Obsidian Vault Context

Teach Claude to use an Obsidian vault as a shared workspace with persistent state across sessions. Covers vault navigation, orchestration file management, output routing, and bidirectional collaboration via Obsidian Headless. Use when the agent needs to read vault context, write output to the vault, update status/task files, or navigate folder structure. Triggers on "check status", "what's in the vault", "update tasks", "save this to the vault", "where should I put this", or any vault-related file operation.

The vault is the interface. Not chat. Not a terminal. A shared folder of markdown files that both you and the user can see and edit. Treat it like a shared codebase, not a reference library.

Session Startup

1. Read _context/context-map.md if it exists — it maps projects to source files.
2. If no context map, scan top-level folders and infer context from names.
3. Read _context/status.md to understand what's active, blocked, and completed.
4. If this is a fresh vault with no orchestration files, create them. See references/orchestration-files.md for templates.

Orchestration Files

Lightweight .md files in _context/ (or _Claude/) that give you persistent state across sessions.

File	Purpose
status.md	What's active, blocked, completed. Update every session.
tasks.md	Prioritized task list with #tags. Update when tasks change.
decisions.md	Decision log with context, options, rationale. Append-only.
context-map.md	Project-to-file index (optional).
scratchpad.md	Working memory, cleared daily (optional).
learnings.md	Operational knowledge across sessions (optional).

Rules: Read before writing. Update immediately, not at session end. Append to decisions and learnings, never overwrite. Keep entries lean — one line per task, one paragraph per decision.

For detailed format and examples, see references/orchestration-files.md.

Vault Navigation

Folder placement carries meaning. Respect the structure when creating files:

Pattern	Meaning
foundations/ or core/	Strategy, vision, frameworks
product/	Specs, features, sprints, architecture
company/ or business/	Operations, legal, marketing, hiring
research/ or engine/	Technical research, analysis
journal/	Session logs, daily notes, reviews
decisions/	Past decisions with rationale
work/	Agent output: drafts, research, deliverables
archive/	Superseded files (read-only reference)

Use [[wikilinks]] for all cross-references so the user can click through in Obsidian.

For a recommended starter layout, see references/vault-structure-template.md.

Output Routing

Save work to the vault so the user sees it in Obsidian — don't present everything in chat.

Output	Save To
Research briefs	work/research/ or research/
Drafts	work/drafts/ or drafts/
Final deliverables	work/output/ or output/
Quick notes	_context/scratchpad.md (append)

Add YAML frontmatter (title, type, status, created, updated, tags) to any file that will be referenced again.

Naming: Use descriptive file names (competitor-analysis-march-2026.md), not generic ones (output-1.md). Always update status.md so the user knows what changed.

Bidirectional Collaboration

When Obsidian Headless is configured, changes flow both ways:

• User -> Agent: User edits in Obsidian (Mac/iPhone/iPad), syncs to server, you read the update.
• Agent -> User: You write to the vault, syncs to all user devices.

This means neither party needs to explain what the other already wrote down. You write output to the vault. The user reads it in Obsidian. Both can work on the same document asynchronously.

For server sync setup, see references/obsidian-headless-setup.md.

Boundaries

• Read and write only within the vault directory. Do not access files outside the vault root.
• Never modify skill files, agent config, or workflow definitions unless the user explicitly asks you to. Your workspace is _context/ and work/ — not the files that define your own behavior.
• Treat company/legal/ as read-only. Do not create, edit, or delete files in legal directories.
• Do not store or log credentials. If a workflow requires authentication, defer to the user.

Context Safety

If context compaction triggers mid-session, write working state to disk immediately:

1. Current progress -> _context/scratchpad.md
2. State changes -> _context/status.md

These files reconstitute the session after compaction.