2nd Brain Claude

2nd Brain — Claude

Connect your Obsidian vault to Claude. One command. Full context. No uploads.

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What This Is

A free, self-hosted system that gives Claude permanent access to your Obsidian Second Brain stored on Google Drive. Instead of uploading files or re-explaining your background every conversation, Claude reads your vault notes autonomously before writing anything.

You type one command. Claude reads your notes. Claude writes with your full context.

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What It Looks Like in Practice

You:     Search my vault for "project outcomes client delivery" 
         and write a capability statement for a new tender.

Claude:  [reads 5 matching vault notes]
         [writes a tailored capability statement using your actual data]

No file uploads. No copy-pasting. No repeating yourself.

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How It Works

Claude Desktop
      |
      | launches on Windows startup
      v
vault_proxy.py  (your PC)
      |
      | HTTPS + Bearer token
      v
Hugging Face Space  (always-on, free)
      |
      | Google Drive API (read-only)
      v
Your Obsidian Vault  (Google Drive)
      |
      v
Your notes

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The Four Tools Claude Gets

| Tool | What it does | |------|-------------| | search_vault | Full-text search across all vault notes. Fast. | | get_note | Fetch complete content of a specific note by name. | | get_linked_notes | Fetch a note plus all its wikilinked notes. | | list_recent_updates | List notes modified in the last N days. |

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Cost

Free. Forever. No credit card.

• Hugging Face Spaces: free tier, always-on
• Google Drive API: free tier, more than enough
• GitHub: free
• Your PC: runs a lightweight Python script at startup

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Prerequisites

Before starting, confirm you have:

• Obsidian installed with a vault stored in Google Drive
• Claude Desktop installed (download at claude.ai)
• A Google account
• A Hugging Face account (free, no card at huggingface.co)
• Python 3.x installed on Windows (python --version in Command Prompt)
• A GitHub account

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Quick Start

Full setup takes 30 to 60 minutes. Follow the setup guide:

[Complete Setup Guide](docs/setup-guide.md)

The guide covers every step from Google Cloud credentials to Claude Desktop configuration with screenshots and troubleshooting for every known issue.

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Vault Template

New to Obsidian or want a proven structure? Use the included vault template:

[Vault Template](vault_template/)

A hub-and-spoke architecture with a Master Profile at the centre. Works for any professional: engineers, researchers, consultants, students, managers.

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Usage Guide

Once set up, learn how to get the most out of the four tools:

[Usage Guide](docs/usage-guide.md)

Includes ready-to-use power prompts for common tasks: weekly review, CV updates, project proposals, outreach emails, and more.

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Troubleshooting

Something not working?

[Troubleshooting Guide](docs/troubleshooting.md)

Covers every known issue with exact fixes.

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Repository Structure

2nd-brain-claude/
├── README.md                  ← you are here
├── mcp_server/
│   ├── app.py                 ← Hugging Face Spaces server
│   ├── requirements.txt       ← Python dependencies
│   ├── Dockerfile             ← container config
│   └── README.md              ← server deployment guide
├── proxy/
│   └── vault_proxy.py         ← local Claude Desktop bridge
├── vault_template/            ← starter vault structure
│   ├── 00 Inbox/
│   ├── 10 Projects/
│   ├── 20 My Profile/
│   ├── 30 Research/
│   ├── 40 Skills_and_Certs/
│   └── 90 Templates/
└── docs/
    ├── setup-guide.md         ← complete setup instructions
    ├── usage-guide.md         ← how to use the four tools
    └── troubleshooting.md     ← known issues and fixes

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The Complete 2nd Brain System

This repo is part of a four-repo ecosystem. Each component works standalone or together.

| Repo | What it does | |------|-------------| | 2nd-brain-claude | Connect your vault to Claude via MCP | | 2nd-brain-sync | Sync Calendar and Gmail into your vault nightly | | 2nd-brain-job-finder | Daily job search digest to Sheets and email | | 2nd-brain-phd-finder | Match your research profile against faculty daily |

Security

Your vault data is protected by a Bearer token on every request. The Hugging Face server URL is public but without the correct token it returns 401 Unauthorized and exposes nothing.

The Google service account has read-only access to your vault folder only. It cannot access your Gmail, photos, contacts, or any other Google Drive content.

Your credentials never leave your hands during setup.

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License

MIT License. Use it, modify it, build on it.

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Contributing

Found a bug or want to add a feature? Open an issue or submit a pull request.

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Built by Masquerade

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Author

Fahim Ahmad (Masquerade) Engineering Project Manager, Defence Robotics and Industrial Automation Dhaka, Bangladesh

• GitHub: FahimAhmad-BD
• Portfolio: fahimahmad-bd.github.io
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/fahimahmad-bd

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Acknowledgements

Built with Claude (Anthropic), FastAPI, Google Drive API, and Hugging Face Spaces.

If this helped you, star the repo and share it.

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: FahimAhmad-BD
• Source: FahimAhmad-BD/2nd-brain-claude
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.