Get The Second Brain Build Checklist
Build a Claude + Obsidian second brain that gets smarter every day — the exact checklist, every command, every prompt. It's based on Andrej Karpathy's 'LLM Wiki' pattern (his April 2026 idea): keep your knowledge as plain linked notes an AI can traverse, not locked inside a chat history. The build has 3 layers. LAYER 1 — STORAGE (Obsidian): install Obsidian (free) from obsidian.md, create a vault named 'brain', learn the one mechanic (type [[goals]] to link notes into a graph), then install + enable the Local REST API community plugin and copy its API key (the long string AFTER the word Bearer — not the word itself), keeping Obsidian running. LAYER 2 — THE BRAIN (Claude): install Claude Desktop from claude.com/download (Pro, $20/mo — the free tier won't work), open Code mode, then connect Claude to the vault with `claude mcp add-json obsidian-vault` pointing at the MarkusPfundstein/mcp-obsidian server (uvx mcp-obsidian, OBSIDIAN_HOST 127.0.0.1, OBSIDIAN_PORT 27124, your API key), and test with 'list every file in my Obsidian vault'. Then make it yours: paste the interview prompt so Claude interviews you one question at a time and writes a CLAUDE.md profile at the vault root (who you are, this year's goals, how to talk to you, strengths/weaknesses, current projects), create a project (folder + Inputs/Process/Outputs/Feedback + its own CLAUDE.md), open that folder as its own vault and Trust it, and build a markdown skill for anything you repeat. LAYER 3 — AUTOPILOT: add live data READ-ONLY (e.g. Google Calendar via `claude mcp add google-workspace uvx workspace-mcp --tools calendar`, the taylorwilsdon/google_workspace_mcp server; add Gmail/Slack/Notion the same way), then schedule it on the Routines page in Claude Desktop (not a 'Schedule tab') as a daily 7am local task pointed at your vault: 'File anything new in Inputs, link it, flag stale notes, write me a 3-line summary of what changed overnight.' THE ONE RULE: keys, not prompts — telling an agent 'don't delete this' is a suggestion, not a safety setting; control access with read-only, scoped keys, never with words. SHORTCUT — clone a ready-made brain and reshape it: AgriciDaniel/claude-obsidian (~8k stars, self-organizing, role presets), eugeniughelbur/obsidian-second-brain (~2.7k stars, 43 commands, works on Claude/Codex/Gemini), or coleam00/second-brain-starter (~600 stars, interviews you and builds it). Full credit to Andrej Karpathy and every repo author.
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