personal-wiki/docs/install-guide.md

cosmic-brain — Install Guide

Claude + Obsidian Knowledge Companion Version 1.2.0 · github.com/AgriciDaniel/cosmic-brain

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What is cosmic-brain?

cosmic-brain is a Claude Code plugin + Obsidian vault that builds and maintains a persistent, compounding knowledge base. Every source you add gets processed into cross-referenced wiki pages. Every question you ask pulls from everything that has been read. Knowledge compounds like interest.

Built on Andrej Karpathy's LLM Wiki pattern.

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Prerequisites

Tool	How to get it	Notes
Claude Code	npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code	Free tier available
Obsidian	obsidian.md	Free
Git	Pre-installed on most systems	For Option 1

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Installation

Option 1 — Clone as vault (recommended)

Full setup in under 2 minutes.

git clone https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/cosmic-brain
cd cosmic-brain
bash bin/setup-vault.sh

Then in Obsidian: Manage Vaults → Open folder as vault → select cosmic-brain/

Open Claude Code in the same folder and type /wiki.

Option 2 — Install as Claude Code plugin

claude plugin install github:AgriciDaniel/cosmic-brain

In any Claude Code session: type /wiki — Claude walks you through vault setup.

Option 3 — Add to an existing vault

Copy WIKI.md from this repo into your vault root. Then paste into Claude:

Read WIKI.md in this project. Then:
1. Check if Obsidian is installed. If not, install it.
2. Check if the Local REST API plugin is running on port 27124.
3. Configure the MCP server.
4. Ask me ONE question: "What is this vault for?"
Then scaffold the full wiki structure.

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First Steps

1. Scaffold the vault

Type /wiki in Claude Code. Claude will:

• Detect your vault mode (website, GitHub, business, personal, research, or book/course)
• Create the folder structure and core wiki pages
• Set up wiki/index.md, wiki/hot.md, wiki/log.md, and wiki/overview.md

2. Drop your first source

Put any document into .raw/:

• PDFs, markdown files, transcripts, articles, URLs

Tell Claude: ingest [filename]

Claude reads the source and creates 8–15 cross-referenced wiki pages.

3. Ask questions

what do you know about [topic]?

Claude reads the hot cache, scans the index, drills into relevant pages, and gives a synthesized answer — citing specific wiki pages, not training data.

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Commands Reference

Command	What Claude does
/wiki	Setup check, scaffold, or continue where you left off
ingest [file]	Read source, create 8–15 wiki pages, update index and log
ingest all of these	Batch process multiple sources, then cross-reference
what do you know about X?	Read index → relevant pages → synthesize answer
/save	File the current conversation as a wiki note
/save [name]	Save with a specific title
/autoresearch [topic]	Autonomous research loop: search, fetch, synthesize, file
/canvas	Open or create a visual canvas
/canvas add image [path]	Add an image to the canvas
/canvas add text [content]	Add a markdown text card
/canvas add pdf [path]	Add a PDF document
/canvas add note [page]	Pin a wiki page as a linked card
lint the wiki	Health check: orphans, dead links, gaps
update hot cache	Refresh hot.md with latest context summary

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Plugins (pre-installed)

Enable in Settings → Community Plugins:

Plugin	Purpose
Calendar	Right-sidebar calendar with word count and task dots
Thino	Quick memo capture panel
Excalidraw	Freehand drawing, image annotation
Banners	Header images via banner: frontmatter

Also install from Community Plugins:

Plugin	Purpose
Dataview	Powers the dashboard queries
Templater	Auto-fills frontmatter from templates
Obsidian Git	Auto-commits vault every 15 minutes

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CSS Snippets

Three snippets are auto-enabled by setup-vault.sh:

Snippet	Effect
vault-colors	Color-codes wiki folders in the file explorer
ITS-Dataview-Cards	Turns Dataview queries into visual card grids
ITS-Image-Adjustments	Fine-grained image sizing — append |100 to embeds

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Six Wiki Modes

Mode	Use when
A: Website	Sitemap, content audit, SEO wiki
B: GitHub	Codebase map, architecture wiki
C: Business	Project wiki, competitive intelligence
D: Personal	Second brain, goals, journal synthesis
E: Research	Papers, concepts, thesis
F: Book/Course	Chapter tracker, course notes

Modes can be combined.

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MCP Setup (Optional)

MCP lets Claude read and write vault notes directly without copy-paste.

Option A — REST API:

1. Install the Local REST API plugin in Obsidian
2. Copy your API key
3. Run:

claude mcp add-json obsidian-vault '{
  "type": "stdio",
  "command": "uvx",
  "args": ["mcp-obsidian"],
  "env": {
    "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "your-key",
    "OBSIDIAN_HOST": "127.0.0.1",
    "OBSIDIAN_PORT": "27124",
    "NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED": "0"
  }
}' --scope user

Option B — Filesystem (no plugin needed):

claude mcp add-json obsidian-vault '{
  "type": "stdio",
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "@bitbonsai/mcpvault@latest", "/path/to/your/vault"]
}' --scope user

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Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
/wiki says "not found"	Make sure cosmic-brain plugin is enabled: claude plugin list
Graph colors reset after closing Obsidian	Open Graph view → gear → Color groups → re-add once. Permanent after that.
Excalidraw not loading	Run bash bin/setup-vault.sh to download main.js (8MB, not in git)
Dashboard shows no results	Install the Dataview plugin from Community Plugins
Hot cache not loading at session start	Check hooks: claude hooks list — SessionStart hook should be present

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Cross-Project Power Move

Point any Claude Code project at this vault. Add to that project's CLAUDE.md:

## Wiki Knowledge Base
Path: ~/path/to/cosmic-brain

When you need context not in this project:
1. Read wiki/hot.md first (recent context cache)
2. If not enough, read wiki/index.md
3. If you need domain details, read the relevant wiki page

Do NOT read the wiki for general coding questions.

Your executive assistant, coding projects, and content workflows all draw from the same knowledge base.

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Support

• GitHub: github.com/AgriciDaniel/cosmic-brain
• Issues: github.com/AgriciDaniel/cosmic-brain/issues
• Community: AI Marketing Hub on Skool

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Built by AgriciDaniel / AI Marketing Hub Based on Andrej Karpathy's LLM Wiki pattern