claude/skills/claude-obsidian"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "claude-obsidian-skill": {
      "command": {
        "path": "git",
        "args": [
          "clone",
          "https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian",
          "~/.claude/skills/claude-obsidian"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add claude-obsidian-skill -- git clone https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian ~/.claude/skills/claude-obsidian

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use Claude × Obsidian

How to capture a long Claude conversation as a proper wiki entry

👤 Knowledge workers using Obsidian ⏱ ~5 min beginner

When to use: You had a great Claude conversation that you'll need again — don't let it die in chat history.

Prerequisites

Skill installed; vault path configured — Set OBSIDIAN_VAULT in env; install with git clone

Flow

Save

/save the conversation we just had about React Server Components patterns. Title: 'RSC patterns'.✓ Copied

→ Note created at /Wiki/RSC-patterns.md with frontmatter + backlinks
Verify links

Show me what existing notes the new entry links back to.✓ Copied

→ Linked notes with rationale

Outcome: Wiki gains structured entry instead of chat going to dev/null.

Pitfalls

/save makes overly-long notes — Skill compresses to ~600 words by default; pass --full only when needed

Combine with: obsidian-mcp-tools

Ask the wiki before asking the model

👤 Long-time vault holders ⏱ ~5 min beginner

When to use: You know you wrote about this; check the vault first.

Flow

Ask the wiki

/wiki What did I conclude about RSC error boundaries last quarter?✓ Copied

→ Quote + link to the source note
Refine

Now extend that conclusion with anything you can verify online today, and update the note.✓ Copied

→ Note updated with new dated section

Outcome: Vault gets denser instead of redundant.

Pitfalls

Wiki has stale info that doesn't get updated — Skill flags last-modified > 6 months as stale; review on retrieval

Run /autoresearch to add a sourced wiki entry on a topic

👤 Researchers / students ⏱ ~30 min intermediate

When to use: Topic is new to you; you want a notes-style summary you can later expand.

Flow

Autoresearch

/autoresearch 'Mixture of Experts in 2026 — recent open-source results'.✓ Copied

→ Note created with sections, citations, and links to vault
Refine

Trim to focus on practical training implications.✓ Copied

→ Refined note

Outcome: Vault entry that's a starting point for future deep work.

Pitfalls

Citations may not be fully verified — Pair with last30days-skill or arxiv-mcp-server for grounded sources

Combine with: last30days-skill

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

claude-obsidian-skill + obsidian-mcp-tools

Use the MCP for vault access; skill for the workflow

Use claude-obsidian /save with obsidian-mcp-tools as backend.✓ Copied

claude-obsidian-skill + last30days-skill

Make /autoresearch's sources current and grounded

When /autoresearch runs, fetch sources via last30days first.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call
/wiki	query	Read the vault
/save	title?, scope?	After a useful chat
/autoresearch	topic, depth?	Add new sourced entry

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: N/A
Tokens per call: Light for /wiki; heavier for /autoresearch (5–20k)
Monetary: Free
Tip: Use /wiki before /autoresearch — saves tokens by not redoing prior work

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Minimum scopes: filesystem-read filesystem-write

Credential storage: None

Data egress: Local except when /autoresearch fetches sources

Vault may contain PII — be deliberate about /save scope

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

/save creates files outside vault

Set OBSIDIAN_VAULT env var or pass --vault explicitly

/wiki returns nothing

Check that vault has at least 1 note matching; or rebuild the skill's index

Backlinks don't resolve

Wiki uses [[Title]] format; ensure file titles match exactly

Alternatives

Claude × Obsidian vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
obsidian-mcp-tools (MCP)	You want the building blocks rather than a workflow	MCP is lower-level; this skill encodes opinions
AgriciDaniel/wp-mcp-ultimate (different domain)	You're on WordPress for knowledge	Different platform; same author

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

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