Vault Cortex
Connect your Obsidian vault to the agent with search, memory, link graph, and 23 OAuth-protected MCP tools.
Overview
vault-cortex is a MCP server for the Build phase that gives your agent 23 OAuth-protected tools to search, remember, and traverse your Obsidian vault link graph.
What is this MCP server?
- 23 MCP tools for Obsidian vaults: search, memory, link graph, and related vault operations
- OAuth-protected streamable-http endpoint with Bearer MCP_AUTH_TOKEN
- Docker OCI image ghcr.io/aliasunder/vault-mcp with vault volume mount and port 8000
- Keeps long-lived project context in Obsidian while the agent queries it on demand
- Supports solo builders who document specs, research, and runbooks in markdown vaults
- Server version 0.15.4
- Transport: streamable-http at /mcp with Bearer MCP_AUTH_TOKEN
Community signal: 1 GitHub stars.
What problem does it solve?
Agents lose thread when your product knowledge lives in Obsidian but never gets queried with structure, backlinks, or durable memory.
Who is it for?
Solo builders who run Obsidian as a second brain and want Claude Code or Cursor to read and navigate that vault safely over MCP.
Skip if: Teams on Notion-only workflows, cloud-only note apps without local vault files, or users unwilling to run Docker and manage bearer tokens.
What do I get? / Deliverables
After you run vault-cortex with a mounted vault and MCP_AUTH_TOKEN, your agent can search notes, use memory tools, and follow the link graph during implementation work.
- HTTP MCP endpoint on port 8000 with 23 vault tools enabled
- Agent-accessible search, memory, and link-graph operations over your notes
- OAuth-protected local bridge between Obsidian files and your coding agent
Recommended MCP Servers
Journey fit
Vault-backed agent tooling is primarily registered when you wire the agent into your knowledge base during product build. vault-cortex is agent-tooling: it extends what your coding agent can read and remember from Obsidian, not a standalone note-taking app.
How it compares
Obsidian vault MCP with 23 tools and OAuth, not a generic filesystem grep skill or hosted wiki integration.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is Vault Cortex for?
Solo developers and knowledge workers who store project docs in Obsidian and want an AI coding agent to search, remember, and traverse vault links through MCP.
When should I use Vault Cortex?
Use it when you are wiring agent tooling during build—or researching in idea—so the agent can pull structured context from your mounted Obsidian vault instead of one-off uploads.
How do I add Vault Cortex to my agent?
Run the ghcr.io/aliasunder/vault-mcp container with your vault volume and port 8000, set MCP_AUTH_TOKEN to match the Authorization Bearer header, and point your MCP client at http://localhost:8000/mcp.