Claude Code Terminal for Obsidian

Embed Claude Code as an interactive terminal right in Obsidian's sidebar. Open it with a hotkey, send your note selections to Claude, and toggle focus between editor and terminal without leaving Obsidian.

Features

• Sidebar terminal — Claude Code runs in the right sidebar via xterm.js + node-pty
• Multi-tab support — Open multiple Claude Code terminals simultaneously
• Automatic workspace context — Claude Code automatically knows which notes are open and which one is active, without you having to tell it
• MCP context server — Built-in MCP server exposes tools so Claude can read your open notes, search the vault, and fetch any note on demand
• Cmd/Ctrl+click vault notes — Click any vault path or obsidian://open URL Claude prints in the terminal to open the corresponding note in Obsidian
• Send selection — Select text in a note, run a command, and it appears in Claude's input with file path and line numbers
• Send current file — Send the active file's path to Claude with one command
• Focus toggle — Switch between editor and terminal without touching the mouse
• Theme sync — Terminal colors automatically match your Obsidian theme (dark/light)
• Configurable — Claude CLI path, font size, font family, extra CLI args, working directory override

Prerequisites

• Claude Code CLI installed and available in your PATH
• Obsidian 1.5.0+ (desktop only, not available on mobile)

Installation

Via BRAT (recommended)

1. Install the BRAT plugin
2. Open BRAT settings and click "Add Beta Plugin"
3. Enter ErickRyu/obsidian-claude-code
4. Enable the plugin in Community Plugins settings

The plugin will automatically download the required native module (node-pty) for your platform on first launch.

Manual installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create a folder .obsidian/plugins/obsidian-claude-code/ in your vault
3. Copy the downloaded files into that folder
4. Enable the plugin in Obsidian settings

The plugin will attempt to download the node-pty native binary automatically. If auto-download fails, download the appropriate node-pty-{platform}.tar.gz from the release page and extract it into the plugin folder.

From source

git clone https://github.com/ErickRyu/obsidian-claude-code.git
cd obsidian-claude-code
npm install
npm run build

Copy main.js, manifest.json, styles.css, and node_modules/node-pty/ to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/obsidian-claude-code/ directory.

Commands

Command	Description
Toggle Claude Code terminal	Open/close the active terminal
New Claude Code terminal	Open an additional terminal tab
Send selection to Claude	Send selected text with file context to Claude
Send current file to Claude	Send @filepath to Claude
Focus Claude Code terminal	Toggle focus between editor and terminal

Set hotkeys in Settings > Hotkeys. Recommended: Cmd+2 for toggle.

Settings

• Claude CLI path — Default: claude. Change if installed elsewhere.
• Font size — Terminal font size (default: 14)
• Font family — Terminal font (default: system monospace)
• Extra CLI arguments — Additional args passed to Claude CLI (e.g., --model sonnet)
• Working directory — Override the working directory (default: vault root)
• MCP context server — Enable the built-in MCP server so Claude can access open notes, active file, and vault search (default: on). Requires terminal restart after toggling.

How it works

The plugin spawns Claude Code CLI in a pseudo-terminal (PTY) using node-pty, renders it with xterm.js in an Obsidian sidebar view. Editor integration commands inject text into the terminal input buffer (paste-only, no auto-submit). A terminal state machine (closed/opening/ready/exited) ensures commands wait for the PTY to be ready before sending text.

Workspace context

On load, the plugin starts a lightweight MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes Obsidian's workspace state to Claude Code. It does two things:

1. System prompt injection — A short prompt file listing currently open notes and the active note is auto-generated and passed to Claude via --append-system-prompt-file. Claude always knows which notes you have open without you telling it.
2. MCP tools — Claude can call get_active_note, list_open_notes, read_note, and search_notes on demand to fetch note content or search the vault.

The plugin writes .mcp.json and .claude/settings.local.json in your vault on load so Claude Code auto-discovers the server and pre-approves the tools (no per-call permission prompts). These are cleaned up when the plugin is disabled.

Limitations

• Desktop only — requires node-pty (native module), does not work on mobile
• No inline diffs — Obsidian API does not support inline diff views
• Native module build — node-pty must be compiled for your Obsidian's Electron version

License

MIT