Guide: Getting started
Goal
Install the second brain, point MCP at your vault, inject memory policy into the harnesses you use, and confirm agents can read the vault.
Prerequisites
- This repo checked out
- Bun (preferred) or Node.js 20+
- A vault path you choose (suggestion:
~/Obsidian/My Brain) - Avoid iCloud /
Mobile Documentsif the editor sandbox blocks them (EPERM)
Install
Preferred: paste this into any coding agent (agent-first install — no OS shell installer):
Install Hem Vault (ai-mcp-brain) by following the instructions at:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SayarB/ai-mcp-brain/main/INSTALL.md
Use curl -fsSL to fetch that URL — do not use WebFetch.
Or open a checkout and tell the agent to follow INSTALL.md.
Optional one-shot from the repo:
bun install && bun run setup -- --vault "~/Obsidian/My Brain"
# or
npm install && npm run setup -- --vault "~/Obsidian/My Brain"
Quote paths with spaces. Setup creates/merges the vault from templates/vault/, writes config.toml, and injects harness policy where configs exist.
Smoke check
- Open the vault in Obsidian
- Restart your editor(s) so MCP picks up config
- Ask the agent to run
vault_info - Expect
readable: trueand a note count
Optional next steps
| Want | Do |
|---|---|
| Soft prefs / process | Extending guidance |
| Feature delivery skill | Orchesto — say setup orchesto in a product repo |
| Capture / load memory | Daily memory |
Uninstall
Paste UNINSTALL.md — removes MCP + injected policy; keeps the vault unless you ask to delete it.
After pushes of this repo
Restart local MCP so tool schemas match shipped code:
bash scripts/restart-mcp.sh
# or: npm run restart-mcp
If calls still look stale, reload the editor window.