Build a Second Brain with Claude

Use Claude AI in Obsidian to auto-tag, link, and map your notes.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Every day, you come across ideas worth remembering. Most of them are gone within a week because there is no system connecting them all.

In this project, you will build an AI-powered second brain in Obsidian using the Claudian plugin. Claude automatically organizes, tags, links, and visualizes your notes so your knowledge compounds over time.

What You'll Build

A structured Obsidian vault with PARA folders, note templates, the Claudian plugin for AI-powered note processing, and visual concept maps.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

An organized vault with PARA folders and reusable note templates for consistent knowledge capture.
The Claudian plugin connected to Claude for AI-powered tagging, linking, and summarizing of your notes.
A visual concept map generated from your notes using Mermaid diagrams.
In the Secret Mission, a batch processing pipeline that processes an entire folder of notes at once.

Are there any prerequisites?

You need Obsidian installed on your computer and an Anthropic API key. You can create an API key at console.anthropic.com, which requires a minimum $5 credit purchase to get started. This project uses well under $1 of that credit.

Install Claudian and Set Up Your API Key

Claudian is an Obsidian plugin that connects Claude directly to your vault. It gives Claude the ability to read your notes, suggest tags and links, generate concept maps, and reorganize files on your behalf.

In this step, you will install the Claudian plugin and connect it to the Anthropic API using your API key. Then you will send Claude a test message to confirm everything works.

In this step, get ready to:

Install and enable the Claudian plugin.
Connect Claudian to the Anthropic API with your key.
Verify that Claude can access your vault.

Install the Claudian community plugin

Claudian is available in the Obsidian Community Plugins browser. You do not need to download anything from the web or use the terminal.

Press Cmd+Space (macOS) or the Windows key (Windows) to open your search bar.
Type Obsidian and press Enter to open it.
Click the gear icon in the bottom-left corner to open Settings.
In the left sidebar, click Community plugins.

Seeing a Restricted Mode warning?

If this is your first time using community plugins, Obsidian shows a Restricted mode warning. Click Turn on community plugins and confirm the prompt. This allows Obsidian to install third-party plugins like Claudian.

Click Browse to open the Community Plugins browser.
Type Claudian in the search bar.
Click on the Claudian result by Enigmora.
Click Install.
Once the install finishes, click Enable.

You should see the Claudian entry appear in the left sidebar of Settings under the plugin list. A new icon also appears in Obsidian's left ribbon bar.

Can't find Claudian in the search results?

Make sure you typed Claudian (not "Claude" or "Claude AI"). The plugin name is specifically Claudian.
Confirm that Community plugins are turned on. If Restricted mode is still active, the browser will not load any results.
Try closing and reopening Obsidian, then returning to the Community Plugins browser.
Help me find and install the Claudian plugin in Obsidian.

Configure your Anthropic API key

Claudian needs your Anthropic API key to send requests to Claude. You should already have a key from console.anthropic.com.

In the Settings sidebar, scroll down and click Claudian under the plugin list.
Find the API Key field.
Paste your Anthropic API key into the field.

Is my API key safe here?

Your API key is stored locally on your device only. Claudian does not send your key to any external server or share it with third parties. Your notes are also private. They are only sent to the Anthropic API when you explicitly ask Claude to analyze them.

What does the Anthropic API cost?

The Anthropic API requires a minimum $5 credit purchase to get started. Claudian uses intelligent model routing to keep costs low. It automatically picks the right Claude model for each task.

Simple tasks (quick questions) use Haiku, the cheapest model.
Content creation (summaries, templates) uses Sonnet.
Deep analysis (concept maps, batch processing) uses Opus.

For this entire project, you will spend well under $1 in API usage.

Verify the connection

Now that Claudian has your API key, you can test that Claude is reachable and can see your vault.

Close Settings by clicking the X in the top-right corner of the Settings window.
Click the Claudian icon in the left ribbon bar (the vertical strip of icons on the far left of Obsidian).

The Claudian side panel opens on the right side of your screen. This is your chat interface with Claude.

