Building Your Second Brain: How to Use Claude with Obsidian

Why Your Notes Need AI

If you've been building a personal knowledge base in Obsidian, you know the struggle: hundreds of notes, thousands of connections, but finding what you need when you need it? That's the hard part.

This is where Claude changes everything.

The Second Brain Concept

The "Second Brain" methodology, popularized by Tiago Forte, is about capturing knowledge so you can retrieve and use it later. Obsidian is perfect for this because it's:

• Local-first: Your notes stay on your machine
• Markdown-based: Plain text that lasts forever
• Link-powered: True networked thinking

But even the best system breaks down as it grows. That's where AI assistance becomes essential.

How Claude Enhances Your Vault

Intelligent Search

Instead of remembering exact keywords, ask Claude:

• "What did I write about negotiation tactics last year?"
• "Find notes related to this project's technical decisions"
• "What are the key themes across my meeting notes?"

Automatic Connections

Claude can identify notes that should link together but don't:

• Suggest backlinks based on content similarity
• Find orphaned notes that belong in clusters
• Create topic summaries from scattered notes

Content Enhancement

Let Claude help you build better notes:

• Expand rough bullet points into full notes
• Generate MOCs (Maps of Content) for topics
• Create daily note templates based on your patterns

Setting Up Claude + Obsidian

Step 1: Install the Obsidian Knowledge Base Skill

Visit ClaudeSkillsHQ and copy the MCP configuration.

Step 2: Configure Vault Access

Point the skill to your Obsidian vault folder. Claude will have read/write access to your notes.

Step 3: Start Interacting

Now you can manage your vault through natural conversation:

• "Create a new note about today's meeting with John"
• "Find all notes tagged #project-alpha"
• "What connections am I missing between my startup notes?"

Best Practices

1. Maintain Your Naming Conventions

Claude will follow your existing patterns, so be consistent with how you title and tag notes.

2. Use Metadata

YAML frontmatter helps Claude understand note context:

---
date: 2025-01-07
type: meeting
project: alpha
participants: [John, Sarah]
---

3. Regular Reviews

Ask Claude to surface notes you haven't touched in a while:

• "What important notes haven't I reviewed in 90 days?"
• "Summarize my learning notes from Q4"

The Compound Effect

The real magic happens over time. As your vault grows, Claude's ability to find connections and surface insights grows with it. Every note you add makes the system smarter.

Start small: install the skill, connect your vault, and ask Claude one question about your notes. You'll never go back to manual searching.