jkw_obs-mcp

Personal second-brain MCP server over an Obsidian vault. See the design doc at docs/superpowers/plans/ for the full architecture.

Install (Plan 1 manual setup; full install.sh ships in Plan 6)

This project uses the existing deepdream conda env on the user's Mac (per the project's feedback_conda_env convention — never install into base/system Python).

# 1. Clone and enter
git clone git@github.com:jinchiwei/jkw_obs-mcp.git
cd jkw_obs-mcp

# 2. Install into the deepdream conda env
source ~/miniconda3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
conda activate deepdream
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# 3. Run tests to confirm setup
pytest -v

# 4. Bootstrap config
mkdir -p ~/.config/jkw-obs-mcp
cat > ~/.config/jkw-obs-mcp/config.toml <<'EOF'
[paths]
vault_root = "~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents/jkw_obs"

[machine]
id = "dreamingmachine"

[generation]
daily_review_enabled = false
EOF

# 5. Smoke test the entry point
jkw-obs-mcp  # exits cleanly if config + machine_id match; runs stdio server otherwise.

Wire into Claude Code

Use the claude mcp add CLI to register the server (Claude Code stores MCP config in ~/.claude.json, not a separate mcp_servers.json):

claude mcp add --scope user jkw-obs /Users/jinchiwei/miniconda3/envs/deepdream/bin/jkw-obs-mcp
claude mcp list   # should show "jkw-obs: ✓ Connected"

Restart Claude Code (or just /mcp again). The three tools (read_note, list_notes, write_kb_note) should appear.

To remove later: claude mcp remove jkw-obs -s user.

Tools (Plan 1)

• read_note(path) — read any markdown file in the vault
• list_notes(subdir="") — list all .md files (optionally scoped)
• write_kb_note(filename, content, subdir="ad-hoc") — write only to kb/<this-machine>/

Embeddings, semantic search, compilers, calendar, daily review — all in later plans.

Status

Plan 1 of 7. See docs/superpowers/plans/ for the full roadmap.