Type Hello, can you see my vault? into the chat input at the bottom of the panel.
Press Enter to send the message.

Claude responds with a streaming reply confirming it can access your vault. You should see text appearing word by word in the side panel.

Not getting a response from Claude?

Double-check your API key in Settings > Claudian > API Key. A single extra space or missing character will cause authentication to fail.
Make sure your Anthropic account has credits. Go to console.anthropic.com and check your billing dashboard.
Confirm your internet connection is working. Claudian sends requests to the Anthropic API over the network.
Help me troubleshoot my Claudian connection to the Anthropic API.

Your plugin is installed and Claude is connected to your vault. Next up, you will build the folder structure and templates that give your second brain its shape.

Build Your PARA Vault Structure

Your Claudian plugin is installed and Claude can see your vault. Now it's time to give that vault some structure so your notes don't become a tangled mess.

A second brain only works if you can find things later. You'll set up the PARA folder system, which organizes notes by how actionable they are, and create a reusable note template.

In this step, get ready to:

Create the PARA folder structure in your vault.
Build a reusable Zettel (atomic note) template with frontmatter metadata.
Enable and configure the Templates core plugin.

Create the PARA folder structure

PARA stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archive. It sorts your notes by how actionable they are, from active projects with deadlines all the way to long-term reference material.

In Obsidian, find the File explorer in the left sidebar.
Right-click on an empty area in the File explorer and select New folder.
Name the folder 00-Inbox and press Enter.
Repeat this process to create five more folders: 10-Projects, 20-Areas, 30-Resources, 40-Archive, and 90-Templates.

You should see all six folders listed in the File explorer sidebar, sorted in numerical order.

What is each PARA folder for?

00-Inbox is your quick capture zone. Fleeting ideas, links, and thoughts land here before you process them.
10-Projects holds active work with deadlines, like a blog post or a course you are taking.
20-Areas covers ongoing responsibilities and interests like health, career, or finances.
30-Resources stores reference material organized by topic.
40-Archive is for completed projects and inactive notes.
90-Templates holds reusable note structures you'll build in the next substep.

The numbered prefixes keep your folders sorted in a consistent order inside Obsidian's file explorer.

Folder ended up inside another folder?

If you accidentally created a folder inside another folder, drag it back to the top level of the File explorer. Make sure all six folders sit at the vault root, not nested inside each other.

Help me fix my PARA folder structure in Obsidian

Create a Zettel (atomic note) template

The Zettelkasten method says each note should capture exactly one idea. A template ensures every note starts with the same useful structure, including metadata that Claudian can read when it analyzes your notes later.

In the File explorer, right-click on the 90-Templates folder and select New note.
Name the note Zettel Template.
Paste the following content into the note:

---
created: "{{date}}"
type: zettel
tags: []
status: inbox
aliases: []
---

# {{title}}

## Idea

<!-- Write your main idea here -->

## Connections

- Related: 
- Source:

What do these frontmatter fields do?

The block between the --- markers is called frontmatter. It uses YAML format to store metadata about each note.

created auto-fills with today's date when you insert the template.
type labels the note as a Zettel. You can also use values like project or moc (Map of Content) for other note types.
tags holds categorization labels that Claudian will help you fill in later.
status tracks where the note is in your workflow: inbox, processing, evergreen, or archived.
aliases lets you add alternate names so you can find the note by different search terms.

The {{title}} and {{date}} variables are replaced automatically when you insert the template into a new note.

Save the note by pressing Cmd+S (macOS) or Ctrl+S (Windows).

You should see Zettel Template listed inside the 90-Templates folder in the File explorer.

Don't see the frontmatter fields?

Make sure the --- markers are on their own lines at the very top of the note. If there is any text or blank line before the first ---, Obsidian won't recognize the frontmatter.

Help me fix the frontmatter in my Zettel Template

Enable and configure the Templates plugin

Obsidian's built-in Templates plugin lets you insert your Zettel Template into any new note with a keyboard shortcut. You need to turn it on and point it at the right folder first.

