Hey, it's Cindy 🌱 This is the 3-step setup that gives Claude a real memory, so it stops forgetting your project every time you close the tab. Every tool here is real, free, and I checked it on 2026-07-14 (I cut two tool names from the viral version that I could not verify, and named the real ones instead).
The honest mechanism first, so nothing feels like magic: Claude does not read your raw notes directly. Your notes live in Obsidian as plain files, an index or bridge makes them searchable, and Claude reaches that bridge through an MCP. Here are the three pieces.
the context file
Step 1: a file that teaches Claude who you are 📄
Create a file called CLAUDE.md and put it in your home folder at ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md. Claude Code reads it automatically at the start of every session (it's your user-level "preferences for all projects"). Put in it:
- 👤 Your name and what you're building
- 🎛️ Your preferences and how you like things done
- 🚫 Things Claude should never do
- ✅ Decisions you've already locked in
Honest note: CLAUDE.md is strong context, not an enforced rule, so it reliably steers Claude but isn't a hard lock.
Docs.
the bridge
Step 2: connect your notes so Claude can search them 🔌
Obsidian keeps your notes as plain Markdown on your own computer. To let Claude search them live, you wire up two pieces:
- 🧩 Install Obsidian's free Local REST API plugin (this is the door into your vault).
- 🌉 Add an Obsidian MCP server so Claude can go through that door: obsidian-mcp-tools or cyanheads/obsidian-mcp-server.
For smarter, by-meaning search, add the free smart-connections plugin (semantic search, local embeddings, no API key). A newer option worth knowing: qmd, a local hybrid-search tool by Shopify's CEO Tobi Lütke that also exposes an MCP and can index your vault. Once connected, Claude pulls up the right note on its own, you never paste anything in.
feed the brain
Step 3: turn videos and voice memos into notes 🎙️
Any YouTube video, podcast, meeting, or voice memo can become a searchable note. The free, local way:
- 🗣️ Transcribe locally with Whisper or the faster whisper.cpp (both free, run on your own computer).
- ▶️ For YouTube, the free YTranscript plugin pulls a transcript straight into Obsidian.
- ✍️ Then ask Claude (via the Obsidian MCP) to pull out the key ideas and save a clean note into your vault.
the one trick
The naming trick that makes it all work 🏷️
Name your notes like a sentence, not a topic. The title is the highest-signal thing search and Claude match against first.
- ✗
memory-systems.md
- ✓
memory graphs beat giant files.md
The title alone tells Claude whether a note is worth opening, before it reads a word inside.
the payoff
What it feels like after ✨
- 👋 Opens knowing you: CLAUDE.md loads first, so Claude already knows your project before you type.
- 🔎 Finds notes on its own: it searches your vault while you work, no copy-pasting.
- 📈 Gets smarter every week: every note, video, and meeting you add stays in the brain for good.
It stops feeling like a tool and starts feeling like a collaborator.
Every link in one place 🔗