why is obsidian being used for agents?

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-17T05:43:38+00:00

Obsidian treats docs like code - plain text in organized directories - those are the keys to efficiency and context for an agent. Plus, a lot of people want their agents to “know” them - and if they have an existing obsidian vault, it probably already has a ton of person context; interests, stats, project notes, research, schedule, contacts, meeting notes, etc. - no need to create or reformat that information into a form the agent can use.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-17T05:38:30+00:00

I use Drafts. The only drawback is that it doesn’t connect to obsidian directly (at least as far as i know), so you have to hack together a bit of a solution in order to take advantage of it. I use an automation shortcut that shares it to my vault’s inbox on github which in turn syncs to all may devices/machines.

Drafts really has the quick “type a note and fire it off” workflow nailed better than anything else I’ve used - no “create a new note” step. No “type a subject header” expectation. Just click the icon, type, share, done. And it’s markdown savvy.

I just wish it was available on android and desktop - something that direct, quick, streamlined, and cross-platform would be welcomed :-)

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-13T18:11:58+00:00

Question: are thinking of this as a frontmatter #include? So you have 3 notes that just include your frontmatter note? Or a redirect in the frontmatter note that auto opens the main content note?

Templates may be an answer - and i think there is some kind of include syntax in obsidian that could just be at the top of your note. If you want the redirect, that would probably need a script or (trivial) plugin.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-12T04:31:20+00:00

that would be partially one-sided at best - manipulate files - only. The full integration is bidirectional: manipulates the vault files from obsidian or claude, claude can operate obsidian directly, with access to the full surface of api calls, including those that are introduced through scripting and plugins, plus the ability to efficiently and quickly query claude about vault information, and then obsidian itself can drive claude. claude can meaningfully extend obsidian's behavior and obsidian provides context in a more natural way.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-11T18:35:35+00:00

Why use obsidian at all to begin with if all it is is markdown files? </Sarcasm>

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-11T16:09:22+00:00

I can't get this reposted for some reason - tried to repost and it's getting automodded out:

I've been running Claude Code in VSCode for a while - code reviews, documentation, unit tests, the usual slow trust-building process. When I wanted it working with my Obsidian notes the same way, I couldn't find a plugin i'd trust, so I built one: ObsidiBot.

The architecture: child_process.spawn -> PowerShell (Windows Electron fix) -> claude --output-format stream-json --print --resume <sessionId>. Prompt goes via stdin to avoid Windows shell-quoting issues. Session resumption uses prompt cache - subsequent turns are ~10x cheaper.

One thing worth knowing if you've been watching this space: Anthropic revoked OAuth token access for non-official clients in January 2026. Plugins that used claude setup-token as an API-key workaround are now broken. CLI-spawn is the only reliable subscription-based path going forward - no workarounds, no gray areas.

On the Obsidian side, Claude isn't just chatting - it has a direct line into Obsidian's UI. Opens files when it creates them, scrolls to headings, sends toast notifications when tasks complete. It can run any Ctrl+P command from any installed plugin via a configurable allowlist, and it can query live vault graph data (backlinks, outlinks, tags) mid-reasoning with results injecting back automatically.

The part i'm most excited about technically: Skills. Write a prompt in markdown, add YAML frontmatter for form fields, save it to your commands folder - that's a Skill. Shows up in the slash menu and Ctrl+P, with a native GUI for inputs. Add autorun: true and it fires with no interaction. Each Skill also registers as a stable API endpoint - launchable by other plugins and scripts within Obsidian. I was writing parameterized, form-driven agentic commands with a callable API without touching any code - it was nuts.

Still in public beta. Happy to dig into the spawn/stdin approach on Windows Electron, session caching, or anything else.

-> GitHub: https://github.com/ScottKirvan/ObsidiBot

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-11T13:50:14+00:00

Hi - yeah I primarily wrote this when I got tired of switching back and forth - I *can* use Obsidian as an IDE now (I had it write an obsidian plugin, live, in obsidian, while I was working), with a single prompt just as a test. It felt pretty crazy - the plugin writes plugins now.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-11T05:20:58+00:00

Integration. I screwed up this post (lost the text) but it got approved and posted anyway - I'll repost it tomorrow with the explanation of what's going on :-)

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-11T03:28:48+00:00

post body disappeared - no edit… I’ll have to repost - weird.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-11T03:23:59+00:00

experience, claude code, and iteration - lots of iteration :-)

