--- url: https://ccforeveryone.com/mini-lessons/vin-obsidian-workflows title: "Vin Obsidian Workflows — The Obsidian + Claude Code System" description: "Turn Obsidian into a thinking partner for Claude Code. Learn the Obsidian CLI, build a custom context command, and create thinking tools that surface hidden patterns in your notes." source_urls: - https://ccforeveryone.com/mini-lessons/vin-obsidian-workflows - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MBq1paspVU captured_at: "2026-03-02T12:11:00+08:00" status: "inbox" tags: - obsidian - claude-code - workflow - ai-context --- # Vin Obsidian Workflows An interactive version of Greg Isenberg's interview with Internet Vin, where Vin demonstrates how an Obsidian vault of interconnected notes transforms Claude Code from a generic assistant into a personalized thinking partner. **Source:** [The Obsidian + Claude Code System That Changes Everything](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MBq1paspVU) ## What You'll Learn - **Obsidian as AI infrastructure** — why a vault of interconnected markdown notes is the missing context layer for Claude Code - **The /my-world command** — one command that loads your entire world into any Claude Code session - **Thinking tools** — commands like /challenge, /emerge, and /connect that surface patterns you'd never see on your own ## 1. The Context Problem Most people hit a ceiling with Claude Code for one reason: every session starts from zero. You re-explain your project, your preferences, your constraints — all over again. As Greg put it: **"The whole game is feeding the beast good context."** The model isn't the bottleneck. Your context is. ## 2. What is Obsidian (and Why It Matters for AI) Obsidian is a note-taking app that stores everything as plain markdown files on your computer. Unlike Notion or Google Docs, your notes aren't locked in someone else's cloud — they're `.md` files Claude Code can read natively. The killer feature: **wikilinks**. Write `[[Project Alpha]]` in a note, and Obsidian creates a bidirectional link. Over time, this builds a web of connected ideas — projects link to people, people to meetings, meetings to decisions. It's a map of how you think. Vin said: "It works more like the way your brain works. Your brain connects these patterns all the time." ## 3. The Obsidian CLI In February 2026, Obsidian released an official command-line interface. This is the bridge that gives Claude Code access to your vault's *relationships* — backlinks, orphan notes, tag counts, the full link graph. Things that don't exist in the raw files. The efficiency difference is massive: finding orphan notes by scanning files takes 15 seconds and millions of tokens. With the CLI, it takes 0.26 seconds and about 100 tokens. ## 4. Building the /my-world Command This is the most important command Vin built (he calls it `/context`, but since that's a built-in Claude Code command, we name it `/my-world`). Instead of re-explaining who you are every session, `/my-world` loads your vault — projects, priorities, connections — in one shot. The lesson includes 10 pre-built vault notes about Claude Code best practices, all interconnected with wikilinks. You'll build a `/my-world` command that reads them all and maps the knowledge graph. Or connect your own vault for even more powerful results. ## 5. Daily Rituals: /today and /close Vin bookends every day with two commands: - **`/today`** — morning planning that pulls calendar, tasks, and recent notes - **`/close`** — evening reflection that extracts action items and surfaces missed connections The insight: "Writing right now is a big way of how you delegate things to agents. If you can develop a writing habit, you have a lot more context that you can pass over to an agent." ## 6. Thinking Tools: /challenge, /emerge, /connect This is Vin's favorite part of the system — commands that don't organize information, they generate insight: - **`/challenge`** — pressure-tests your beliefs using your vault's own history - **`/emerge`** — surfaces ideas the vault implies but you never explicitly stated - **`/connect`** — bridges two disparate domains using your link graph Greg compared it to a therapist: "You're doing most of the talking. The therapist is guiding you. That's what this is doing." ## 7. The Golden Rule: Agents Read, Humans Write The critical principle most people get wrong: **never let the agent write into your vault.** Vin was emphatic: "I don't want an agent to write into the files… I always want it to pull from what I think about things, not what it thinks about things." If Claude starts creating notes in your vault, then when it runs `/emerge` — is it finding YOUR patterns or ITS patterns? The vault must contain only what you think. Claude reads and responds. It never contaminates the source. ## 8. From Reflection to Action The most impressive part of Vin's demo: the agent started suggesting things to BUILD. His `/ideas` command scans 30 days of notes and produces tools to build, people to meet, essays to write. The loop: **write notes → agent finds patterns → agent suggests tools → you build them → tools improve your notes → repeat.** ## By the End You'll have: - Obsidian connected to Claude Code (your vault or the included example vault) - A working `/my-world` command that loads your world in one shot - A thinking tool (/challenge, /emerge, or /connect) you've run on real notes - The "agents read, humans write" principle for keeping your vault authentic **Download:** [Lesson folder](https://ccforeveryone.com/downloads/vin-obsidian-workflows.zip)