An Obsidian plugin that embeds Claude Agent (using Claude Agent SDK) as a sidebar chat interface. Your vault becomes Claude's working directory, giving it full agentic capabilities: file read/write, bash commands, and multi-step workflows.

• Full Agentic Capabilities: Leverage Claude Code's power to read, write, and edit files, and execute bash commands, all within your Obsidian vault.
• Context-Aware: Automatically attach the focused note, mention files with @, exclude notes by tag, include editor selection (Highlight), and access external directories for additional context.
• Vision Support: Analyze images by sending them via drag-and-drop, paste, or file path.
• Inline Edit: Edit selected text or insert content at cursor position directly in notes with word-level diff preview and read-only tool access for context.
• Slash Commands: Create reusable prompt templates triggered by /command, with argument placeholders, @file references, and optional inline bash substitutions.
• Instruction Mode (#): Add refined custom instructions to your system prompt directly from the chat input, with review/edit in a modal.
• Skills: Extend Claudian with reusable capability modules that are automatically invoked based on context, compatible with Claude Code's skill format.
• MCP Support: Connect external tools and data sources via Model Context Protocol servers (stdio, SSE, HTTP) with context-saving mode and @-mention activation.
• Advanced Model Control: Select between Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus, configure custom models via environment variables, and fine-tune thinking budget. Monitor context window usage with a real-time gauge.
• Plan Mode: Toggle read-only exploration with Shift+Tab before implementation. Agent explores codebase, presents a plan, then implements after approval.
• Robust Security: Implement permission modes (YOLO/Safe), a safety blocklist, and vault confinement with symlink-safe checks.

• Claude Code CLI installed
• Obsidian v1.8.9+
• Claude subscription/API or Custom model provider that supports anthropic API format (Openrouter, Kimi, GLM, DeepSeek, etc.)
• Desktop only (macOS, Linux, Windows)

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create a folder called claudian in your vault's plugins folder:

   /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/claudian/
   

3. Copy the downloaded files into the claudian folder
4. Enable the plugin in Obsidian:
   • Settings → Community plugins → Enable "Claudian"

1. Clone this repository into your vault's plugins folder:

   cd /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins
   git clone https://github.com/YishenTu/claudian.git
   cd claudian

2. Install dependencies and build:

   npm install
   npm run build

3. Enable the plugin in Obsidian:

   • Settings → Community plugins → Enable "Claudian"

# Watch mode
npm run dev

# Production build
npm run build

Two modes:

1. Click the bot icon in ribbon or use command palette to open chat
2. Select text + hotkey for inline edit

Use it like Claude Code—read, write, edit, search files in your vault.

• File: Auto-attaches focused note; type @ to attach other files
• @-mention dropdown: Type @ to see MCP servers, external contexts, and vault files
  • @server-name enables context-saving MCP servers
  • @folder/ filters to files from that external context (e.g., @workspace/)
  • Vault files shown by default
• Selection: Select text in editor, then chat—selection included automatically
• Images: Drag-drop, paste, or type path; configure media folder for ![[image]] embeds
• External contexts: Click folder icon in toolbar for access to directories outside vault

• Inline Edit: Select text + hotkey to edit directly in notes with word-level diff preview
• Slash Commands: Type / for custom prompt templates (Settings → Slash Commands)
• Instruction Mode: Type # to add refined instructions to system prompt
• Plan Mode: Shift+Tab for read-only exploration before implementation
• Skills: Add SKILL.md files to ~/.claude/skills/ or {vault}/.claude/skills/
• MCP: Add external tools via Settings → MCP Servers; use @server-name in chat to activate

Customization

• User name: Your name for personalized greetings
• Excluded tags: Tags that prevent notes from auto-loading (e.g., sensitive, private)
• Media folder: Configure where vault stores attachments for embedded image support (e.g., attachments)
• Custom system prompt: Additional instructions appended to the default system prompt (Instruction Mode # saves here)
• Auto-generate conversation titles: Toggle AI-powered title generation after first exchange
• Title generation model: Model used for auto-generating conversation titles (default: Auto/Haiku)
• Vim-style navigation mappings: Configure key bindings with lines like map w scrollUp, map s scrollDown, map i focusInput