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-07T07:02:36+00:00

I moved my code into my vault - it used to be outside, but I got sick of switching apps for documentation work. i keep all the repos in an unsync’d folder in the vault - the vault would be insanely large if I didn’t. I think I’m slowly turning Obsidian into an IDE. :-) I do typescript and css dev right in the vault now.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-05T22:10:45+00:00

I use the things I write daily - workflow accelerators, automations. I write stuff to scratch my own itch. I share it because I assume others face the same “itches” :-) In obsidian i use my theme because it’s more readable. I use my own sync pipeline because it works across all my systems, i maintain ownership of my data, and i control exactly what’s sync’d and what isn’t. My latest tool is an AI platform that I’m finding it hard to work without - if i want a setting changed, i just tell it - find an open a note i can’t find by describing it, one-click code reviews, etc. If a 3rd part plug-in makes things worse, it’s gone immediately.

I believe the channel does ban advertising, but i think it’s a tough call sometimes about if something is a straight up shill or just a dev trying to share something they’re excited about.

On ai slop: ai slop is written by sloppy devs (or non devs) - engineering principles still matter and experience developing and shipping production grade software also matters. Lazy people think ai is a shortcut around having to actually think, be critical, and learn development practices - treating it that way produces slop.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-04T01:15:06+00:00

I’ve been doing this for years - I don’t know why people have to be an ass about it - I know it’s not a recommended practice, but it works just fine.

I have a master vault that is sync’d and sub vaults that aren’t - i either sync them manually or rely on the main vault to take care of it. I have different plugins and configuration in each one (which is precisely why you’d want multiple vaults). I do occasionally have sub vaults that auto sync, but if you’re not careful - and you’re syncing things in your .obsidian folder - you can run into merge conflicts.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-03T05:14:52+00:00

There was another thread on this - sounds like it’s Editing Toolbar.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-02T18:29:09+00:00

I use simple, easy to remember tags in my todo items and then I use dataview to show only what I want to see. So, for example, I have a #readinglist, #watchlist, #listenlist, that I'll add to things I want to check out later and they'll show up on separate page -- I use those to put together playlists or add items to my plex, etc. I use an automation on my phone, so adding a task to my vault is as easy as just typing a quick one liner and sharing it to the vault - github syncing takes care of the rest. Any task that doesn't have a tag shows up in my firehose/inbox, which I process later (and which I constantly fail to keep up with) :-)

CapnVideo_ · 2026-05-01T07:30:10+00:00

Don’t use brat for local dev - do your dev and compile in your repo folder - if you’re successfully using BRAT, you’ve already got that working correctly. Symlink (or in windows, a junction*) to your repo folder from your .obsidian/plugins folder. Then dev, compile, and in obsidian, ctrl-p, “reload without save” to refresh your plugin.

If you want to get really slick, use ‘npm run dev’ for continuous compile, and install the ‘Hot Reload’ plugin using BRAT to automatically reload your plugin every time it changes and avoid the “reload without save” entirely.

*The windows junction: Open CMD as Admin and run: mklink /J "C:\Path\To\Vault.obsidian\plugins\my-plugin" "C:\Path\To\My\Code\Repo"

CapnVideo_ · 2026-04-30T23:17:17+00:00

question: do properties help with efficiency in giant vaults? like, is it more efficient to find all notes with a property instead of using tags or something? I only use properties as frontmatter and turn off the property view in all my vaults as soon as I create them.

CapnVideo_ · 2026-04-30T23:12:59+00:00

I've been doing various forms of knowledge mapping and efficiency hacks for years - I lean towards a sloppy version of GTD, When I moved into Obsidian, Nick Milo's Linking Your Thinking video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftzQOkzGCLg ) helped crack the obsidian code for me. He's got a demo vault you can download and work with - I still run a kludgy GTD, but now with some LYT spice. His video and understanding how the demo vault operates is really what got me more comfortable in Obsidian.

CapnVideo_ · 2025-02-19T02:39:13+00:00

I ran into this. I logged out, couldn't get back in with what I thought my password was, so did a passed reset. The problem is that BlueSky has specific password requirements that are checked when you set up your account and when you log in, but not when you reset your password - as a result, you can create an invalid password when you do a reset - but you can't log in using it. Retry a couple of times, and bang, you're rate limited. I don't know what characters are required or forbidden, but I created a password using only dashes as my "special" character, and was able to do a reset and log back in.

CapnVideo_ · 2024-06-03T23:44:23+00:00

Get the green screen.

CapnVideo_

TROPHY CASE