Press Cmd+, (macOS) or Ctrl+, (Windows) to open Settings.
Click Core plugins in the left sidebar.
Find Templates in the list and toggle it on.
Scroll down in the left sidebar and click Templates under the Plugin options section.
Set the Template folder location to 90-Templates.

Now set up a keyboard shortcut so you can insert your template quickly.

In the same Settings window, click Hotkeys in the left sidebar.
Type Templates: Insert template in the search field at the top.
Click the + icon next to the command.
Press Cmd+R (macOS) or Ctrl+R (Windows) to assign this shortcut.
Close Settings.

Test it out to make sure everything works.

Create a new note by pressing Cmd+N (macOS) or Ctrl+N (Windows).
Press Cmd+R (macOS) or Ctrl+R (Windows) to insert a template.
Select Zettel Template from the list that appears.

The template content fills your note automatically. The {{date}} variable is replaced with today's date and {{title}} is replaced with the note's name.

Pro tip: clean up your test note

You can delete this test note now. Right-click it in the File explorer and select Delete. You'll create real notes with this template in the next step.

Template not appearing when you press the shortcut?

Check that the Templates core plugin is toggled on in Settings > Core plugins.
Verify the Template folder location is set to 90-Templates (not a different folder).
If Obsidian says the hotkey conflicts with another shortcut, try a different key combination like Cmd+Shift+R (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows).

Help me fix the Templates plugin setup in Obsidian

Your vault is organized and your template is ready for action. Next, you'll capture your first set of notes and start building connections between them.

Capture Your First Notes

Your vault now has a clean PARA folder structure and a reusable Zettel Template ready to go.

A second brain is only as valuable as the notes inside it. In this step, you'll capture your first notes and start linking them together.

In this step, get ready to:

Create sample atomic notes in your Inbox using the Zettel Template.
Add wikilinks between related notes to start building your knowledge graph.

Create sample notes in your Inbox

Each note you create captures a single concept. This is the atomic note approach that makes knowledge management powerful.

Right-click the 00-Inbox folder in Obsidian's file explorer (left sidebar).
Select New note.
Name the note Spaced Repetition.
Insert your Zettel Template by pressing the template hotkey you assigned (e.g., Cmd+R).
Under the ## Idea heading, paste the following content:

Spaced repetition is a learning technique where you review information at increasing intervals.
It is based on the forgetting curve discovered by Hermann Ebbinghaus.
The optimal review schedule follows an exponential pattern.

What is an atomic note?

An atomic note focuses on one idea. Instead of writing long documents that cover multiple topics, you break your knowledge into small, focused pieces that can each connect to many different subjects.

The four notes you're creating each cover one learning technique. Later, Claude will help you discover connections between them.

Create a new note in 00-Inbox called Active Recall.
Insert the Zettel Template.
Paste the following content under ## Idea:

Active recall is the practice of stimulating memory during learning by testing yourself.
It is more effective than passive review (re-reading or highlighting).
Works best when combined with spaced repetition.

Create a new note in 00-Inbox called The Feynman Technique.
Insert the Zettel Template.
Paste the following content under ## Idea:

The Feynman Technique involves explaining a concept in simple language as if teaching a child.
If you cannot explain it simply, you do not understand it well enough.
The gaps in your explanation reveal gaps in your understanding.

Create a new note in 00-Inbox called Interleaving Practice.
Insert the Zettel Template.
Paste the following content under ## Idea:

Interleaving is the practice of mixing different topics or problem types during study sessions.
It feels harder than blocked practice but produces better long-term retention.
It forces your brain to discriminate between different concepts and strategies.

Expand the 00-Inbox folder in the file explorer. You should see all four notes listed: Spaced Repetition, Active Recall, The Feynman Technique, and Interleaving Practice.

Template not inserting?

Make sure your cursor is inside the note body before pressing the template hotkey. The template inserts at the cursor position.
Confirm the template folder is set to 90-Templates in Settings > Templates.
If no hotkey is assigned, open the command palette with Cmd+P (macOS) or Ctrl+P (Windows) and search for Templates: Insert template.
Help me fix my Zettel Template insertion in Obsidian.