Hotkeys

• Inline edit hotkey: Hotkey to trigger inline edit on selected text
• Open chat hotkey: Hotkey to open the chat sidebar

Slash Commands

• Create/edit/import/export custom /commands (optionally override model and allowed tools)

MCP Servers

• Add/edit/verify/delete MCP server configurations with context-saving mode

Safety

• Load user Claude settings: Load ~/.claude/settings.json (user's Claude Code permission rules may bypass Safe mode)
• Enable command blocklist: Block dangerous bash commands (default: on)
• Blocked commands: Patterns to block (supports regex, platform-specific)
• Allowed export paths: Paths outside the vault where files can be exported (default: ~/Desktop, ~/Downloads). Supports ~, $VAR, ${VAR}, and %VAR% (Windows).
• Approved actions: In Safe mode, manage permanently approved actions (Allow Once vs. Always Allow)

Environment

• Custom variables: Environment variables for Claude SDK (KEY=VALUE format)
• Environment snippets: Save and restore environment variable configurations

Advanced

• Claude CLI path: Custom path to Claude Code CLI (leave empty for auto-detection)

• Vault restriction: File tools and Bash commands are limited to the Obsidian vault. Paths are resolved with realpath to prevent symlink escapes; attempts outside the vault are blocked.
• Export paths exception: Write operations to configured export paths (e.g., ~/Desktop) are allowed for export workflows (e.g., pandoc generating .docx). Export paths are treated as write-only: Read/Glob/Grep/LS remain vault-only, and Bash only allows export paths as write targets (e.g., -o/--output, >).
• External contexts exception: External contexts have full read/write access. All file tools (Read/Write/Edit/Glob/Grep/LS) and Bash commands work normally on external context paths.
• Approvals:
  • Safe mode shows an approval modal per tool call.
  • Bash approvals require an exact command match.
  • File tools allow exact or prefix path matches.
• Inline bash in slash commands:
  • In Safe mode, each !`command` substitution prompts for approval.
  • The command blocklist also applies.
  • Inline-bash prompts are "Allow once" only (no permanent approval).
• Command blocklist (platform-detected):
  • Unix: rm -rf, chmod 777, chmod -R 777
  • Windows CMD: del /s /q, rd /s /q, rmdir /s /q, format, diskpart
  • Windows PowerShell: Remove-Item -Recurse -Force, Format-Volume, Clear-Disk

If you encounter errors like spawn claude ENOENT or Claude CLI not found, the plugin may not be able to auto-detect your Claude installation. This commonly happens with Node version managers (nvm, fnm, volta, nvm4w, etc.).

Solution: Find your Claude CLI path and set it manually in Settings → Advanced → Claude CLI path.

macOS/Linux:

which claude
# Example: /Users/you/.volta/bin/claude

Use this path directly — works for both native and npm installs.

Windows (native installer):

where.exe claude
# Example output: C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\Claude\claude.exe

Windows (npm/pnpm/yarn/others):

npm root -g
# Example: C:\Users\you\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules
# The CLI path is:
# {npm root -g}\@anthropic-ai\claude-code\cli.js

Note: where.exe claude may return .cmd wrapper files (e.g., claude.cmd). Do not use these. Use claude.exe (native installer) or cli.js (npm/pnpm/yarn).

Copy the path and paste it into Settings → Advanced → Claude CLI path.

Alternative: Add your Node.js bin directory to the PATH environment variable in Settings → Environment → Custom variables:

PATH=/Users/you/.volta/bin

Still having issues? Please open a GitHub issue with your platform, Claude CLI path (from which/where output), and the error message.

