Obsidian + MCP Productivity Setup Guide

Hey! This guide will get you set up with Obsidian for daily note-taking and an MCP server that lets Claude pull your outstanding tasks automatically. Takes about 15 minutes.

Step 1: Install Obsidian

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install --cask obsidian

macOS (Manual): Download from obsidian.md/download and drag to /Applications.

Verify it installed:

open -a Obsidian

Related MCP server: obsidian-mcp-server

Step 2: Create Your Vault

You have two options: local-only or iCloud-synced.

Option A — iCloud (Recommended: syncs to iPhone/iPad automatically)

Your vault will live in iCloud Drive so it syncs across all Apple devices.

1. Open Finder and make sure iCloud Drive is enabled:

   • System Settings > Apple Account > iCloud > iCloud Drive (ON)

2. Create the vault folder:

   mkdir -p ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents/Notes

3. Open Obsidian > "Open folder as vault" > navigate to:

   ~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents/Notes

   Tip: In the Finder dialog, press Cmd+Shift+G and paste the path above.

Option B — Local only

1. Pick any folder you like, e.g.:

   mkdir -p ~/Documents/ObsidianVault

2. Open Obsidian > "Open folder as vault" > select that folder.

Step 3: Set Up the Daily Note Template

3.1 Create a Templates folder

• In Obsidian, click the folder icon (left sidebar) > New Folder

• Name it: Templates

3.2 Create the template file

• Inside Templates/, create a new note called "Main Note"

• Paste this content exactly:

{{date}} {{time}}

Status:

Tags:

#  Notes



# Meetings




# TODO
- [ ]

# Daily Reflection

#reflection

3.3 Tell Obsidian where your templates live

1. Open Settings (gear icon, bottom-left)

2. Under Core plugins, make sure "Templates" is toggled ON

3. Click the gear icon next to "Templates" and set:

   • Template folder location: Templates

3.4 Enable Daily Notes

1. Settings > Core plugins > toggle ON "Daily notes"

2. Click the gear next to "Daily notes" and configure:

   • Date format: YYYY-MM-DD

   • New file location: Farther/{{date:YYYY}}/{{date:MMMM}}

   • Template file location: Templates/Main Note

3.5 Create the folder structure

In Obsidian, create these folders:

• Farther at the vault root

• Farther/2026

• Month folders inside as needed (e.g. Farther/2026/February)

Or from terminal:

VAULT="<your-vault-path>"
mkdir -p "$VAULT/Farther/2026"/{January,February,March,April,May,June,July,August,September,October,November,December}

Step 4: Daily Workflow

Creating your note for the day

1. Open Obsidian

2. Click the calendar icon in the left sidebar — this creates today's daily note

3. Once you're in the new note, press Cmd+T and select your "Main Note" template

4. Your note is now filled in with the template sections, ready to go

Using your note throughout the day

• Notes section — jot bullet points, ideas, anything that comes up

• Meetings section — log meeting notes (see Step 5 below to auto-populate from Google Calendar)

• TODO section — add tasks using checkbox syntax:

  - [ ] Send the quarterly report
  - [ ] Review PR for auth service

• Mark tasks done by clicking the checkbox (or manually changing [ ] to [x]):

  - [x] Send the quarterly report

• Daily Reflection — end of day, write a short reflection on how things went

Step 5: Auto-Populate Meetings from Google Calendar (Optional)

The Google Calendar and Contacts Lookup plugin lets you pull meetings directly from your Google Calendar into your Obsidian notes — no manual copy-pasting.

Install the plugin

1. In Obsidian, go to Settings > Community plugins

2. If prompted, click "Turn on community plugins"

3. Click Browse and search for "Google Lookup"

4. Click Install, then Enable

Set up Google credentials

1. Go to Google Cloud Console

2. Create a new project (or use an existing one)

3. Enable the Google Calendar API and People API

4. Create OAuth 2.0 credentials (Desktop application type)

5. In Obsidian, go to Settings > Google Lookup and enter your Client ID and Client Secret

6. Click Authenticate and sign in with your Google account

Use it daily

1. Open your daily note and place your cursor in the Meetings section

2. Open the command palette (Cmd+P) and run "Google Lookup: Insert Google Calendar Event"

3. A search modal will appear — find your meeting and select it

4. The plugin inserts the event details (title, time, attendees) right into your note

5. Add your meeting notes underneath

This plugin also supports looking up Google Contacts — useful if you want to quickly pull in someone's info while writing notes.

Step 6: Install the Obsidian MCP Server

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ — check with node --version

• If not installed: brew install node

• Obsidian v1.12+ (recommended) — enables CLI integration for faster search, task parsing, and more robust path handling. The MCP falls back to direct file access if the CLI is unavailable.

Enable the Obsidian CLI (recommended)

1. Make sure you're on Obsidian v1.12+ (brew upgrade --cask obsidian or download from obsidian.md/download)

2. Open Obsidian > Settings > General > Command line interface > enable it

3. Follow the prompt to register the CLI in your PATH

4. Verify it works: obsidian version

Installation

1. Clone or copy the obsidian-mcp folder to your machine:

   git clone <repo-url> ~/obsidian-mcp
   cd ~/obsidian-mcp
   npm install

2. Set your vault path as an environment variable (see Step 7 below). You no longer need to edit the source code — the vault path is configured in your Claude Code MCP config.

3. Test the server starts:

   npm start

   It should start without errors. Press Ctrl+C to stop. If the Obsidian CLI is detected, you'll see: [obsidian-mcp] CLI detected at: ...

Step 7: Add the MCP to Claude Code

Open ~/.claude.json in a text editor. Find the "mcpServers" key (or add it if it doesn't exist) and add the obsidian-vault entry:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian-vault": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/full/path/to/obsidian-mcp/obsidian-mcp-server.js"],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT": "/Users/<your-username>/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents/Notes"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace:

• /full/path/to/ with the actual path where you cloned the repo

• OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ROOT with your vault's absolute path:

  • iCloud: /Users/<your-username>/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents/Notes

  • Local: /Users/<your-username>/Documents/ObsidianVault

Optional environment variables:

Note: If mcpServers already has other entries, just add the "obsidian-vault" block alongside them — don't replace the whole object.

Restart Claude Code after saving.

Step 8: Use the MCP to Get Your Outstanding Tasks

Once connected, you can ask Claude things like:

The MCP reads your daily notes, parses all - [ ] and - [x] checkboxes, and gives you a clear picture of what's still open.

Quick Reference: Task Syntax

The MCP understands all of these formats.

Troubleshooting

"Daily note not creating in the right folder"

• Check Settings > Daily notes > New file location matches your folder structure (e.g., Farther/{{date:YYYY}}/{{date:MMMM}})

"Cmd+T doesn't show templates"

• Make sure the Templates core plugin is enabled in Settings > Core plugins

• Make sure the Template folder location is set to Templates

"MCP can't find my notes"

• Verify VAULT_ROOT in obsidian-mcp-server.js points to your vault

• Verify WORKING_DIR matches your top-level folder name

• Make sure your daily notes follow YYYY-MM-DD.md naming

"iCloud sync is slow"

• This is normal for first sync. Files sync in the background.

• On iPhone/iPad, open the Files app > iCloud Drive to trigger sync.

"Google Lookup plugin can't authenticate"

• Double-check your Client ID and Client Secret in the plugin settings

• Make sure the Google Calendar API and People API are both enabled in your Google Cloud project

• Try re-authenticating from Settings > Google Lookup