Obsidian Any AI Code

Obsidian desktop plugin that opens your local Claude Code CLI in a right sidebar panel.

Goal

Use Claude Code directly inside your active Obsidian vault without leaving Obsidian.

Features

• Dedicated CLI view in the right sidebar
• Embedded terminal (xterm)
• Quick actions: Start, Stop, Restart, Clear, @Active file, @Active folder
• Customizable runtime list — configure as many CLI runtimes as you want (Claude and Codex are pre-populated; add any others from settings) and switch between them via a dropdown in the sidebar
• Launches the selected runtime in the current active vault folder
• Visible UI status (Status: ...)
• Explicit runtime error messages in the panel
• Runtime fallbacks for macOS / Linux / Windows

Requirements

• Obsidian Desktop (isDesktopOnly plugin)
• Node.js installed on the machine
• Claude Code CLI installed (claude available)
• For advanced macOS/Linux fallback: python3 recommended

Install in a Vault

Recommended — from a GitHub release

1. Open the latest release.

2. Download any-ai-cli-<version>.zip.

3. Unzip it directly inside your vault's plugin folder so the resulting path is:

   /PATH/TO/VAULT/.obsidian/plugins/any-ai-cli/
   

4. In Obsidian, enable the plugin: Settings → Community plugins → Installed plugins → Any AI Code.

That's it. No commands required — the plugin uses an embedded Python PTY bridge fallback so it works out of the box on macOS / Linux (and falls back to direct pipe mode on Windows).

Optional — install the native PTY backend for best terminal fidelity

The bundle ships without node-pty (a native module that has to be compiled for your specific Node ABI). The plugin works without it, but installing it gives you a fully native PTY (better full-screen TUI rendering and resize behavior). To enable it:

cd "/PATH/TO/VAULT/.obsidian/plugins/any-ai-cli"
npm install --omit=dev

Reload the plugin afterwards.

Manual install / dev clone

1. Clone or copy the repository into /PATH/TO/VAULT/.obsidian/plugins/any-ai-cli/.
2. Run npm install and npm run build inside the folder to produce main.js.
3. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins.

Required files

If you assemble the plugin folder by hand, make sure these are present:

• manifest.json
• main.js
• styles.css
• versions.json
• pty-proxy.js
• pty-bridge.py
• package.json and package-lock.json (only needed if you plan to install node-pty)

Usage

• Click the terminal ribbon icon, or run command:
  • Open Claude Code panel
• The panel opens on the right.
• Click Start to launch Claude.

Plugin Settings

• Default runtime: which configured runtime is selected when the panel opens (and used by auto-start).
• Auto-start: starts the default runtime automatically when the panel opens.
• Auto-restart on runtime switch: when you change the runtime from the sidebar dropdown while a process is running, restart it immediately to apply the new selection.
• Runtimes: a customizable list of CLIs that show up in the sidebar dropdown. Each entry has:
  • Name: label shown in the dropdown.
  • Command: the launch command (e.g. claude, codex --no-alt-screen ..., or any other CLI).
  • You can add as many runtimes as you want with Add runtime, and remove unused ones (the list must keep at least one entry). Claude and Codex are pre-populated on first install.
• Node executable:
  • auto (recommended): automatic detection
  • or explicit path (/opt/homebrew/bin/node, C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe, etc.)

Switching runtime from the sidebar

The sidebar toolbar exposes a runtime dropdown listing every entry from settings. Pick another runtime to switch the panel target — if a process is already running and Auto-restart on runtime switch is enabled, the running process is stopped and the newly selected one launches automatically.

Runtime Architecture (Fallback Chain)

The plugin tries multiple strategies to maximize startup success:

1. PTY via node-pty
2. Python PTY bridge fallback (pty-bridge.py) on macOS/Linux
3. Direct pipe fallback (child_process)
4. script fallback (last resort on Unix)

Status and logs clearly show the active strategy (proxy-warn, proxy-info, etc.).

Troubleshooting

command not found: claude

Claude binary is not in Obsidian process PATH.

• Set Command to an absolute path, for example:
  • /Users/<you>/.local/bin/claude
• Or adjust your shell/Obsidian environment.

Cannot find module 'node-pty'

Since 0.1.25, this no longer crashes the plugin — node-pty is optional and the proxy automatically falls back to the Python bridge (or direct pipe). If you want the native PTY backend anyway:

cd "/PATH/TO/VAULT/.obsidian/plugins/any-ai-cli"
npm install --omit=dev

posix_spawnp failed

Native PTY failed in the current runtime environment.

• Plugin should automatically fallback to Python/pipe mode.
• Ensure python3 is installed for Python PTY fallback.

Empty panel

• Ensure main.js and styles.css are up to date
• Reload plugin (disable/enable)
• Open Obsidian developer console if needed

Local Development

npm install
npm run lint
npm run test
npm run build

• npm run dev: esbuild watch mode
• npm run build: compile main.ts -> main.js
• npm run lint: run eslint-plugin-obsidianmd so violations of the Obsidian community-store guidelines are caught locally before submission

Test Stack

• Framework: Vitest
• Tests: tests/**/*.test.ts
• Commands:
  • npm run test
  • npm run test:watch

CI

GitHub Actions workflow: .github/workflows/ci.yml

Triggers:

• push
• pull_request

Steps:

1. npm ci
2. npm run lint
3. npm run test
4. npm run build

Release

GitHub Actions workflow: .github/workflows/release.yml

Triggered by pushing a git tag (e.g. 0.1.25):

git tag 0.1.25
git push origin 0.1.25

The workflow:

1. Checks out the repo and runs npm ci + npm run build.
2. Stages every runtime-required file (manifest.json, main.js, styles.css, versions.json, pty-proxy.js, pty-bridge.py, package.json, package-lock.json) into an any-ai-cli/ folder.
3. Zips it as any-ai-cli-<tag>.zip for one-click install.
4. Publishes a GitHub Release attaching the zip plus standalone main.js / manifest.json / styles.css (for Obsidian's plugin update protocol and BRAT).
5. Auto-generates release notes from the commit history.

Before tagging, keep these versions in sync: manifest.json, versions.json, package.json.

Main Files

• main.ts: Obsidian plugin logic
• main.js: built distribution file
• styles.css: terminal panel styling
• manifest.json: Obsidian plugin metadata
• pty-proxy.js: runtime proxy (Node)
• pty-bridge.py: Python PTY fallback
• runtime-utils.ts: testable shared utilities
• tests/runtime-utils.test.ts: unit tests

Platform Notes

• macOS/Linux: full support with Python PTY fallback
• Windows: support via node-pty or pipe fallback
• Obsidian Mobile: not supported (isDesktopOnly)

License

MIT