Add wikilinks between related notes

Notes in isolation are just files. Wikilinks turn them into a connected knowledge graph by creating bidirectional relationships between ideas.

Open your Spaced Repetition note.
Find the Related: line under ## Connections.
Type [[Active Recall]] after Related:.
Open your Active Recall note.
Type [[Spaced Repetition]] and [[The Feynman Technique]] after Related:.

Your Connections section in Active Recall should now look something like this:

## Connections

- Related: [[Spaced Repetition]] [[The Feynman Technique]]
- Source:

How do wikilinks work?

When you type [[Active Recall]] in one note, Obsidian automatically creates a backlink from the Active Recall note pointing back to the current note.

Over time, these links form a knowledge graph that surfaces unexpected connections between your ideas.

Hold Cmd (macOS) or Ctrl (Windows) and click one of your wikilinks.

Obsidian opens the linked note directly. This confirms your wikilinks are working.

Wikilink not opening the note?

Check that the note name inside the brackets matches the note title exactly. Spelling and capitalization matter.
Make sure you're using double brackets [[like this]], not single brackets [like this].
If clicking opens a search popup instead of the note, the note might not exist yet. Check that you created it in 00-Inbox with the exact same name.
Help me troubleshoot my wikilinks in Obsidian.

Pro tip: add your own links too

Feel free to add more wikilinks beyond the examples above. If you see a connection between any two notes, link them. The more connections you add, the more useful your vault becomes.

You have four connected notes in your vault. Next, you'll use Claude to analyze these notes and suggest tags, links, and concepts you might have missed.

Process Notes with Claude's Smart Suggestions

Your vault now has sample notes with manual wikilinks connecting them. The real power of your second brain kicks in when Claude starts analyzing those notes for you.

In this step, you will use Claudian's note processing feature to get AI-suggested tags, wikilinks, and atomic concepts. Claude reads your note content and frontmatter, then recommends ways to enrich and connect your knowledge.

In this step, get ready to:

Use Claudian's note processing to get AI-suggested tags and links.
Apply Claude's suggestions to enhance your notes with tags, wikilinks, and updated metadata.
Process all remaining notes to build a connected knowledge graph.

Use note processing to get tag and link suggestions

Claudian's note processing feature analyzes a note's content and suggests ways to improve it. This includes tags for categorization, wikilinks to related notes in your vault, and atomic concepts worth breaking into their own notes.

Open one of your sample notes from the 00-Inbox folder. For example, open Spaced Repetition.
Open the Claudian side panel by clicking the Claudian icon in the left ribbon.

Pro tip: open via command palette

You can also open the Claudian side panel using the command palette. Press Cmd+P (macOS) or Ctrl+P (Windows) and search for "Claudian".

In the Claudian chat, type the following message and press Enter:

Analyze this note and suggest tags, wikilinks to other notes in my vault, and any atomic concepts I should break out into separate notes

Claude streams a response with suggestions. You should see recommended tags, links to your other notes like [[Active Recall]], and ideas for new atomic notes you could create.

What is note processing?

Claudian's note processing reads your note's content and YAML frontmatter. It uses this context to suggest three things:

Tags that categorize the note by topic.
Wikilinks to existing notes already in your vault.
Atomic concepts that deserve their own dedicated note.

The goal is to make every note more discoverable and connected.

Is my note content sent to the cloud?

Your notes are only sent to the Anthropic API when you explicitly ask Claude to analyze them. Claudian does not send any data in the background or collect telemetry. Your API key is stored locally on your device only.

Not seeing a response from Claude?

Make sure you have the note open in the editor. Claudian reads the currently active note to provide context.
Check that your API key is still configured. Go to Settings > Claudian and confirm the API Key field is filled in.
If you see a rate limit error, wait a minute and try again. Tier 1 API accounts have a $100/month spend limit.

Why isn't Claude responding to my note analysis request in Claudian?

Apply Claude's suggestions to your note

Claude has given you a set of suggestions. Now it is time to update your note so those suggestions become part of your knowledge base.

