Integration

Connect Claude to Obsidian

Give Claude read and write access to your vault — so it can save notes directly, search your content, and actually remember where things live. No more copy-pasting.

obsidian daily systems workflow

What you'll need before you start

🟣

Obsidian

Installed with at least one vault set up. Free to download at obsidian.md.

🤖

Claude Desktop

The desktop app, not the browser version. MCP integrations only work in the desktop app.

⬡

Node.js

Not sure if you have it? Open a terminal and type node -v. If you get a version number, you're good. If not, download it here and accept all defaults.

What Claude can do once connected

📖

Read any note by pathPull the contents of a specific file into the conversation without leaving the chat.

✍️

Write directly to your vaultSave a daily debrief, create a new note, or update an existing one — all from the chat window.

🔍

Search across your contentFind notes by keyword without knowing the exact path.

📁

List files and foldersSee the structure of your vault so Claude knows where things live.

Setup — step by step

Windows

Mac

📋 do this first — make a backup

Before you touch the config file, make a copy of it. Open %APPDATA%\Claude, right-click claude_desktop_config.json, and duplicate it or copy it somewhere safe. If the JSON ends up malformed, Claude Desktop will quietly drop the broken section to protect itself — which is helpful, but means you can lose your whole MCP setup without a clear error message. A backup takes ten seconds and saves a lot of head-scratching.

Find your vault path

In File Explorer, hold Shift and right-click your Obsidian vault folder. Choose Copy as path. Set it aside — you'll need it in a moment.

It'll look something like: C:\Users\yourname\Documents\MyVault

Open the Claude Desktop config file

Paste this into the File Explorer address bar and hit Enter:

%APPDATA%\Claude

You'll see a file called claude_desktop_config.json. Open it with Notepad.

Add MCPVault to the config

This is the step where the curly braces get confusing — read this carefully before you paste anything.

If the file is empty, paste this entire block, replacing the vault path with your own:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcpvault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@bitbonsai/mcpvault@latest",
        "C:\\Users\\yourname\\Documents\\MyVault"
      ]
    }
  }
}

If the file already has content, you only need to add the inner block — not the outer curly braces. Find the "mcpServers" section, add a comma after the last existing entry, then paste the new block before the closing }. Like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "some-other-server": {
      ...
    },
    "obsidian-mcpvault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@bitbonsai/mcpvault@latest",
        "C:\\Users\\yourname\\Documents\\MyVault"
      ]
    }
  }
}

About those double backslashes: Windows paths normally use single backslashes (C:\Users\yourname), but JSON treats backslash as a special character — so you have to write every backslash twice. The path you copied will have single backslashes; just double them all up when you paste it here. This is a JSON rule, not a Windows thing, and it only matters inside this file.

Save when you're done.

Fully quit and restart Claude Desktop

Right-click the Claude icon in your system tray (bottom right of the taskbar) and choose Quit. Then reopen Claude.

A regular window close is not enough — Claude keeps running in the background and won't pick up the config change until it's fully stopped. This is the step people skip and then think the whole thing is broken.

Test the connection

Open a new chat and try these two things in order:

First: Ask "What folders are at the top level of my Obsidian vault?" — if it lists your actual folders, the connection is live.

Second: Ask "Read the file at [a path you know exists in your vault]" — this confirms read access actually works, not just that Claude can see the structure.

The first startup may be slow — MCPVault downloads in the background the first time. Give it 15–20 seconds before assuming something's wrong.

📋 do this first — make a backup

Before you touch the config file, make a copy of it. Open ~/Library/Application Support/Claude, right-click claude_desktop_config.json, and duplicate it or copy it somewhere safe. If the JSON ends up malformed, Claude Desktop will quietly drop the broken section to protect itself — which is helpful, but means you can lose your whole MCP setup without a clear error message. A backup takes ten seconds and saves a lot of head-scratching.

Find your vault path

Right-click your Obsidian vault folder in Finder and hold Option — you'll see "Copy [folder name] as Pathname" appear. Click it.

It'll look something like: /Users/yourname/Documents/MyVault

Open the Claude Desktop config file

In Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G and paste this path:

~/Library/Application Support/Claude

You'll see a file called claude_desktop_config.json. Open it with TextEdit or any text editor.

Add MCPVault to the config

Read carefully before you paste anything — the curly braces matter.

If the file is empty, paste this entire block, replacing the vault path with your own:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-mcpvault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@bitbonsai/mcpvault@latest",
        "/Users/yourname/Documents/MyVault"
      ]
    }
  }
}

If the file already has content, find the "mcpServers" section and add a comma after the last existing entry, then paste the new block before the closing }:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "some-other-server": {
      ...
    },
    "obsidian-mcpvault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@bitbonsai/mcpvault@latest",
        "/Users/yourname/Documents/MyVault"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Mac paths use forward slashes so no doubling needed — just paste the path you copied as-is. Save when you're done.

Fully quit and restart Claude Desktop

Click Claude in the menu bar at the top of your screen and choose Quit Claude. Then reopen it.

Cmd+Q also works. What doesn't work: just closing the window. Claude keeps running in the background on Mac and won't pick up the config change until it's fully stopped. This is the step people skip and then think the whole thing is broken.

Test the connection

Open a new chat and try these two things in order:

First: Ask "What folders are at the top level of my Obsidian vault?" — if it lists your actual folders, the connection is live.

Second: Ask "Read the file at [a path you know exists in your vault]" — this confirms read access actually works, not just that Claude can see the structure.

The first startup may be slow — MCPVault downloads in the background the first time. Give it 15–20 seconds before assuming something's wrong.

⚠️ the hard restart thing — seriously

Both Windows and Mac keep Claude running in the background even after you close the window. If Claude is running anywhere — in the system tray, in the menu bar, anywhere — the config change won't load. You have to fully quit it. This catches almost everyone the first time, and it makes the whole thing look broken when it isn't.

Troubleshooting

Claude lists the wrong folders, or says it can't find my vault

Double-check the vault path in the config. On Windows, make sure every backslash is doubled. On Mac, make sure you copied the full path with the leading slash. A single typo will silently fail with no useful error message.

Nothing happens when I ask about my vault

Make sure you fully quit and restarted Claude Desktop — not just closed the window. See the red callout above. This is the most common reason it doesn't work.

Claude Desktop won't start / JSON error

Open the config file again and look for a missing comma between server entries, or mismatched curly braces. Every { needs a matching }, and every entry except the last one in a list needs a comma after it. If your config has other sections (like a preferences block), make sure there's a comma between the mcpServers block and whatever comes after it. Stuck? Paste the whole file into jsonlint.com — it'll tell you exactly what's wrong and where.

First startup is really slow

Normal. The first time Claude Desktop loads after you add MCPVault, it downloads the package in the background. Give it 15–20 seconds. Subsequent starts are fast.

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