Second Brain x Claude - Practical Kit
Christiane Caneva, PhD — LeaderTech — August 2026
Your notes exist. They just don't talk to each other.
You have been accumulating notes for years — across notebooks, shared drives, Zotero references, annotated PDFs. Yet when you need to write an article, prepare a keynote, or build an institutional argument, you start almost from scratch.
The problem is not the volume of reading. Your notes cannot be queried.
This kit connects Obsidian to Claude via MCP (Model Context Protocol), allowing you to ask questions across your entire knowledge base in real time: map a corpus of notes, synthesise fragments, identify what is missing in your reasoning. What used to take a full day now takes twenty minutes.
What is included
📄 PDF Guide — 22 pages
The guide covers four areas: the conceptual foundation (the Zettelkasten method and what changes when you connect it to an AI), an honest assessment of who this system is for and who it is not, a complete step-by-step installation on Mac and PC, and a prompt library of 4 structured prompts with their real limits and 5 questions for daily use on your own notes.
📁 Obsidian Vault — Ready to use (.zip)
A preconfigured vault with a note template and filled example, a bibliographic reference template with optional Zotero field and filled example, an Inbox zone with processing instructions, and a START-HERE.md file guiding your first notes and first Claude commands.
Who this kit is for
Researchers, academic leaders, educational advisors, and institutional decision-makers who regularly read academic or institutional sources and produce syntheses, position papers, or decision arguments.
Requires an active Claude Pro subscription. Works on Mac and Windows.
Not designed for: rapid note-taking on the go, real-time team collaboration, or users without a Claude Pro account.
What the MCP connection does
MCP (Model Context Protocol) allows Claude Desktop to read and query the files stored locally in your Obsidian vault. Your notes stay on your computer. Nothing is uploaded beyond Anthropic's standard infrastructure.
Frequently asked questions
Can I install this without technical skills?
Yes. The only step that uses the Terminal is a single copy-paste command. No programming knowledge is required. The full installation takes approximately 45 minutes.
Do I need a paid subscription?
Claude Pro subscription. Check current pricing at claude.ai. Obsidian and Node.js are free.
What types of notes can I submit to Claude?
Any text file stored in your Obsidian vault — reading notes, syntheses, meeting notes, position papers, bibliographic references. Claude reads the entire vault and responds in any language.
Is the kit available in English?
The French edition is available now. The English and German edition are in preparation. Contact
contact@leadertech.ch to be notified on release.
Produced by Christiane Caneva, PhD, Director of the Service for University Didactics and Digital Competencies at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), and author of LeaderTech — a monthly newsletter on AI governance in higher education (in French) and AI Research Insights (in English).
LeaderTech: christianecaneva.substack.com — AI Research Insights: canevac.substack.com
Get the kit
→ Kit in French — 39 EURPDF guide (22 pages) + Obsidian vault (.zip) — Immediate delivery
→ Kit in English — 39 EUR PDF guide (22 pages) + Obsidian vault (.zip) — Immediate delivery
→ Kit in German — coming soonNotify me
To cite this page:Caneva, C. (2026). Second Brain × Claude — Practical Kit. LeaderTech. leadertech.ch/shop