Obsidian + Claude: Vector-Free RAG for Solo Devs
Structure Obsidian vault with raw/wiki folders and claude.md rules to let Claude Code query hundreds of docs without embeddings—lightweight setup beats full RAG for small teams until massive scale.
Folder Structure Enables LLM Navigation Without Vectors
Karpathy's Obsidian setup mimics RAG by organizing files into a traversable hierarchy: a raw folder stages incoming docs (MD, PDFs from web/articles/repos), while a wiki folder holds processed summaries. A master-index.md in wiki lists all wikis (e.g., AI agents, RAG systems), and each wiki subfolder has its own index.md linking related content via wiki-links. This gives Claude Code a clear path—scan master index, drill into relevant wiki index, follow links—avoiding token waste on blind searches. Humans browse the same structure visually in Obsidian UI, keeping everything transparent vs black-box vector DBs. Result: query large doc sets accurately with zero embeddings, ideal for solo operators ingesting dozens to hundreds of files.
Claude.md Rules Automate Wiki Creation and Q&A
Place a claude.md file in the vault root defining rules for traversal, wiki generation, and output formatting. Prompt Claude Code with: "Create the Obsidian RAG file structure: raw folder for staging, wiki/master-index.md/wiki indexes with wiki-links." It builds everything. To generate a wiki, point Claude at raw contents: "Create wiki on topic from raw folder—add index.md summarizing sources with links." Claude auto-maintains indexes, pulling relevant raw files or researching anew via web search. Query via: "Ask about my topic wiki"—it navigates efficiently. Download Obsidian (free at obsidian.md), designate vault folder, enable community plugins. Full claude.md template and prompts available in free communities like Chase AI.
Data Ingestion Pipelines for Hands-Off Scaling
Obsidian Web Clipper Chrome extension (obsidian.md/clipper) converts webpages to MD, auto-saves to raw (set in options: change 'clippings' to 'raw'). Pair with 'Local Images Plus' plugin (search/install in Obsidian > Community Plugins > Browse) to embed images directly—clipper links them otherwise. For automation, prompt Claude Code: "Research topic, save relevant MDs to raw, generate wiki." Handles web search, filtering, and wiki creation end-to-end. Manual clips for curated inputs; AI for bulk. Keeps humans in loop via visible raw staging, preventing info silos.
Skip True RAG Until Thousands of Docs
This beats LightRAG/graph RAG for solo/small teams: zero cost/overhead, leverages Claude's file navigation smarts for <1000 docs. At massive scale (millions), vectors win on speed/cost—embeddings retrieve faster than MD traversal. Start here: free, editable, visible. Upgrade only when queries slow/token costs spike. Most don't need full RAG; this 'Obsidian RAG' handles agency knowledge bases, research wikis without complexity.