Obsidian × MCPVault: The Book Notes System

The Stack

Tested Against

Prerequisites

• Claude Desktop, https://claude.ai/download
• Node 20+ (MCPVault runs via npx)
• Your highlights pasted into a Books/ note

Steps

1. 1

   Validate config and scaffold a Books/ highlights note

   CI validates the MCPVault config and drops a sample highlights note in Books/ for the synthesis step to read.

   cat > claude_desktop_config.json <<'EOF'
   { "mcpServers": { "obsidian": { "command": "npx", "args": ["@bitbonsai/mcpvault@latest", "/Users/you/Documents/MyVault"] } } }
   EOF
   node -e 'const c=JSON.parse(require("fs").readFileSync("claude_desktop_config.json","utf8"));const o=c.mcpServers.obsidian;if(o.command==="npx"&&o.args.some(a=>a.indexOf("@bitbonsai/mcpvault")===0)){console.log("config OK: npx -> @bitbonsai/mcpvault")}else{console.log("BAD");process.exit(1)}'
   mkdir -p vault/Books
   printf '%s\n' '# Atomic Habits, highlights' 'Small habits compound over time.' > vault/Books/atomic-habits.md
   test -s vault/Books/atomic-habits.md && echo "books ready: vault/Books/atomic-habits.md"

2. 2

   File the book (the Claude step, not checked by CI)

   Tell Claude to read Books/atomic-habits.md, search the vault for connected notes, and write Books/atomic-habits-synthesis.md with key ideas, links, project-tied takeaways, and next reads. Uses read_note + search_notes + write_note; runs a model, so CI doesn't run it.