obsidi-claude

Guide the user through getting started with obsidi-claude.

About

obsidi-claude is an Obsidian plugin that lets you chat with Claude AI directly inside Obsidian, using the official Agent SDK. Claude can read/write files, run commands, search the web, and use tools -- all from within a chat panel in your vault. Supports both SDK mode (full Claude Code features, desktop only) and API mode (direct Anthropic API, all platforms).

Prerequisites

Check that the user has the following installed/configured:

• Node.js 18+
• npm (for dependency installation)
• Obsidian Desktop (not mobile -- the SDK backend requires Node.js features)
• Claude Code CLI installed and authenticated (claude --version to verify, claude login if needed)
• An Obsidian vault to link the plugin into

Setup

Walk the user through initial setup:

1. Clone the repo and install dependencies:

   git clone <repo-url>
   cd obsidi-claude
   npm install
   

2. Build the plugin:

   npm run build
   

3. Symlink into your Obsidian vault's plugins directory:

   ln -sfn /path/to/obsidi-claude /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/obsidi-claude
   

4. In Obsidian, go to Settings > Community Plugins > enable "Obsidi-Claude"

For development with auto-rebuild on changes:

npm run dev

First Use

Guide the user through their first interaction with the product:

1. In Obsidian, click the message icon in the ribbon (or run the "Open Claude Chat" command via Cmd+P).
2. Type a message and press Enter.
3. Claude will respond with streaming output. If tools are enabled, you'll see tool usage indicators.
4. Configure behavior in Settings > Obsidi-Claude (model selection, permission mode, working directory, allowed tools).

Key Files

Point the user to the most important files for understanding the project:

• main.ts - Plugin entry point, registers views and commands
• src/chatView.ts - Main chat UI view implementation
• src/backends/ - SDK and API backend implementations
• src/settingsTab.ts - Plugin settings configuration UI
• src/types.ts - Shared TypeScript type definitions
• manifest.json - Obsidian plugin manifest (id, version, min app version)
• package.json - Dependencies and build scripts
• esbuild.config.mjs - Build configuration

Common Tasks

• Build for production:

  npm run build
  

• Dev mode (auto-rebuild):

  npm run dev
  

• Run tests:

  npm test
  

• Run tests with coverage:

  npm run test:coverage
  

• Update version numbers:

  npm run version