01What Claude + Obsidian Is and How It Works
Claude + Obsidian is a free, open-source tool built for Claude Code that gives your AI a real memory—a living, growing wiki made of simple text files on your computer. It solves the problem of AI answers disappearing into chat history. You no longer need to repeat yourself every day.
Here's how it works: you drop a file into a folder called the inbox. Claude reads it, connects it to everything else it already knows, and remembers it forever. Every fact keeps a link back to where it came from.
So you always know if something is true and where it came from.
This is not just a notes app. It's a knowledge base that your AI agents can pull from every session. They all know your business, your projects, your style.
Julian Goldie plugged this into his own agent operating system, which he calls the memory galaxy. Every note, project, and piece of research becomes a star connected to other stars. Thousands of memories, all linked, all searchable in seconds.
In this episode, Julian shows how his agents added an update about 20 minutes before recording—without him touching anything. The agents keep building the vault while he works on other things. That's the core idea: your AI builds its own memory, and you just feed it sources.
02Main Features of Claude + Obsidian
The tool has three layers that make it work. Layer one is the vault: a folder of simple text files with an inbox. It lives on your computer, and Obsidian—a free notes app—turns it into a visual graph called the memory galaxy.
Layer two is the librarian: a set of skills built into Claude Obsidian. These skills handle capturing new notes, connecting them, answering questions, and cleaning up. Every skill follows one rule: every claim keeps its source.
No made-up answers ever. Layer three is the agent that runs everything inside your agent OS. It writes to your vault every session and keeps building the memory galaxy automatically.
There are 15 different skills you can use. A few favorites are:
- The front door: checks the health of your vault and tells you which workflow to use next.
- The librarian: takes everything in your inbox and turns it into properly linked pages.
- The honest oracle: only answers questions using evidence actually in your vault.
- The map maker: builds visual boards from your notes, like mapping a new project for your community.
- The historian: rolls up weeks of activity into a simple summary—what came in, what changed, what got confirmed.
The system uses the PARA method to organize everything: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives. No matter what you feed your agents, it lands in the right place automatically.
03How to Set Up Claude + Obsidian
Setting up this system is simple. It takes about 10 minutes. Here are the steps Julian showed:
- Create a folder called the inbox. This is where you'll drop files for your AI to process.
- Install Obsidian, the free notes app, and point it to your folder. It will turn your text files into a visual graph.
- Install the Claude Obsidian plugin (it's free and open source). This adds the librarian skills.
- Set up your agent OS—the system that runs your AI agents. Julian uses his own agent OS, which you can get inside the AI profit boardroom as a ready-to-install zip file.
- Start feeding your vault: drop in notes, research, client info, anything you want your AI to remember.
- Let your agents write to the vault every session. They'll keep building the memory galaxy automatically.
If you want the exact setup Julian uses, you can grab it from the AI profit boardroom. It comes with Claude Obsidian already built in. You're not starting from a blank folder; you're starting from the same brain Julian's agents run on daily.
Every skill, layer, and piece of the setup is already built for you.
04How to Use Claude + Obsidian in Your Workflow
Using this system is about making your AI a true knowledge worker. You drop a source into the inbox. The agent reads it, links it to existing notes, and files it under the right PARA category.
For example, you can feed it your offers, systems, and client notes. Every future session with your agents will know your business from the ground up.
You can try a prompt right after setup: ask your agent to pull ideas straight from your vault. You'll get ideas that are personal to you, not generic lists from nowhere. The honest oracle skill ensures answers come only from your own data, with citations.
Here are six ways this changes your week:
- Real business brain: Feed it your offers, systems, client notes. Agents know your business.
- Research: Every article or report you read becomes a linked page you can find months later.
- Content vault: Every idea you've ever had becomes organized and searchable.
- Competitor tracking: Keep all competitor info in one place instead of 10 bookmarks.
- Course companion: Link everything your students need to know, easy to find.
- Team alignment: Hand this agent OS to your team so everyone works from the same brain.
The best part is it compounds. Every note you add makes the next answer smarter.
05Results and Comparisons Shown in the Episode
Julian compared the old way with this new system. The old way means spending hours a week being your own librarian: copying answers into random notes, explaining your business to your AI every morning, searching through four different apps to find one fact, trusting answers you can't double-check, and watching notes pile up with zero links between them. Three months later you have a giant pile of scattered information that doesn't connect to anything.
With this system, that same job takes about two minutes a week. Your agent does the heavy lifting. You drop a source in the folder; it gets read, linked, and filed automatically.
Every claim keeps its source. Ask a question once and you get an answer with real citations pointing back into your own notes. If the vault doesn't know something, it tells you that instead of making something up.
Julian showed the memory galaxy with thousands of memories, all linked and searchable. He also showed an update added by an agent about 20 minutes before recording—proof the system works while you're away. The tool is completely free, including the Obsidian app and the plugin itself.
06Tips, Limits, and Mistakes to Avoid
Here are some tips Julian shared to get the most out of the system:
- Use the front door skill first. It checks your vault's health and points you to the right workflow next.
- Feed diverse sources. Articles, reports, client notes—everything becomes a linked page.
- Let your agents write. Don't manually organize; let the librarian skill do it.
- Use the honest oracle for critical answers. It only uses evidence in your vault, so you avoid made-up answers.
One mistake to avoid is thinking this replaces your existing notes. It doesn't. It organizes them.
It adopts what you already have and connects it all together. AI is better at organizing text files and spotting patterns than we are.
A limit to keep in mind: the system only knows what's in your vault. If you ask about something not there, it will tell you it doesn't know—it won't guess. That's a feature, not a bug, because it keeps your knowledge base honest.
Another note: the tool is free, but installing it properly takes about 10 minutes, so don't rush the setup.
07Who It Is For and Why It Matters
This system is for anyone who uses AI daily and is tired of repeating themselves. It's especially useful for business owners, researchers, content creators, and teachers. If you run a business, you can feed it your offers, systems, and client notes.
Every future AI interaction knows your business from the ground up. If you teach or train a team, you can make a course companion where everything your students need is linked.
It matters because your knowledge shouldn't disappear after one chat. It should grow inside a system. Julian says it best: the system compounds.
Every note you add makes the next answer smarter. Every source you drop makes your agents more useful. Over time, your agents build a memory galaxy that keeps working for you, even while you're away.
Because both the skill and the Obsidian app are free, there's really no reason not to try it this week. If you want the exact setup Julian uses, you can get it in the AI profit boardroom. It's the same system he runs his own agents through daily.
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