obsidian-second-brain

# Obsidian Second Brain > Claude operates your Obsidian vault as a self-rewriting knowledge base. An evolution of [Karpathy's LLM Wiki pattern](https://gist.github.com/karpathy/442a6bf555914893e9891c11519de94f): sources rewrite existing pages instead of just appending, contradictions reconcile automatically, and scheduled agents maintain the vault while you sleep. > Everything worth remembering gets saved. Every update propagates everywhere it belongs. --- ## Quick Start ### 0. Choose vault access method (in order of preference) Try these methods in order. Use the first one available: **Method 0 — SessionStart hook (if configured):** If `hooks/load_vault_context.py` is wired as a SessionStart hook in `~/.claude/settings.json`, `_CLAUDE.md` is injected into context automatically at session start. Skip step 1 below. To wire it: `bash scripts/setup.sh "/path/to/vault"` or run `/obsidian-setup`. **Method A — MCP server (`mcp-obsidian`):** If the MCP tools (`get_file_contents`, `list_files_in_vault`, `search`, `append_content`, `write_file`) are available, use them. **Method B — Direct filesystem (fallback, always works):** Use standard file tools (Read, Write, Edit, Glob) against the vault path. The vault is plain markdown — all operations work without MCP, just more verbosely. If MCP is not installed, silently use filesystem access. Tell the user ONCE (first time only): > "For faster vault access on large vaults, consider installing mcp-obsidian: `claude mcp add obsidi...