Obsidian Vault Manager for Claude Code

AI-powered knowledge management plugin for Obsidian vaults using Claude Code

What This Plugin Does

This plugin supercharges your Obsidian vault with AI-powered automation through Claude Code:

📝 Universal Content Capture - Save YouTube videos, GitHub repos, web articles, and quick ideas with a single command
🏷️ AI Auto-Tagging - Automatically categorize notes using smart tags (no manual tagging needed)
📚 Study Guide Generation - Turn any content into structured learning materials
🔍 Semantic Search - Find notes by meaning, not just keywords
🌐 GitHub Pages Publishing - Publish notes to the web with password protection
🎯 Smart Templates - Pre-built templates for videos, articles, ideas, and repositories

Complete Setup Guide

For the complete end-to-end setup of the entire KnowledgeFactory system (Claude Code, Obsidian, Docker MCP, this plugin, and publishing), see:

📘 KnowledgeFactory Quick Setup Cheatsheet

The cheatsheet provides a holistic view including:

All prerequisite installations (Claude Pro/Max, Docker Desktop, Obsidian, Claude Code)
Complete Obsidian plugin setup (MCP Tools, Terminal, Smart Connections, Templater)
Docker MCP server configuration with API keys
GitHub Pages publishing setup
Three-tier publishing model (Private, Trusted Circle, Public)

This README focuses specifically on plugin installation and commands.

Requirements (Install These First!)

Before installing this plugin, you need:

1. Claude Pro or Max Subscription

Required: Claude Pro ($20/mo) or Claude Max ($50/mo)
Sign up: claude.ai/upgrade
Provides access to Claude Code and advanced AI capabilities

2. Desktop Applications

Claude Code

Download from claude.ai/code
Install and sign in with Claude Pro/Max account

Obsidian

Download from obsidian.md/download
Install, launch once, create or open your vault

Docker Desktop

Download from docker.com/products/docker-desktop
Install and start Docker Desktop
Verify: docker --version

3. Required Obsidian Plugins

Install these in Obsidian → Settings → Community plugins (turn off Safe Mode first):

MCP Tools - Core MCP integration (click “Install Server” button after enabling)
Local REST API - Auto-installed by MCP Tools, verify it’s enabled
Terminal - Integrated terminal in Obsidian (by polyipseity)
Smart Connections - Semantic search (required for /semantic-search command)
Templater - Advanced templates (required for advanced /capture templates)

CRITICAL: After installing MCP Tools + Local REST API:

Go to Settings → Community plugins → Local REST API → Copy API Key
Save this key - you’ll need it for Docker MCP Obsidian server configuration

4. Docker MCP Servers

Install via Docker Desktop → MCP Toolkit → Catalog:

Required (3):

GitHub Official (needs API key from github.com/settings/tokens)
YouTube Transcripts (no API key needed)
Obsidian (needs Local REST API key from step 3)

Recommended (3):

Firecrawl (needs API key from firecrawl.dev, 1000 free/month)
Context7 (no API key needed)
Fetch (Reference) (no API key needed)

Optional (2):

Memory (Reference) (no API key needed)
Perplexity (needs API key from perplexity.ai/settings/api)

After installing servers:

Configure API keys in Docker Desktop → MCP Toolkit → My servers (click server → add keys → save & restart)
Connect to Claude Code: MCP Toolkit → Clients → Claude Code → Connect
Verify all servers show green status

5. System Tools

Required for /publish command:

# macOS
brew install git jq

# Linux
sudo apt install git jq

# Windows
choco install git jq

For detailed setup with screenshots and troubleshooting, see the KnowledgeFactory Quick Setup Cheatsheet.

Installation

Step 1: Add Plugin Marketplace

In your terminal, start Claude Code and add this plugin’s marketplace:

# Navigate to your Obsidian vault
cd ~/Documents/Obsidian/YourVault

# Start Claude Code
claude

# Add plugin marketplace
/plugin marketplace add ZorroCheng-MC/obsidian-vault-manager-plugin

Step 2: Install the Plugin

Option A: Browse and Install (Recommended)

# Browse available plugins interactively
/plugin

This opens an interactive menu where you can:

See all available plugins from configured marketplaces
Read plugin descriptions
See installation status
Install with one selection

Option B: Direct Install

# Install directly by specifying marketplace
/plugin install obsidian-vault-manager@ZorroCheng-MC/obsidian-vault-manager-plugin

Step 3: Verify Installation

# List installed plugins
/plugin list

You should see obsidian-vault-manager in the list.

