Run Claude Code inside my Obsidian

    I run Claude Code inside my Obsidian vault through a terminal extension. This lets me treat the AI as a collaborator that can read, write, and traverse my notes.

    The structure

    My vault follows a light hierarchy:

    • 01 Inbox for quick capture
    • 02 Journal for reflections and plans
    • 03 Garden for permanent, evergreen notes
    • 04 Projects for active work, each in its own folder
    • 05 Areas for ongoing life contexts

    The Garden is where ideas mature. Notes there are atomic (one idea each), opinionated (stating positions rather than describing topics), and linked to each other. They accumulate slowly.

    Projects live in separate folders. I can open a terminal in any project folder and give Claude Code the specific context it needs. The AI sees only what’s relevant.

    Maps of Content

    I maintain a handful of Maps of Content (MOCs) that act as entry points into clusters of ideas. These are pages that link to related notes on a theme: creative work, tools for thought, software philosophy, focus, durability, self-experimentation.

    MOCs help me and the AI navigate. When I ask Claude to explore a topic, I can point it to the relevant MOC instead of hoping it finds the right notes through search alone.

    How Claude Code fits in

    The point is not to have AI write for me. It’s to think alongside something that can hold more context than I can in my head at once.

    The terminal interface matters. I’m not pasting notes into a chat window. Claude can use tools: reading files, searching across the vault, writing drafts directly where they belong. It operates inside my system rather than alongside it.

    Common patterns:

    • Filling gaps: I have scattered thoughts across journal entries and inbox notes. I ask Claude what’s missing, what I haven’t addressed, where the argument is weak.

    • Surfacing connections: It finds relationships between notes I hadn’t linked. Sometimes it surfaces tensions or contradictions I’d missed.

    • Deepening thinking: I describe a half-formed idea. Claude asks questions, challenges assumptions, helps me see angles I hadn’t considered. The goal is sharper thinking, not finished prose.

    • Drafting from my material: When I do ask it to write, it’s working from my notes, my fragments, my voice. The output is a starting point I’ll rewrite.

    The AI becomes useful when it has real context and when I stay in the loop. A vault full of linked notes provides the context. Staying critical of the output keeps the thinking mine.

    Daily practice

    I write daily notes when something needs processing. These go in the Journal, not the Garden. They’re messy, personal, often questions more than answers.

    Periodically I review the Journal and promote ideas worth keeping into proper evergreen notes. Claude can help with this: “What themes keep appearing in my recent journal entries?”

    What this isn’t

    The system is simple. There’s no elaborate tagging taxonomy, no complex automation, no perfect template. I’ve tried those approaches. They create maintenance burden that eventually collapses.

    The current setup works because it’s light enough to actually use. Five folders. A few MOCs. Notes that link to each other. An AI that can read and write in place.

    For those exploring this

    The ideas behind evergreen notes come largely from Andy Matuschak (@andy_matuschak), who has published extensively on the topic at notes.andymatuschak.org. His work on making notes atomic, concept-oriented, and densely linked shaped how I think about the Garden. His notes are themselves an example of the method.

    For the underlying methodology, I recommend How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens. It explains the Zettelkasten approach that influenced much of modern networked note-taking. The core insight: writing is thinking, and a good note system makes thinking accumulate.

    The right setup depends on what you’re trying to do. Mine is optimized for accumulating clear thinking over time and having an AI collaborator that can work with that accumulated context. Yours might need something different.

    Start light and add structure only when you feel its absence.