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Obsidian + Claude Code: AI Accountability System

Not another PKM starter kit. This is an execution system that connects your 3-year vision to what you do today — and holds you accountable with AI.

3-Year Vision ──→ Yearly Goals ──→ Projects ──→ Monthly Goals ──→ Weekly Review ──→ Daily Tasks
                                      ↑
                              /project new
                         (the bridge layer)

Every layer connects. /daily surfaces your ONE Big Thing from the weekly review. /weekly shows project progress. /monthly checks quarterly milestones. /goal-tracking knows which goals have no active project. Nothing falls through the cracks.

v3.1 · Zero dependencies · MIT License

The Cascade

The #1 reason people star this repo: "I want goals → projects → daily notes → tasks to actually connect."

Layer	File	Skill	What It Does
Vision	`Goals/0. Three Year Goals.md`	`/goal-tracking`	Life areas, long-term direction
Annual	`Goals/1. Yearly Goals.md`	`/goal-tracking`	Measurable objectives, quarterly milestones
Projects	`Projects/*/CLAUDE.md`	`/project`	Active initiatives linked to goals
Monthly	`Goals/2. Monthly Goals.md`	`/monthly`	Roll up weekly reviews, check quarterly progress
Weekly	`Goals/3. Weekly Review.md`	`/weekly`	Reflect, realign, plan next week
Daily	`Daily Notes/YYYY-MM-DD.md`	`/daily`	Morning planning, evening reflection

How It Flows

Morning — /daily creates today's note, shows your week's ONE Big Thing and active project next-actions. You pick your focus.

Evening — /daily summarizes which goals and projects got attention today. Unlinked tasks get flagged.

Sunday — /weekly reads all your daily notes, scans project status, calculates goal progress, and helps you plan next week. Optional agent team mode parallelizes the collection.

End of month — /monthly rolls up the weekly reviews, checks quarterly milestones against yearly goals, and sets next month's priorities.

Ad hoc — /project new creates a project linked to a goal. /project status shows a dashboard. /review auto-detects the right review type based on context.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

Obsidian installed
Claude Code CLI installed
Git installed

Setup

# Clone and set up
git clone https://github.com/ballred/obsidian-claude-pkm.git
cd obsidian-claude-pkm
chmod +x scripts/setup.sh && ./scripts/setup.sh

# Open vault in Obsidian, then start Claude Code:
cd ~/your-vault-location
claude

On first run, you'll see a welcome message with the cascade visualization. Run /onboard to personalize your vault — it asks your name, preferred review day, and goal areas, then configures everything.

Already have a vault?

You don't need to start from the template. Run /adopt from the root of your existing Obsidian vault — it scans your folder structure, detects your organization method (PARA, Zettelkasten, LYT, etc.), maps your folders interactively, and generates all config files scoped to your directory names. Your vault structure stays untouched.

cd ~/your-existing-vault
claude
# then type: /adopt

Windows

git clone https://github.com/ballred/obsidian-claude-pkm.git
cd obsidian-claude-pkm
scripts\setup.bat

Skills (Slash Commands)

Skill	Command	Purpose
Daily	`/daily`	Morning planning, midday check-in, evening reflection
Weekly	`/weekly`	30-min weekly review with project rollup
Monthly	`/monthly`	Monthly review, quarterly milestone check
Project	`/project`	Create, track, archive projects linked to goals
Review	`/review`	Smart router — detects morning/Sunday/end-of-month context
Push	`/push`	Commit and push vault changes to Git
Onboard	`/onboard`	Interactive setup + load vault context
Adopt	`/adopt`	Scaffold onto an existing vault (BYOV)
Upgrade	`/upgrade`	Update to latest version, preserving your content
Goal Tracking	(auto)	Track progress across the full cascade
Vault Ops	(auto)	Read/write files, manage wiki-links

AI Agents

Four specialized agents with cross-session memory:

Agent	What It Does
`goal-aligner`	Audits daily activity against stated goals. Flags misalignment.
`weekly-reviewer`	Facilitates the 3-phase weekly review. Learns your reflection style.
`note-organizer`	Fixes broken links, consolidates duplicates, maintains vault hygiene.
`inbox-processor`	GTD-style inbox processing — categorize, clarify, organize.

claude "Use the goal-aligner agent to analyze my last 2 weeks"
claude "Use the inbox-processor agent to clear my inbox"

Agents use memory: project to learn your patterns across sessions — the goal-aligner remembers recurring misalignment patterns, the weekly-reviewer learns what reflection questions resonate.

Productivity Coach

An output style that transforms Claude into an accountability partner:

/output-style coach

The coach challenges assumptions, points out goal-action misalignment, asks powerful questions, and holds you to your commitments. Pairs naturally with /daily and /weekly.

Automation

Zero dependencies. Everything runs on bash and markdown.

Auto-commit — Every file write/edit triggers a Git commit via PostToolUse hook
Session init — Surfaces your ONE Big Thing, active project count, and days since last review
First-run welcome — New vaults get a guided onboarding experience
Skill discovery — Mention "skill" or "help" and available commands are listed automatically
Path-specific rules — Markdown standards, productivity workflow, and project management conventions loaded contextually

Structure

Your Vault/
├── CLAUDE.md                    # AI context and navigation
├── .claude/
│   ├── agents/                  # 4 specialized AI agents (with memory)
│   ├── skills/                  # 10 skills (8 listed above + 2 auto)
│   ├── hooks/                   # Auto-commit, session init, skill discovery
│   ├── rules/                   # Path-specific conventions
│   ├── output-styles/           # Productivity Coach
│   └── settings.json            # Permissions, env vars, hooks config
├── Daily Notes/                 # YYYY-MM-DD.md
├── Goals/                       # The cascade (3-year → weekly)
├── Projects/                    # Active projects with CLAUDE.md each
├── Templates/                   # Reusable note structures
├── Archives/                    # Completed/inactive content
└── Inbox/                       # Quick captures (optional)

Upgrading

Built-in upgrade (v3.1+)

/upgrade check    # Preview what's changed
/upgrade          # Interactive upgrade with backup

The upgrade skill creates a timestamped backup, shows diffs for each changed file, and never touches your content folders (Daily Notes, Goals, Projects, etc.).

Manual upgrade from v2.1

# Copy new skill directories
cp -r vault-template/.claude/skills/project your-vault/.claude/skills/
cp -r vault-template/.claude/skills/monthly your-vault/.claude/skills/
cp -r vault-template/.claude/skills/review your-vault/.claude/skills/
cp -r vault-template/.claude/skills/upgrade your-vault/.claude/skills/

# Update agents, hooks, settings
cp vault-template/.claude/agents/*.md your-vault/.claude/agents/
cp vault-template/.claude/hooks/* your-vault/.claude/hooks/
cp vault-template/.claude/settings.json your-vault/.claude/
chmod +x your-vault/.claude/hooks/*.sh

From v1.x

cp -r vault-template/.claude-plugin your-vault/
cp -r vault-template/.claude your-vault/
cp vault-template/CLAUDE.md your-vault/
chmod +x your-vault/.claude/hooks/*.sh

Documentation

Setup Guide — Detailed installation instructions
Customization — Make it yours
Workflow Examples — Daily routines and best practices
Troubleshooting — Common issues and solutions
Contributing — How to help

Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines. Good first issues are labeled — check the issues page.

License

MIT — Use this freely for your personal knowledge management journey.