In your "Spaced Repetition" note, scroll to the frontmatter at the very top of the file (the section between the --- lines).
Find this line:

tags: []

Replace it with the tags Claude suggested. For example:

tags: [learning, memory, study-techniques]

Why tags matter in your second brain

Tags let you find notes by topic across your entire vault, even when they live in different PARA folders. Over time, tags create an alternative navigation layer alongside your wikilinks.

Scroll down to the Connections section of the note.
Add any new wikilinks Claude suggested. For example, add [[Interleaving Practice]] to the Related field if Claude identified that connection.
Back in the frontmatter, find this line:

status: inbox

Change it to mark the note as fully processed:

status: evergreen

What does 'evergreen' status mean?

An evergreen note is one you have reviewed, enriched with tags and links, and consider a permanent part of your knowledge base. Changing the status from inbox to evergreen signals that the note has been processed and is ready to contribute to your second brain.

Save the note with Cmd+S (macOS) or Ctrl+S (Windows).
Confirm that the frontmatter now shows your new tags, the updated status: evergreen, and that the Connections section includes the wikilinks you added.

Repeat for remaining notes

Each note you process strengthens the web of connections in your vault. Claude's suggestions get more interesting as it sees more linked notes, because it can draw connections across your entire knowledge base.

Open your next sample note (e.g., "Active Recall") from 00-Inbox.
Open the Claudian side panel if it is not already open.
Ask Claude to analyze the note by typing the same prompt and pressing Enter:

Analyze this note and suggest tags, wikilinks to other notes in my vault, and any atomic concepts I should break out into separate notes

Apply the suggested tags to the tags field in the frontmatter.
Add any new wikilinks to the Connections section.
Change status from inbox to evergreen.
Save the note with Cmd+S (macOS) or Ctrl+S (Windows).
Repeat for "The Feynman Technique" and "Interleaving Practice".

As you process more notes, notice how Claude starts suggesting connections you might not have thought of. For example, it might link "Interleaving Practice" to "Active Recall" based on their shared focus on effective study strategies.

How does Claudian choose which AI model to use?

Claudian uses intelligent model routing to pick the best Claude model for each task. Simple requests go to Haiku (fastest and cheapest). Content creation goes to Sonnet. Deep analysis goes to Opus. This happens automatically, so you get the right balance of speed and quality without managing it yourself.

Pro tip: vary your prompts

Try different prompts for different notes. Ask Claude "What questions does this note raise?" or "What concepts from this note could become their own notes?" to get fresh perspectives on the same content.

All your notes are now tagged, linked, and marked as evergreen. Next up, you will use Claude to generate a visual concept map that shows how all your notes connect to each other.

Generate a Concept Map

Your notes now have tags, wikilinks, and atomic concept suggestions from Claude. The connections between your notes are starting to take shape, but they are still invisible unless you open each note and read the links yourself.

In this step, you will ask Claude to generate a visual concept map in Mermaid format. Obsidian renders Mermaid diagrams natively, so your concept map lives right inside your vault as a real, interactive diagram.

In this step, get ready to:

Ask Claude to generate a concept map from your processed notes.
Add the concept map to your vault as a rendered Mermaid diagram.

Select notes and request a concept map

Your processed notes have tags and wikilinks that reveal relationships between concepts. A concept map makes those relationships visual so you can see the big picture at a glance.

Open the Claudian side panel by clicking the Claudian icon in the left ribbon.
Type the following prompt into the chat and press Enter:

Create a concept map showing the relationships between all my notes about learning techniques. Use Mermaid format.

What does Claude do with this prompt?

Claude reads the notes in your vault, identifies the connections between them (based on wikilinks, shared tags, and overlapping concepts), and generates a Mermaid diagram that visualizes those connections as a flowchart.

Claudian's intelligent model routing automatically selects the best Claude model for this task. Concept map generation typically uses Sonnet for its balance of quality and speed.

Claude streams a response containing Mermaid code that maps how your notes relate to each other. You will paste this code into a new note in the next substep.

Claude's response does not contain Mermaid code?

