NeuralNotes

Chat with Claude Code from inside Obsidian. A custom main-area pane lets Claude read, search, and edit notes in your vault using its full agent toolkit (Read, Edit, Write, Glob, Grep, LS, Bash). Permission prompts, a "Claude's thoughts" log, quick-reply buttons, and a guided CLAUDE.md setup are built in.

Desktop only. This plugin spawns the local claude CLI as a subprocess, so it does not work on Obsidian mobile.

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.5.0 or later (desktop).
• Claude Code installed locally and signed in (claude login).

The plugin auto-detects claude in common install paths (/usr/local/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin, ~/.claude/local, ~/.local/bin, ~/.npm-global/bin) and falls back to which claude / where claude. You can also set the path explicitly in settings.

Install

Manual install

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Create a folder neuralnotes inside your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory.
3. Drop the three files into that folder.
4. In Obsidian → Settings → Community plugins, enable NeuralNotes.

Install via BRAT

If you use the BRAT plugin to track beta plugins, add this repo's URL and BRAT will keep NeuralNotes up to date.

Build from source

git clone <this-repo>
cd <repo>
npm install
npm run build

main.js is produced in the repo root. Symlink or copy the repo folder into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/neuralnotes/ (the folder must be named neuralnotes to match manifest.json's id).

Usage

• Click the bot icon in the ribbon (or run "Open NeuralNotes pane" from the command palette) to open the chat pane in the main area.
• Type a question and press Send (or ⌘/Ctrl+Enter — see settings).
• Claude works from your vault root, so paths like Daily/2026-05-04.md resolve relative to it.
• Tools that touch files outside the vault (e.g. /root/CLAUDE.md) are auto-denied with a hint to retry using a vault-relative path.
• Tools that require permission show a bubble with Allow once / Allow this target / Always allow / Deny options. Approved scopes persist for the rest of the chat.
• The collapsible Claude's thoughts section logs every tool call (and any errors) so you can audit what Claude actually did.

CLAUDE.md

When the pane opens (or you start a new chat):

• No CLAUDE.md in vault root → NeuralNotes offers to walk you through creating one. Claude will scan your folder structure, ask one question at a time (with quick-reply buttons), draft a CLAUDE.md, and write it on your approval.
• CLAUDE.md exists with a session-start protocol (e.g. it says "Start each session by…") → NeuralNotes offers to run that protocol now. Click Run protocol and Claude streams its progress as a checklist.

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Path to claude binary	(auto-detect)	Override the binary lookup.
Permission mode	acceptEdits	SDK permission mode. acceptEdits auto-approves edits inside cwd; reads outside cwd still prompt. bypassPermissions allows everything. plan is read-only.
Send on Enter	off	When on, Enter sends and ⌘/Ctrl+Enter inserts a newline. When off, Enter inserts a newline and ⌘/Ctrl+Enter sends.
Restrict to vault	on	Auto-deny any tool call that targets a path outside the vault.
Debug mode	off	Show full tool input JSON and tool error details inline in the thinking log.
System prompt addendum	(sensible default)	Appended to Claude's system prompt every query.

The plugin always injects the actual vault path into Claude's system context so the model knows exactly where it is.

How it works

• The plugin uses @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk, which spawns the local claude CLI as a subprocess.
• Working directory is set to your vault root via Obsidian's FileSystemAdapter.getBasePath().
• HOME and PATH are propagated into the subprocess so Claude can locate its config.
• Tool-use permissions are wired through a canUseTool callback that opens an in-pane prompt; allowed scopes are remembered for the rest of the chat.
• Streaming markdown is normalized on the way in so inline list markers and headings render correctly even if Claude emits them mid-token.

Development

npm install
npm run dev      # esbuild in watch mode
npm run build    # type-check + production bundle
npm run typecheck

Source layout:

• src/main.ts — plugin entry, ribbon, command, view registration.
• src/view.ts — the chat pane (UI, streaming, permissions, suggestions).
• src/claude.ts — wraps the Claude Agent SDK and runs the query.
• src/settings.ts — settings tab.
• styles.css — pane styling.
• esbuild.config.mjs — bundles src/main.ts → main.js (CJS, Node platform).

Release process

1. Bump the version: npm version patch|minor|major — the version script in package.json updates manifest.json and versions.json automatically via version-bump.mjs.
2. Push the resulting tag: git push --follow-tags.
3. The GitHub Actions release workflow builds the plugin, attaches main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css to a new GitHub release named after the tag.

License

MIT.