• Outbound scope: Content sent to Claude/custom APIs includes your input, attached files/snippets, images (base64), and model-issued tool calls plus summarized outputs. Default provider is Anthropic; if ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is set, traffic goes to that endpoint.
• Local storage: Data is stored in a distributed format (like Claude Code):
  • vault/.claude/settings.json - User settings and permissions (shareable)
  • vault/.claude/mcp.json - MCP server configurations (Claude Code compatible)
  • vault/.claude/commands/*.md - Slash commands as Markdown files
  • vault/.claude/sessions/*.jsonl - Chat sessions (one file per conversation)
  • .obsidian/plugins/claudian/data.json - Machine state (active conversation, model tracking)
  • .claudian-cache/images/ - Image cache (SHA-256 deduplicated)
• Migration: Existing users are automatically migrated from the old single-file format on first load. Migration will be removed in v2.0.
• Commands & file access: The plugin can read/write files and execute Bash commands within the vault directory; Safe mode approvals and the blocklist apply, and paths are constrained to the vault via realpath.
• User controls: You can edit the blocked-command list, switch Safe/YOLO modes, clear history, delete caches, and remove API keys; disabling the plugin stops all remote calls.
• Telemetry: No additional telemetry or third-party tracking. Data retention/compliance follows the terms of your configured API provider.

src/
├── main.ts                      # Plugin entry point
├── core/                        # Core infrastructure
│   ├── agent/                   # Claude Agent SDK wrapper (ClaudianService)
│   ├── hooks/                   # PreToolUse/PostToolUse hooks
│   ├── images/                  # Image caching and loading
│   ├── mcp/                     # MCP server config management (McpServerManager)
│   ├── prompts/                 # System prompts for agents
│   ├── sdk/                     # SDK message transformation
│   ├── security/                # Approval, blocklist, path validation
│   ├── storage/                 # Distributed storage system
│   ├── tools/                   # Tool constants and utilities
│   └── types/                   # Type definitions
├── features/                    # Feature modules
│   ├── chat/                    # Main chat view with modular controllers
│   ├── inline-edit/             # Inline edit service
│   ├── mcp/                     # MCP @-mention detection and connection testing
│   └── settings/                # Settings tab (ClaudianSettings)
├── ui/                          # UI components
│   ├── components/              # Input toolbar, file/image context, dropdowns, AskUserQuestion panel
│   ├── modals/                  # Approval, inline edit, instruction, MCP modals
│   ├── renderers/               # Thinking blocks, tool calls, diffs, subagents, AskUserQuestion
│   └── settings/                # Env snippets, MCP settings, slash commands
├── utils/                       # Modular utility functions
└── style/                       # Modular CSS (→ styles.css)

• Session persistence within sessions
• Chat history persistence across plugin restarts
• Conversation switching with history dropdown
• File context awareness (auto-attach + @ mention)
• Context menu: "Ask Claude about this file"
• Extended thinking display
• Model selection
• Thinking token budget adjustment
• Permission modes (YOLO/Safe)
• Edited files indicator for Claude edits
• Environment variables support with snippet management
• Image support
• Subagent visualization with nested tool tracking
• Async subagent support
• Inline edit feature
• Diff view in chat panel
• Cursor position awareness in inline edit
• Slash commands
• Instruction mode (#) to save in custom system prompt
• Skills support (Claude Code compatible)
• Selection awareness in main chat (visual indicator + context)
• External contexts for access to directories outside vault
• Distributed storage (settings, commands, sessions as separate files)
• Windows platform support (MSYS paths, PowerShell blocklist, env vars)
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) server support with context-saving mode
• Context window usage display
• Plan mode (Shift+Tab toggle, read-only exploration, approval flow)
• Auto title generation (AI-powered, concurrent, with regenerate option)
• External context @-mention (@folder/ to filter files from external directories)
• Plan Mode refactor. The SDK does not support plan mode natively, current approach has limitations and technical debt, potential simplification is in order.
• Hooks and other advanced features

Licensed under the MIT License.

• Obsidian for the plugin API
• Anthropic for Claude and the Claude Agent SDK