Make sure your prompt specifically asks for Mermaid format. If Claude returns a plain text list of connections instead of a diagram, send a follow-up message: "Please format that as a Mermaid graph TD diagram."

If Claude says it cannot see your notes, make sure you have notes saved in your vault with content in them. Claude can only read notes that exist and have been saved.

Help me get Claude to generate a Mermaid concept map from my Obsidian notes

Add the concept map to your vault

Claude's response is just text in the chat panel right now. To turn it into a rendered diagram, you need to paste the Mermaid code into a note.

Create a new note inside the 30-Resources folder.
Name the note Learning Techniques Map.
Copy the Mermaid code from Claude's response in the side panel.
Paste it into the note, wrapped in a Mermaid code block. Your note should follow this format:

```mermaid
graph TD
    A[Spaced Repetition] --> B[Active Recall]
    B --> C[The Feynman Technique]
    A --> D[Interleaving Practice]
    D --> B
```

What does this Mermaid code do?

graph TD creates a top-down flowchart.
Each letter (A, B, C, D) is a node, and the text in square brackets is the label that appears in the diagram.
The --> arrows show directional relationships between your notes.

The diagram Claude generates for you will reflect your specific notes and the connections it found. It may look different from this example.

Save the note.
Switch to Reading view by pressing Cmd+E (macOS) or Ctrl+E (Windows).

You should see a rendered flowchart with boxes for each of your learning technique notes and arrows showing how they connect to each other.

Seeing raw text instead of a diagram?

Make sure you are in Reading view, not Editing view. Mermaid diagrams only render in Reading view. Press Cmd+E (macOS) or Ctrl+E (Windows) to toggle.
Check that the code block starts with exactly ```mermaid (three backticks followed by the word mermaid, no spaces). A typo here prevents Obsidian from recognizing the diagram.
Make sure the code block is closed with three backticks (```) on its own line at the end.

Help me fix my Mermaid diagram in Obsidian

Your vault now has a visual map of how your knowledge connects. Next up, you will use Agent Mode to organize your vault with natural language commands.

Use Agent Mode to Organize Your Vault

In the previous step, you generated a Mermaid concept map that visualizes how your notes connect to each other. Your vault now has structured notes with tags, wikilinks, and metadata.

Those processed notes are still sitting in your Inbox, though. Claudian's Agent Mode turns natural language commands into vault actions. Instead of dragging files between folders one by one, you describe what you want reorganized and Claude handles the rest.

In this step, get ready to:

Move processed notes from your Inbox to the correct PARA folder using Agent Mode.
Create a reusable daily capture workflow note with Claude's help.

Move processed notes out of the Inbox

Your processed notes still sit in the 00-Inbox folder even though you already added tags, links, and updated their status to evergreen. Agent Mode can read your notes' frontmatter and move them based on metadata like status.

Open the Claudian side panel by clicking the Claudian icon in the left ribbon.
Type the following prompt into the chat and press Enter:

Move all notes in my 00-Inbox folder that have status: evergreen to the 30-Resources folder

What is Agent Mode?

Agent Mode is Claudian's vault management feature. It supports 52 actions across file management, editor control, templates, and more.

When you give Claude a natural language command that involves changing your vault, Claudian automatically activates Agent Mode to execute the action. You don't need to toggle anything on.

Read Claude's response. It confirms which notes it moved and where they went.
Click the 30-Resources folder in the file explorer (left sidebar). You should see your processed notes listed inside it.

Notes didn't move?

Make sure the notes you processed in Step 4 have status: evergreen in their frontmatter. If they still say status: inbox, open each note and update the status field first.
Check that you typed the folder names exactly as they appear in your vault (00-Inbox and 30-Resources). Folder names are case-sensitive.
Why didn't Agent Mode move my notes to the Resources folder?

Create a daily capture workflow note

A workflow note serves as a quick reference for your daily second brain practice. Instead of writing it from scratch, you can ask Claude to generate it directly inside your vault.

