Obsidian OpenClaw

Chat with OpenClaw directly from Obsidian. Create, edit, and manage notes through conversation.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Opening the Chat Sidebar
• Usage
• File Actions
• Security & Privacy
  • Token Storage
  • Note Content
  • Audit Logging
• File Sync
  • Prerequisites
  • Setup
  • Sync Paths
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Auto-Sync
• Configuration
• OpenClaw Setup
• Development
• License

Features

• Chat sidebar - Talk to OpenClaw from the right sidebar
• Context-aware - Optionally include the current note in your conversation
• File operations - OpenClaw can create, update, append to, delete, and rename files
• Markdown rendering - Responses render as proper markdown
• Secure token storage - Uses OS keychain when available
• Audit logging - Optional logging of all file actions
• Two-way sync - Sync notes between your vault and the OpenClaw gateway

Installation

This plugin is installed using BRAT (Beta Reviewers Auto-update Tool).

Step 1: Install BRAT

1. Open Obsidian Settings → Community plugins
2. Click “Browse” and search for “BRAT”
3. Install and enable the BRAT plugin

Step 2: Add OpenClaw via BRAT

1. Open Obsidian Settings → BRAT
2. Click “Add Beta plugin”
3. Enter the repository URL: AndyBold/obsidian-openclaw
4. Click “Add Plugin”
5. Enable “OpenClaw” in Settings → Community plugins

Step 3: Configure

1. Open Obsidian Settings → OpenClaw
2. Set your Gateway URL (e.g., https://your-machine.tailnet.ts.net or http://127.0.0.1:18789)
   • Do not include a trailing slash
3. Set your Gateway Token (from your Clawdbot config)
4. Click “Test Connection” to verify

Opening the Chat Sidebar

There are several ways to open the OpenClaw chat panel:

1. Ribbon icon - Click the chat bubble icon (💬) in the left ribbon
2. Command palette - Press Cmd/Ctrl+P and search for “Open OpenClaw Chat”
3. Hotkey - Assign a custom hotkey in Settings → Hotkeys, search for “OpenClaw”

The chat panel opens in the right sidebar. You can drag it to a different position if preferred.

Usage

1. Open the OpenClaw chat sidebar (see above)
2. Type your message and press Cmd/Ctrl+Enter or click Send
3. Toggle “Include current note” to give OpenClaw context about what you’re working on

Example prompts

• “Summarize this note”
• “Create a new note called ‘Meeting Notes’ with today’s date”
• “Add a TODO section to the end of this file”
• “Rename this file to include today’s date”

File Actions

When you ask OpenClaw to work with files, it returns structured actions that the plugin executes:

Destructive actions (update, delete, rename) show a confirmation dialog before executing.

Security & Privacy

Token Storage

Your gateway token is stored securely using a priority-based system:

OS Keychain support:

• macOS: Keychain
• Windows: DPAPI (Data Protection API)
• Linux: libsecret (GNOME Keyring) or kwallet

The settings page shows your current storage method with a security indicator (🔒 or ⚠️).

Using an environment variable:

For most users, the OS Keychain method works automatically. Use the environment variable as a fallback if keychain storage isn’t working on your system.

When configured, the token field will show “Using Environment Variable”.

Note Content

When “Include current note” is checked, the full content of your current note is sent to:

1. Your Clawdbot gateway
2. The configured LLM provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.)

Be mindful of sensitive content — uncheck “Include current note” when working with private information.

Audit Logging

Enable audit logging to track all file operations:

1. Open Settings → OpenClaw
2. Enable “Enable audit logging”
3. Optionally change the log path (default: OpenClaw/audit-log.md)

The audit log records:

• Timestamp
• Action status (✅ success, ❌ failed, ⏭️ skipped)
• Action type
• File paths affected

File Sync

Sync notes between your Obsidian vault and the OpenClaw gateway. This enables two-way synchronization so notes created or edited in either location stay in sync.

Prerequisites

The sync feature requires the obsidian-sync skill running on your gateway.

Install via ClawdHub:

clawdhub install obsidian-sync

Or manually: Copy the skill/ folder from this repo to your Clawdbot skills directory.

Start the sync server:

SYNC_TOKEN="your-gateway-token" \
node skills/obsidian-sync/scripts/sync-server.mjs

Expose via Tailscale (for remote access):

tailscale serve --bg --https=18790 http://localhost:18790

Run as a service (persist across reboots): See skill/SKILL.md for systemd setup instructions.

Setup

1. Open Settings → OpenClaw
2. Enable Enable sync
3. Set Sync server URL (default: http://127.0.0.1:18790)
4. Configure Sync paths — map remote folders to local vault folders
5. Click Test Connection to verify

Sync Paths

Configure which folders to sync:

Conflict Resolution

When a file is modified in both locations:

• Ask each time — Shows a modal with both versions, optional side-by-side diff
• Prefer local — Obsidian version wins
• Prefer remote — Gateway version wins

Commands

• Sync Now (Cmd/Ctrl+P → “Sync Now”) — Run sync manually

Auto-Sync

Enable automatic sync every 5/15/30/60 minutes in settings. During auto-sync:

• If conflict behavior is “Ask”, conflicts are skipped
• Use manual sync to resolve skipped conflicts

Configuration

OpenClaw Setup

Make sure your OpenClaw config has the HTTP endpoint enabled:

{
  "gateway": {
    "http": {
      "endpoints": {
        "chatCompletions": { "enabled": true }
      }
    }
  }
}

Development

git clone https://github.com/AndyBold/obsidian-openclaw.git
cd obsidian-openclaw
npm install
npm run dev   # Watch mode
npm run build # Production build

License

MIT