Quick Start

1️⃣ Navigate to Your Vault

# Go to your Obsidian vault directory
cd ~/Documents/Obsidian/YourVault

# Start Claude Code
claude

2️⃣ Run Setup Wizard

# Inside Claude Code, run:
/setup

The setup wizard will:

✅ Detect your vault path automatically
✅ Check for required dependencies (git, jq)
✅ Prompt for sharehub path (if using /publish command)
✅ Generate configuration files (.claude/settings.local.json, .claude/config.sh)
✅ Validate everything works

3️⃣ Start Using Commands!

# Capture a YouTube video
/youtube-note https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123

# Analyze a GitHub repository
/gitingest https://github.com/user/repo

# Quick idea capture
/idea Use AI to automatically organize my notes

# Publish a note to GitHub Pages
/publish my-note.md

That’s it! You’re ready to use the plugin.

Available Commands

Command	Description	Example
`/setup`	Interactive setup wizard	`/setup`
`/capture`	Universal content capture (YouTube, GitHub, articles, ideas)	`/capture https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc`
`/youtube-note`	Capture YouTube video with transcript	`/youtube-note https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc`
`/gitingest`	Analyze GitHub repository	`/gitingest https://github.com/user/repo`
`/idea`	Quick idea capture with AI tagging	`/idea Use AI to organize notes`
`/study-guide`	Generate study guide from content	`/study-guide my-note.md`
`/semantic-search`	Find notes by meaning	`/semantic-search "productivity tips"`
`/bulk-auto-tag`	Bulk AI tagging for existing notes	`/bulk-auto-tag "*.md"`
`/publish`	Publish note to GitHub Pages	`/publish my-note.md`

See detailed command documentation with examples →

Basic Usage

Capture Content

Capture anything with one command:

# YouTube video
/youtube-note https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123

# GitHub repository
/gitingest https://github.com/user/repo

# Quick idea
/idea Use AI to automatically organize my notes

The plugin will:

Analyze the content type
Fetch the content (transcript, code, article text)
Generate a formatted note with frontmatter
Apply AI-powered tags automatically
Save to your vault

Publish to Web

# Publish a note to GitHub Pages
/publish my-article.md

# Publish with password protection
# (Just add "access: private" to frontmatter)

Generate Study Guides

# Create a study guide from a note
/study-guide my-note.md

# Or from a URL
/study-guide https://example.com/article

Semantic Search

# Find notes by meaning (requires Smart Connections plugin)
/semantic-search "notes about productivity workflows"

See More Examples & Command Details →

How It Works

This plugin adds slash commands to Claude Code that work inside your Obsidian vault:

Your Vault/
├── .claude/
│   ├── settings.local.json  ← Plugin configuration (auto-generated by /setup)
│   └── config.sh            ← Script settings (auto-generated by /setup)
└── your-notes.md

When you run /capture, /youtube-note, or other commands, Claude Code:

Uses AI to understand the content
Fetches data via MCP servers (transcripts, code, articles)
Applies smart templates
Tags automatically using predefined taxonomy
Saves to your vault in markdown format

No manual work needed - just run the command and get organized notes!

Troubleshooting

Plugin not found

# Verify marketplace was added
/plugin marketplace list

# Should show: ZorroCheng-MC/obsidian-vault-manager-plugin

# If not, add it again
/plugin marketplace add ZorroCheng-MC/obsidian-vault-manager-plugin

Commands not working

# Run setup wizard again
cd /path/to/vault
claude
/setup

# Verify MCP servers are connected
# Check Docker Desktop → MCP Toolkit → My servers (all should be green)

MCP Servers Not Connected

Open Docker Desktop → MCP Toolkit → Clients
Find Claude Code → Click Disconnect then Connect
Go to My servers tab → verify all servers show green status
Restart Claude Code

Need help?

Complete Setup Guide: KnowledgeFactory Quick Setup Cheatsheet
Command Documentation: PLUGIN_FEATURES.html
Developer Guide: DEVELOPER.md
Open an Issue: github.com/ZorroCheng-MC/obsidian-vault-manager-plugin/issues

For Plugin Developers

This repository serves as a reference implementation for building Claude Code plugins. It demonstrates:

✅ Automated releases with GitHub Actions (no manual publishing)
✅ Configuration patterns for cross-platform compatibility
✅ Interactive setup wizards for great UX
✅ Conversational development approach
✅ MCP server integration patterns

Want to build your own plugin? See DEVELOPER.md for the complete technical guide.

Contributing & Support

Found a bug? Open an issue

Want to contribute? PRs welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md

Need help? Check the KnowledgeFactory Quick Setup Cheatsheet for comprehensive documentation.

License & Credits

License: MIT License - Free to use and modify

Created by: Zorro Cheng

Built with:

Claude Code - AI-powered development
GitHub Actions - Automated releases
MCP (Model Context Protocol) - Tool integration

⭐ If this plugin helps you, consider starring the repo!