Semantic Notes Vault MCP

📦 Available in the Obsidian Community Plugin directory →

Give AI semantic agency over your knowledge graph

This plugin connects your Obsidian vault to AI assistants through MCP (Model Context Protocol), giving them the ability to understand and navigate your notes as a connected knowledge graph, not just isolated files. Through semantic hints and graph traversal, AI gains the agency to explore concepts, follow connections, and synthesize information across your entire vault.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the open standard that lets AI assistants interact with external tools and data sources. This plugin works with any MCP-compatible client including:

• Claude Desktop (Anthropic)
• Claude Code/Continue.dev (VS Code)
• Any platform that supports local MCP servers

Why Semantic MCP?

Traditional file access gives AI a narrow view - one document at a time. This plugin transforms that into semantic agency:

• Graph Navigation: AI follows links between notes, understanding relationships and context
• Concept Discovery: Semantic search finds related ideas across your vault
• Contextual Awareness: AI understands where information lives in your knowledge structure
• Intelligent Synthesis: Combine fragments from multiple notes to answer complex questions

Quick Start

Prerequisites: You need an MCP-compatible AI client like Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Continue.dev.

1. Install the Plugin

Via Obsidian Community Plugins

• Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse
• Search for "Semantic Notes Vault MCP"
• Install and enable — or install straight from the plugin listing

Via BRAT (for beta testing)

• Install BRAT
• Add beta plugin: aaronsb/obsidian-mcp-plugin

2. Configure Your AI Client

Three onboarding paths, ordered by audience. All three are also shown in the plugin's Settings tab with copy-ready values.

Claude Desktop — one-click .mcpb install (recommended)

Download obsidian-mcp-<version>.mcpb from the latest release, then either drag it onto the Claude Desktop window or double-click it. Claude Desktop opens an install dialog with two fields — paste the URL and API key shown in the plugin's Settings tab, hit Save, and you're done.

Cross-platform note: .mcpb files install via Claude Desktop's bundled handler. If double-click doesn't trigger Claude on your system, drag the file onto Claude Desktop's window instead, or right-click → "Open with…" and pick Claude Desktop (then "always open with" if your OS asks). Behavior varies by platform: macOS usually auto-associates, Windows may need a one-time association, Linux varies by desktop environment.

Claude Code — one command (copy the ready-made version with your API key from the plugin's Settings tab):

claude mcp add --transport http obsidian http://localhost:3001/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

For HTTPS, use https://localhost:3443/mcp instead — see Trusting the self-signed certificate below. Claude Code runs on Bun, which does not read the macOS system keychain, so you will need to set NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS.

**Other MCP clients (Cline, Continue, custom integrations, multi-vault setu

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