Obsidian × MCPVault: The Decision Journal

The Stack

Tested Against

Prerequisites

• Claude Desktop, https://claude.ai/download
• Node 20+ (MCPVault runs via npx)
• Back up your vault first (git ideal)

Steps

1. 1

   Validate config and scaffold a decision note with open frontmatter

   CI validates the MCPVault config and creates a decision note carrying `status: open` in its frontmatter, the exact field MCPVault's update_frontmatter will later flip to resolved.

   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/Decisions
   cat > vault/Decisions/2026-06-08-vendor-choice.md <<'EOF'
   ---
   status: open
   ---
   Options: vendor A vs vendor B. Current thinking: leaning A.
   EOF
   grep -q '^status: open' vault/Decisions/2026-06-08-vendor-choice.md && echo "decision scaffolded with status: open"

2. 2

   Update outcomes and read patterns (the Claude step, not checked by CI)

   After it plays out, ask Claude to set status to resolved and add an outcome field (update_frontmatter touches only the metadata). Each quarter, have it read all of Decisions/ (read_multiple_notes) and write a pattern review. Runs a model, so CI doesn't run it.