Claudian

An Obsidian plugin that puts an AI coding agent inside your notes vault as a chat sidebar.

Stars: 15.9k
Forks: 1.1k
Licence: MIT
Language: TypeScript
Last update: 4 days ago
Type: App

What it is

Claudian is a community plugin for Obsidian, the note-taking app. It adds a chat panel where an AI coding agent (such as Claude Code or Codex) works directly on your vault: it can read, write, edit, and search your notes and run commands. Your vault folder becomes the agent's working directory, so you can ask it to draft, reorganize, or edit notes. It requires you to already have at least one supported agent harness and a compatible subscription or API provider.

Ask the agent to summarize or rewrite a selected passage with an inline edit and review the diff
Group related chat sessions into a Project that shares instructions and a memory file
Reference vault files or folders in a chat with @mention
Open a temporary side chat with /side or /btw without changing the main conversation

Great for

Obsidian users who already use Claude Code or Codex and want that agent inside their notes
People who want an AI to edit or reorganize many notes in a folder at once
Users who want word-level inline edits with a diff preview directly in a note
Developers who want to try several agent backends (Claude Code, Codex, Grok Build, OpenCode, Pi, DeepSeek Harness) from one interface

Not ideal for

Mobile-only Obsidian users, since the README says it is desktop only (macOS, Linux, Windows)
People without a Claude Code, Codex, or other supported harness or a provider account, since at least one is required
Anyone who does not want note contents sent to third-party AI providers, since the privacy section says input, files, and tool outputs go to the chosen provider

Step-by-step guide: how to use ClaudianInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Claudian alternatives CC Switch vs Claudian Claudian vs Orca Claudian vs Happy Claudian vs Git Plugin for Obsidian

How to get it

1
Download the app
You'll need: Obsidian v1.13.0+ · At least one supported harness such as Claude Code or Codex · Node.js (needed only for building from source)
Clone into your vault plugins folder
cd /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins && git clone https://github.com/YishenTu/claudian.git realclaudian
Install dependencies and build (source install)
cd realclaudian && npm install && npm run build
2
Run it
- Install Claudian from Obsidian Settings → Community plugins → Browse, or use the source steps
- Enable the plugin under Settings → Community plugins
- Open Claudian from the ribbon icon or the command palette
- Talk to the agent in the chat panel and check its file edits in your vault
3
Get the most out of it
- Use Inline Edit (select text plus hotkey) for focused rewrites with diff preview
- Use Projects to share instructions and a memory file across related sessions
- Use @mention to point the agent at specific vault files and folders
- Add Slash Commands and Skills from user or vault scopes for reusable prompts
- Use Zen Mode to keep the chat compact while you write

Downloads

Source code (.zip)main branch · straight from GitHub Release 2.3.383 files incl. manifest.json

Strengths

Works with several agent backends listed in the README, not only one provider
Inline edit shows word-level diffs before changes are applied
Free and open source under the MIT license

Trade-offs

Requires a separate harness install and a paid or API-based provider account, which the README does not detail
Some features are marked experimental, such as the Plugin API
Collaboration features have moved to a separate plugin, Claudian Collab

How it compares

Project	Stars	Type	Level	Updated	Best for
claudian (this)	15.9k	App	intermediate	4 days ago	Obsidian users who already use Claude Code or Codex and want that agent inside their notes
orca	113k	App	intermediate	4 days ago	Developers who already use CLI coding agents and want to run several at once
cc-switch	151k	App	beginner	4 days ago	Developers who use several AI coding agents and switch between API providers often
obsidian-skills	50.6k	Other	beginner	2 months ago	Obsidian users who already use an AI coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex, or OpenCode
happy	24.4k	App	intermediate	4 days ago	Developers who already pay for Claude, Codex or Grok subscriptions and want one interface for them
distilly	26.3k	Dev tool	intermediate	24 days ago	Developers who want an agent to answer in the style of a specific colleague or mentor

Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.