How to Install and Use Claudian: Bringing Claude AI Directly into Obsidian

Overview

Claudian is an Obsidian plugin built on the Claude SDK that lets users converse with Claude directly inside a note. The plugin automatically adds the currently opened file and any selected text to the prompt, providing contextual background without leaving the editor.

Key Features

Clean, fast‑loading UI.

Conversation tied to the active document.

History view for previous exchanges.

Automatic injection of the open file and highlighted text into the context panel.

Support for adding external context files.

Model switching, configurable thinking length, YOLO mode, and Safe mode toggles.

Model Configuration

For selecting and switching Claude models, the author recommends the cc-switch utility. Repository: https://github.com/farion1231/cc-switch?tab=readme-ov-file. Users should follow the instructions in that repo to match their platform.

Manual Installation (4 steps)

Download the latest release assets main.js, manifest.json and styles.css from the Claudian GitHub page.

Create a plugin directory inside the vault, e.g.: /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/claudian/ Copy the three files from step 1 into the newly created folder.

Open Obsidian → Settings → Community plugins, enable “Claudian”, then click the robot icon in the lower‑left corner to open the Claude sidebar.

One‑Click Installation (recommended)

The author packaged the above workflow into an automation Skill that can be invoked from Claude Code with the phrase “install Claudian plugin”. The Skill walks the user through directory selection, creates the plugin folder, and deploys the files automatically.

Skill source repository: https://github.com/chujianyun/skills

Actual Effect

Using the sidebar, the author generated the article’s title, abstract, and optimization suggestions entirely via Claude, demonstrating end‑to‑end AI‑assisted note‑taking.

Alternative Tool

For users who prefer a non‑Obsidian environment, Zed (https://zed.dev/) offers similar AI‑assisted note‑taking capabilities.

Relevant Links

Claudian project: https://github.com/YishenTu/claudian

Automation Skill: https://github.com/chujianyun/skills