/aide:brain — Brain Vault Interface

General-purpose interface to the project's Obsidian brain vault, plus a config mode for wiring the brain on first install (or repointing it at a different vault).

---

Modes

$ARGUMENTS controls which mode runs:

• config (or config <path>) — run the brain wiring flow. Use this when /aide reports the brain isn't wired yet, or when you want to point at a different vault.
• Anything else (or no arguments) — general vault interaction. Read the vault's root CLAUDE.md, follow its navigation rules, and fulfill the user's request (search notes, save findings, look up research, etc.).

---

Mode 1: General Brain Interaction (default)

When $ARGUMENTS is empty or anything other than config, treat the call as general vault access.

Step 1 — Read the vault's root CLAUDE.md

Use the Obsidian MCP to read the vault's root CLAUDE.md.

That file is the single source of truth for vault structure — crawling protocol, decision protocol, and a where-to-find-things table. Read it before doing anything else.

Step 2 — Follow the navigation instructions

Execute the navigation steps the vault CLAUDE.md provides to find the content relevant to the user's request. Do not supplement, override, or paraphrase the vault's navigation rules — defer to them entirely.

Step 3 — Fulfill the user's request

Return what you found, or write what they asked you to write, synthesized in response to what they asked. If they asked you to save something, follow the vault's frontmatter and naming conventions for the area you're writing into.

Rules

• Read the vault CLAUDE.md first. Do not search, list directories, or read any other file before it.
• Defer to the vault CLAUDE.md's navigation rules. Do not supplement, override, or paraphrase them.
• Use the Obsidian MCP, not native filesystem tools — vault content lives behind the MCP boundary.

---

Mode 2: Config — Wire the Brain Vault (/aide:brain config)

When $ARGUMENTS starts with config, run the brain wiring flow. This is the single source for everything brain-wiring related — /aide does not duplicate any of this logic; it just routes here.

Step 1 — Gather state

Call aide_info to read brain.status, brain.vaultPath, and brain.hints. Branch on brain.status:

• ok — vault is already wired and resolves on disk. Tell the user there's nothing to do. If $ARGUMENTS includes a path different from the configured one, treat that as a re-point and continue to Step 2 with the new path.

• no-mcp-entry — the obsidian MCP entry isn't in .mcp.json yet. Direct the user to bootstrap with the CLI first:

  The obsidian MCP entry isn't in .mcp.json yet. Run npx aidemd-mcp init in this project's terminal — it'll add the obsidian shell and tell you what to do next. Then re-run /aide:brain config.

  STOP. Do not try to write .mcp.json from scratch here.

• invalid-path — the entry exists but the configured path is empty or doesn't resolve on disk. Continue to Step 2.

Step 2 — Resolve the vault path

If $ARGUMENTS was config <path>, use <path> as <brainPath> and skip to validation.

Otherwise, branch on brain.hints.length:

• No hints — ask inline:

  Where is your brain vault? (Provide an absolute path.)

  Treat the user's reply as <brainPath>.

• One or more hints — call AskUserQuestion:

  • header: "Brain vault"
  • question: "Where is your brain vault?"
  • options: one entry per hint as label: "Use {hint.path}", description: "{hint.source} hint", plus an explicit final entry: label: "Different location", description: "Paste a custom absolute path". The explicit final entry is required (the schema's minItems: 2 cannot be satisfied with a single hint, and the entry renders correctly for both 1-hint and multi-hint cases). Maximum 4 entries (3 hints + Different location); if hints exceed 3, drop the lowest-priority hint.

  STOP. Wait for the user's response.

  Resolve:

  • Hint clicked → extract the path from "Use {hint.path}".
  • "Different location" / Other → use the user's typed text verbatim.

Validate <brainPath> is a non-empty absolute path. If it's relative or empty, ask once more inline for a corrected absolute path.

Step 3 — Patch .mcp.json (mcp-category call)

Call aide_init({ category: "mcp", brainPath: <brainPath> }). The response is an InitResult filtered to mcp-category steps only. Find the step where category === "mcp" and name contains "obsidian".

• status === "exists" — .mcp.json already points at <brainPath>. Skip the merge and continue to Step 4.

• would-create / would-overwrite / created / overwritten — the step carries a prescription: { key, entry }. Apply it:

  1. Read .mcp.json.
  2. Parse it and merge prescription.entry into mcpServers[prescription.key], leaving every other mcpServers key untouched.
  3. Write the merged object back, preserving existing indentation (or two-space indent if the file is new).
  4. If .mcp.json does not exist, create it as { "mcpServers": { [prescription.key]: prescription.entry } }.

Never call Write with the raw prescription as if it were the full config file — that would clobber the user's other MCP entries.

Step 4 — Seed the vault (brain-category call)

Call aide_init({ category: "brain", brainPath: <brainPath> }). No prompt, no AskUserQuestion. Brain steps are seed-semantic — "would-create" (applied silently by the tool) or "exists" (already present). The tool writes directories and seed files itself.

Step 5 — Tell the user to restart, then STOP

Steps 3 and 4 completed without throwing. Emit:

<brainPath> wired up. .mcp.json patched and vault scaffolded.

Restart Claude Code so the obsidian MCP server loads the new config, then re-run /aide and we'll pick up where we left off.

Then STOP. Do NOT re-call aide_info. Do NOT continue the user's original request. The obsidian MCP server in this session was launched with the old config and will not pick up the new path until Claude Code restarts. Continuation happens on the next /aide invocation.

Failure handling

"Failure" means the aide_init mcp call threw, the .mcp.json merge threw (unreadable, unparseable, unwritable), or the aide_init brain call threw. Do NOT retry inline. Do NOT re-prompt the user. Surface the error and fall back to the CLI:

Something went wrong wiring the vault path: <error message>.

Run npx aidemd-mcp init in this project's terminal to retry the setup with full per-file logging, then restart Claude Code and re-run /aide.

---

Arguments

$ARGUMENTS —

• config to enter the wiring flow with hint-driven path resolution.
• config <absolute-path> to wire (or re-point) at an explicit path without prompting.
• Anything else (or empty) — treat as a general vault query/instruction.