claude-obsidian MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects Claude Desktop to your Obsidian vault — making Obsidian the single source of truth for all your PM work: PRDs, processes, Jira notes, meeting notes, and ideas.

What This Enables

Once installed, you can talk to Claude naturally and it will automatically manage your Obsidian notes:

Say to Claude	What happens
"Create a PRD for the new onboarding flow"	Creates a structured PRD in `PRDs/`
"Log notes for PROJ-123, it's about payment timeout"	Creates `Jira/PROJ-123.md` with full context
"Create meeting notes for today's sprint planning"	Creates a structured meeting note in `Meetings/`
"Capture this thought: we should rethink the checkout UX"	Saves to `Ideas/` with timestamp
"Document the deployment process"	Creates a process SOP in `Processes/`
"Search my notes for authentication"	Full-text search across your entire vault
"Show me my vault overview"	Lists all folders and note counts
"Set up my vault structure"	Creates all folders + index notes in one shot

Prerequisites

1. Obsidian + Local REST API Plugin

Open Obsidian
Go to Settings → Community plugins → Browse
Search for "Local REST API" and install it
Enable it, then go to Settings → Local REST API
Copy the API Key shown there — you'll need it in Step 3 below
Leave Obsidian open while using Claude (the plugin serves on localhost:27124)

Note: Your vault is at /Users/harunzeybek/Documents

2. Node.js

Requires Node.js 18 or later. Check with:

node --version

Installation

Step 1 — Clone & Build

git clone https://github.com/harunzybk/claude-obsidian.git
cd claude-obsidian
npm install
npm run build

Step 2 — Note the full path to the built server

pwd
# e.g. /Users/harunzeybek/Repositories/claude-obsidian

The server binary is at: <that path>/dist/index.js

Step 3 — Configure Claude Desktop

Open your Claude Desktop config file:

open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add the following inside the "mcpServers" object (replace YOUR_API_KEY with the key from Step 1):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/Users/harunzeybek/Repositories/claude-obsidian/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH": "/Users/harunzeybek/Documents",
        "OBSIDIAN_USE_HTTPS": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

If the file doesn't exist yet, create it with the full content above.

Step 4 — Restart Claude Desktop

Quit and reopen Claude Desktop. You should see "obsidian" listed as a connected MCP server (look for the 🔌 icon or check Settings → Developer).

Step 5 — Initialize Your Vault Structure

In Claude Desktop, say:

"Set up my Obsidian vault structure"

Claude will create all folders and index notes automatically.

Available Tools

Note Operations

Tool	Description
`create_note`	Create a new note at any path
`read_note`	Read a note's full content
`update_note`	Replace a note's content
`append_to_note`	Add content to the end of a note
`delete_note`	Delete a note
`list_notes`	List files in a folder

Search

Tool	Description
`search_notes`	Full-text search across the vault
`search_by_tag`	Find notes by Obsidian `#tag`

Vault Management

Tool	Description
`list_folders`	List folders
`create_folder`	Create a new folder
`get_vault_overview`	Top-level structure + note counts

PM Templates

Tool	Description
`create_prd`	Structured PRD with goals, requirements, success metrics
`create_process_doc`	SOP / process documentation
`log_jira_note`	Rich Jira ticket context notes
`capture_thought`	Quick idea / brain dump
`create_meeting_note`	Meeting notes with agenda + action items
`create_project_note`	Project overview and tracking
`setup_vault_structure`	Initialize all folders + index notes

Vault Folder Structure

Your Vault (Documents/)
├── Home.md               ← Start here — links to everything
├── PRDs/                 ← Product Requirements Documents
├── Processes/            ← SOPs and process documentation
├── Jira/                 ← Jira ticket context notes
├── Meetings/             ← Meeting notes (YYYY-MM-DD-title.md)
├── Ideas/                ← Quick thoughts and brain dumps
├── Projects/             ← Project tracking notes
└── Resources/            ← Reference materials

Troubleshooting

Claude says it can't connect to Obsidian

Make sure Obsidian is open
Check that "Local REST API" plugin is enabled in Obsidian
Verify the API key in your claude_desktop_config.json is correct

"Cannot find module" error

Run npm run build again in the project folder
Make sure the path in claude_desktop_config.json points to dist/index.js, not src/index.ts

HTTPS certificate error

Set "OBSIDIAN_USE_HTTPS": "false" in your config (HTTP mode)

Development

npm run dev      # Watch mode — recompiles on change
npm run build    # Production build
npm start        # Run the compiled server

claude-obsidian MCP