obsidian-mcp-tools: the no-code way to give Claude, Cursor, or ChatGPT your Obsidian vault

Short version: If you already write notes in Obsidian and you want Claude, Cursor, or ChatGPT to read and write them, obsidian-mcp-tools is the simplest way to do it. Install from Obsidian's community plugin store, paste a config into your AI client, done. 5-minute install, no terminal required. By jacksteamdev, MIT licensed.

What is obsidian-mcp-tools?

obsidian-mcp-tools is the most popular community Obsidian plugin for connecting an Obsidian vault to AI agents via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Once installed, your Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cursor can read your vault, search your notes semantically, and write new notes or edits — all without leaving your chat interface.

It's the lowest-friction path into the "Obsidian-as-AI-memory" pattern. No Docker. No Python. No HTTP server. Just an Obsidian plugin and a config snippet.

Who this is for

Non-technical founders with an Obsidian vault already in use.
Teams that keep SOPs, meeting notes, or playbooks in Markdown.
Anyone who wants a no-terminal install path to AI memory.
Single-user or small-team setups (1–10 people).

Skip this if

You have 50+ people writing to the same vault — use obsidian-mcp-plugin (HTTP-based) or a full framework like mem0. For solo use, tools is the right pick.

What problem it solves

Your notes are already your memory. Every meeting, every decision, every SOP lives in your vault. The problem is that your AI agent can't see any of it — it has to guess, or you have to paste.

obsidian-mcp-tools gives your agent direct access. Ask "what did we decide about Q3 pricing?" and Claude reads your actual pricing note, not a hallucinated summary. Ask it to draft a new SOP, and it gets filed in your vault alongside the others. Your notes and your AI become one workflow.

How to install it (plain English)

Open Obsidian's community plugin browser. Settings → Community plugins → Browse. If this is your first community plugin, click "Turn on community plugins" first.
Search for "mcp tools" by jacksteamdev. Install, then Enable.
Copy the MCP config. Back in Settings, click "MCP Tools" in the sidebar. Copy the JSON snippet the plugin shows you.
Paste into your AI client's config. Claude Desktop: claude_desktop_config.json. Claude Code: .mcp.json in your project root. Cursor: cursor_mcp.json. Paste the obsidian entry into the mcpServers block.
Restart your AI client. Quit fully, reopen. Say "list my 5 most recent notes." If it answers, you're done.

Full walkthrough: /memory/tools/obsidian-mcp-tools.

What you can do with it (for a non-technical founder)

"Summarize everything I've written about Alex this quarter" — reads your journal/meeting notes, produces a clean summary.
"Create an SOP for customer onboarding based on my existing notes" — drafts a new note grounded in your real content.
"Find related notes" — semantic search surfaces connections you would have missed.
"What's my current strategy for Q3?" — pulls from your strategy doc, not a guess.
"Draft my investor update from this week's journal entries" — chains reading with writing.

What CLO adds on top

obsidian-mcp-tools gives your agent access to your team's notes. Cognition CLO tells you which notes your team is actually retaining the content of. The plugin is the substrate; CLO is the pedagogy layer. Run both if you care whether your humans keep up with what the agent is surfacing.

FAQ

Do I need to be technical to set this up?

No. Everything happens in the Obsidian app and a config file. No terminal commands. No compilation. ~5 minutes.

Does my vault data get sent to Anthropic/OpenAI?

Only the specific content you reference in chat — not your whole vault. The plugin exposes tools; the agent calls them when needed; only the results of those calls go to the model.

Can I use this with multiple AI clients?

Yes — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, any MCP-speaking client. Each needs its own config entry, but they all read the same vault.

What happens if my vault is on iCloud or Obsidian Sync?

Works identically. The plugin reads whatever Obsidian shows it.

How is this different from obsidian-mcp-plugin?

obsidian-mcp-tools uses stdio — simpler, one agent at a time. obsidian-mcp-plugin uses HTTP — scales to multiple concurrent agents and users. Use tools for solo, plugin for teams.

How is this different from claudian?

claudian embeds Claude directly inside Obsidian as a chat pane. obsidian-mcp-tools connects external clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor) to your vault. Use claudian if you want everything in one window; tools if your AI lives in a separate app.

Ready to install? Full walkthrough at /memory/tools/obsidian-mcp-tools. Comparison with gbrain: /blog/gbrain-vs-obsidian-mcp-tools. Credit to @jacksteamdev — star the repo if it earns its keep.