In the Claudian side panel, type the following prompt and press Enter:

Create a new note called 'Daily Capture Workflow' in my 90-Templates folder. It should describe a simple daily workflow: 1) Capture fleeting ideas in the Inbox throughout the day, 2) At the end of the day, open each new note and ask Claude to suggest tags and links, 3) Move processed notes to the appropriate PARA folder, 4) Once a week, ask Claude to generate a concept map of recent notes.

Why store the workflow in Templates?

Keeping your workflow note in 90-Templates means it stays separate from your actual knowledge notes. You can reference it anytime without it cluttering your Projects, Areas, or Resources folders.

Expand the 90-Templates folder in the file explorer. You should see a new note called Daily Capture Workflow.
Open the note and confirm it contains the four workflow steps.

Note wasn't created?

Make sure the 90-Templates folder exists in your vault. Agent Mode needs the exact folder name to place the note there.
Try rephrasing the prompt to be more specific, like "Create a note named Daily Capture Workflow inside the folder called 90-Templates."
Why didn't Claude create the Daily Capture Workflow note in my Templates folder?

Secret mission

Build a Batch Processing Pipeline

You have been processing notes one at a time. But what happens when your Inbox has a week's worth of ideas piling up? In this mission, you will use Claudian's batch processing feature to process an entire folder of notes at once, then build a Map of Content that ties everything together.

Before you go

Clean Up Your Resources

Decide whether to keep your resources running, pause them to come back later, or delete them entirely. This project runs locally in Obsidian, so there are no servers or cloud infrastructure to shut down. The only ongoing cost is Anthropic API credit usage when you interact with Claude through the Claudian plugin.

Cost warning

The Claudian plugin uses your Anthropic API credits every time you send a message, process a note, or run an Agent Mode command. This project uses well under $1 in API credits, but continued daily use will consume more over time. If you want to stop all charges, you can disable the Claudian plugin or remove your API key from its settings.

Resources you used:

Obsidian vault with PARA folders (00-Inbox, 10-Projects, 20-Areas, 30-Resources, 40-Archive, 90-Templates).
Zettel Template and Daily Capture Workflow notes.
Sample notes (Spaced Repetition, Active Recall, The Feynman Technique, Interleaving Practice).
Learning Techniques Map (Mermaid concept map).
Claudian community plugin (installed in Obsidian).
Anthropic API key (stored locally in Claudian settings).

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you are still actively building your second brain and want to keep capturing and processing notes with Claude.

Your vault, folders, templates, and notes will stay exactly as they are.
The Claudian plugin will remain active and connected to your API key.
You will only be charged API credits when you actively send messages or process notes through the plugin.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Disable the plugin to stop any accidental API usage while keeping all your notes and vault structure intact.

Go to Settings > Community plugins.
Find Claudian in the list and toggle it off to disable the plugin.
Your API key, vault structure, and all notes will be preserved. Toggle the plugin back on whenever you are ready to continue.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove all project resources and start fresh.

Go to Settings > Community plugins, find Claudian, and click the X icon to uninstall it. This removes the plugin and your stored API key.
Delete the PARA folders (00-Inbox, 10-Projects, 20-Areas, 30-Resources, 40-Archive, 90-Templates) and all the notes inside them by right-clicking each folder and selecting Delete.
If you want to revoke your Anthropic API key entirely, go to console.anthropic.com, navigate to your API keys, and delete the key you used for this project.

Mission accomplished

That's a Wrap!

Nice work! You just built an AI-powered second brain in Obsidian using the Claudian plugin and Claude. Your vault is now a living knowledge system that gets smarter every time you capture a new idea.

Here's what you learned:

Set up the Claudian plugin and connected it to the Anthropic API, then built a PARA vault structure with reusable Zettel templates for consistent note-taking.
Used Claude to analyze your notes and suggest tags, wikilinks, and atomic concepts, then generated a visual Mermaid concept map showing the relationships between your ideas.
Used Agent Mode to reorganize your vault with natural language commands and created a reusable daily capture-and-process workflow to keep your system running smoothly.
Built a batch processing pipeline that processes an entire folder of notes at once, extracting key ideas and connections across all of them.

Ready to quiz yourself?