For years, my Obsidian vault served as a loyal but passive repository. As it grew to hundreds of notes, the cognitive overhead of navigating, connecting, and extracting value became overwhelming. The promise of a “second brain” remained partially unfulfilled – until now.

By integrating Claude (Anthropic’s AI assistant) with Obsidian through the MCP protocol, I’ve transformed my static knowledge vault into an interactive, intelligent system that actively helps me build my businesses. For the first time, my notes truly feel like an extension of my thinking.

If you’re a solo founder or creator juggling multiple projects with limited time, this integration doesn’t just save hours – it multiplies your cognitive capabilities. It’s like having a brilliant research assistant who has read and memorized every note you’ve ever written, ready to make connections you might miss and surface exactly what you need when you need it.

Setup

Here’s how to build your own AI-powered knowledge system:

1. Download Claude desktop application
2. Install Python & uv package (https://github.com/astral-sh/uv – follow the simple installation instructions)
3. Download mcp-obsidian for the MCP server (https://github.com/MarkusPfundstein/mcp-obsidian)
4. Install Obsidian’s Local REST API plugin to generate your API key. Copy this API key and save it in mcp-obsidian.
5. Try refreshing. Once you can see the tools available, you are good to go

Use cases

1. Instant Knowledge Retrieval

No more futile searching through nested folders or trying to remember where you stored that brilliant insight. Ask Claude to find information across your entire vault using keywords, concepts, or even vague descriptions of what you remember. The system doesn’t just find files – it understands the relationships between your ideas.

2. Effortless Knowledge Organization

As a solo founder, I’m constantly capturing ideas across multiple platforms – Google Docs, Apple Notes, voice memos, and more. But organizing was always the bottleneck. Now, I dump raw content into Obsidian and ask Claude to organize it according to my preferred structure.

My favorite approach: asking Claude to split large notes into focused mini-notes with clear titles derived from key points, all connected to a master note. This maintains the atomic note principle while preserving context – something I never had time to do manually.

This integration embodies the core philosophy of Solo Playbook: using AI to handle the cognitive overhead that traditionally required teams. Your knowledge system becomes not just a storage facility but an active thinking partner that helps you connect dots, surface insights, and make better decisions faster.

For solo founders and creators, your competitive edge isn’t just about working harder – it’s about building systems that amplify your thinking. This Claude-Obsidian integration is one of the most powerful systems I’ve implemented.