GREG ISENBERG
- how to use obsidian + claude code to build a 24/7 personal operating system and build your startup: 1. write everything in markdown (daily notes, projects, beliefs, people, meetings) 2. link your notes together so they mirror how your brain actually thinks. 3. install obsidian cli so claude code can read your entire vault + the relationships. 4. stop reexplaining projects every session. use reference files instead. 5. build custom slash commands: /context → load your full life + work state /trace → see how an idea evolved over months /connect → bridge two domains you’ve been circling /ideas → generate startup ideas from your vault /graduate → promote daily thoughts into real assets 6. keep a strict rule: human writes the vault. agents read it, suggest, execute. 7. let claude aka clode surface patterns you’ve been unconsciously circling for years. 8. delegate from inside your notes. one sentence in obsidian → agent handles the rest. 9. treat writing as leverage.the more you write, the more context your agents have. 10. understand this:markdown files are the oxygen of llms. i really enjoyed seeing how to use obsidian thanks to @internetvin vin uses ai like a thinking partner wired into his life’s work. 99.99% of people won’t do this because it requires reflection + setup. but once the vault exists, the agent stops being generic. it starts thinking in your voice. episode is live on @startupideaspod (more there) this one is different. send this tweet to a friend. im still processing how game changer obsidian + claude code is, maybe you too watch
- WELCOME TO THE SKILL ERA OF THE INTERNET for the last 15 years, if you wanted to build a serious software company, you built a product and exposed an api. that was the move. you created functionality… payments, messaging, email, search, analytics… and then you let developers plug into it. the companies that won owned the pipes. stripe owned payments. twilio owned messaging. sendgrid owned email. the api was the distribution layer. once you were integrated, you were embedded. that model made sense in a world where execution was scarce. llms compress execution into a prompt. so the center of gravity shifts. in this cycle, you build expertise and package it as a skill. an api is a doorway into a function. here’s how to send an email. here’s how to process a payment. here’s how to fetch this data. it’s precise. mechanical. bounded. a skill is a doorway into judgment. here’s how to audit a landing page like a serious growth operator. here’s how to structure a legal intake so you catch the real risk. here’s how to clean and enrich messy directory data so it actually turns into revenue. you’re encoding a way of thinking. and that changes how companies are built and how they scale. in the api era, distribution meant convincing developers to integrate you. you needed docs. sdk’s. developer evangelism. you fought for a place inside someone else’s codebase. in the skill era, distribution means becoming part of someone’s agent workflow. a founder opens claude code. they type /seo-audit. your skill runs. it frames the output. it structures the analysis. it guides the decisions. your expertise lives inside the execution layer itself. you aren’t pulling users into your interface. you’re embedding your thinking into theirs. that changes company design. the old playbook looked like this: build saas design ui onboard users drive retention expand seats the new playbook looks more like this: encode a high-leverage playbook package it as a skill let agents call it thousands of times per day the interface shrinks. the leverage expands. a strong skill doesn’t serve one user at a time. it serves fleets of agents. one installation can mean your methodology is invoked across hundreds of companies automatically. the scaling curve looks less like seats and more like invocations. what’s happening underneath all of this is simple: software used to be the executor. now software is the orchestrator. next, expertise becomes infrastructure. in the api era, the winners owned the pipes. in the skill era, the winners own the patterns. patterns for closing deals. patterns for pricing. patterns for positioning. patterns for enrichment. patterns for research. many new companies will look surprisingly small on the surface. a tight repo. a handful of powerful skill files. maybe 2–5 people maintaining and improving them. but those skills will sit inside thousands of workflows, shaping decisions at scale. and it’s creating a new class of companies built less around dashboards and more around encoded judgment. THIS IS THE SKILL ERA OF THE INTERNET. welcome.
how to use obsidian + claude code to build a 24/7 personal operating system and build your startup: 1. write everything in markdown (daily notes, projects, beliefs, people, meetings) 2. link your notes together so they mirror how your brain actually thinks. 3. install obsidian cli so claude code can read your entire vault + the relationships. 4. stop reexplaining projects every session. use reference files instead. 5. build custom slash commands: /context → load your full life + work state /trace → see how an idea evolved over months /connect → bridge two domains you’ve been circling /ideas → generate startup ideas from your vault /graduate → promote daily thoughts into real assets 6. keep a strict rule: human writes the vault. agents read it, suggest, execute. 7. let claude aka clode surface patterns you’ve been unconsciously circling for years. 8. delegate from inside your notes. one sentence in obsidian → agent handles the rest. 9. treat writing as leverage.the more you write, the more context your agents have. 10. understand this:markdown files are the oxygen of llms. i really enjoyed seeing how to use obsidian thanks to @internetvin vin uses ai like a thinking partner wired into his life’s work. 99.99% of people won’t do this because it requires reflection + setup. but once the vault exists, the agent stops being generic. it starts thinking in your voice. episode is live on @startupideaspod (more there) this one is different. send this tweet to a friend. im still processing how game changer obsidian + claude code is, maybe you too watch
WELCOME TO THE SKILL ERA OF THE INTERNET for the last 15 years, if you wanted to build a serious software company, you built a product and exposed an api. that was the move. you created functionality… payments, messaging, email, search, analytics… and then you let developers plug into it. the companies that won owned the pipes. stripe owned payments. twilio owned messaging. sendgrid owned email. the api was the distribution layer. once you were integrated, you were embedded. that model made sense in a world where execution was scarce. llms compress execution into a prompt. so the center of gravity shifts. in this cycle, you build expertise and package it as a skill. an api is a doorway into a function. here’s how to send an email. here’s how to process a payment. here’s how to fetch this data. it’s precise. mechanical. bounded. a skill is a doorway into judgment. here’s how to audit a landing page like a serious growth operator. here’s how to structure a legal intake so you catch the real risk. here’s how to clean and enrich messy directory data so it actually turns into revenue. you’re encoding a way of thinking. and that changes how companies are built and how they scale. in the api era, distribution meant convincing developers to integrate you. you needed docs. sdk’s. developer evangelism. you fought for a place inside someone else’s codebase. in the skill era, distribution means becoming part of someone’s agent workflow. a founder opens claude code. they type /seo-audit. your skill runs. it frames the output. it structures the analysis. it guides the decisions. your expertise lives inside the execution layer itself. you aren’t pulling users into your interface. you’re embedding your thinking into theirs. that changes company design. the old playbook looked like this: build saas design ui onboard users drive retention expand seats the new playbook looks more like this: encode a high-leverage playbook package it as a skill let agents call it thousands of times per day the interface shrinks. the leverage expands. a strong skill doesn’t serve one user at a time. it serves fleets of agents. one installation can mean your methodology is invoked across hundreds of companies automatically. the scaling curve looks less like seats and more like invocations. what’s happening underneath all of this is simple: software used to be the executor. now software is the orchestrator. next, expertise becomes infrastructure. in the api era, the winners owned the pipes. in the skill era, the winners own the patterns. patterns for closing deals. patterns for pricing. patterns for positioning. patterns for enrichment. patterns for research. many new companies will look surprisingly small on the surface. a tight repo. a handful of powerful skill files. maybe 2–5 people maintaining and improving them. but those skills will sit inside thousands of workflows, shaping decisions at scale. and it’s creating a new class of companies built less around dashboards and more around encoded judgment. THIS IS THE SKILL ERA OF THE INTERNET. welcome.
