Using Obsidian with Claude Code on macOS

Obsidian is a powerful Markdown-based knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text files. Combined with its Kanban plugin and Claude Code, you can create a lightweight project management workflow where you track tasks on a board and delegate development work to Claude.

This guide walks through the full setup on macOS.

Prerequisites

• macOS with Homebrew installed.
• Basic familiarity with the terminal and Markdown.

Installing Claude Code and Obsidian

Install both applications via Homebrew:

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brew install --cask obsidian

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brew install claude-code

After installation, launch Obsidian from Spotlight (Cmd + Space, type “Obsidian”, press Enter). On first launch, Obsidian will ask you to create or open a vault. A vault is simply a folder on your filesystem where Obsidian stores all your notes as .md files.

Create a new vault by clicking Create new vault, giving it a name (e.g., “Projects”), and choosing a location on disk. Obsidian will create the folder and open it.

Verify Claude Code is available by running:

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claude --version

Setting up the Kanban Board

The Kanban plugin lets you create drag-and-drop task boards directly inside Obsidian. Each board is stored as a regular Markdown file in your vault.

Install the Kanban plugin

1. Open Obsidian and go to Obsidian > Settings > Community plugins.
2. Click Turn on community plugins if prompted.
3. Click Browse to open the community plugin catalog.
4. Search for Kanban (by mgmeyers) and click Install.
5. After installation completes, click Enable to activate the plugin.

Create a new board

1. Open the Command Palette with Cmd + P.
2. Type Kanban: Create a new board and select it.
3. Give the board a name (e.g., “Sprint Board”) and press Enter.

The board opens in Kanban view. You can also find the Kanban icon in the left sidebar to create new boards from there.

Configure your columns

A typical board for use with Claude Code uses these columns (lists):

• Funnel — incoming ideas and raw tasks.
• In Progress — tasks currently being worked on.
• In Review — pull requests waiting for review.
• Done — completed and merged work.

To add a column, click Add a list at the right side of the board and type the column name. Repeat for each column.

Add and manage cards

• Click Add a card at the bottom of any column to create a new task.
• Write a short, descriptive title (e.g., “Add dark mode toggle to settings page”).
• Drag cards between columns to update their status.
• Click on a card to open it and add detailed notes, acceptance criteria, or links to related files.

Working with Claude Code

The Kanban board acts as your task tracker. The general workflow is:

1. Create a task in Funnel

Add a card to the Funnel column with a clear description of the work to be done. Include enough context so the task is self-contained, for example:

Add a new blog post about setting up Neovim on macOS. Include installation via Homebrew, basic configuration in init.lua, and plugin setup with lazy.nvim.

2. Move the task to In Progress

Drag the card to In Progress when you are ready to start working on it.

3. Assign the task to Claude Code

Open your terminal, navigate to the project repository, and start Claude Code:

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cd /path/to/your/repo
claude

Describe the task to Claude. Claude will read the codebase, make the necessary changes, and create a commit. You can ask Claude to create a pull request:

Create a PR for the changes you just made.

Once the PR is created, move the card to In Review.

4. Review and merge the PR

Review the pull request on GitHub. If the changes look good, merge the PR into main. Move the card to Done.

If changes are needed, leave review comments on the PR and ask Claude to address them:

Address the review comments on PR #42.

Summary