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Compared · as of

Graphite and Obsidian with Claude Code, compared.

Both keep a notebook as plain markdown files that a model helps look after. With Obsidian and Claude Code you set it up yourself, run an AI agent from a terminal, and the model writes the notes. Graphite comes ready: a small, fixed structure, filing you can see and undo, and your own notes left in your own words. Claude Code can run on a Claude subscription; Graphite needs an API key or an OpenRouter account.

The facts

Obsidian with Claude Code, from the pages that describe it.

Read on 9 October 2026. Each line links to the page that says it, and things change: check there before you rely on one.

  • On 4 April 2026, Andrej Karpathy published “LLM Wiki”, “a pattern for building personal knowledge bases using LLMs”: the model “incrementally builds and maintains a persistent wiki” of markdown files, which you read in Obsidian. The gist doesn't mention Graphite.

    Andrej Karpathy, “LLM Wiki”, 4 April 2026

  • Its diagnosis: “The tedious part of maintaining a knowledge base is not the reading or the thinking — it's the bookkeeping.” Its answer: “You never (or rarely) write the wiki yourself — the LLM writes and maintains all of it.”

    Andrej Karpathy, “LLM Wiki”, 4 April 2026

  • It has a coding tool such as Claude Code do the writing, following a file of instructions kept in the folder, and keeps a log of what was done in a file of its own, log.md.

    Andrej Karpathy, “LLM Wiki”, 4 April 2026

  • Claude Code is Anthropic's coding agent: in its docs' words, “an agentic coding tool that reads your codebase, edits files, runs commands”, in a terminal, an editor, a desktop app or a browser.

    Claude Code docs

  • It runs on a Claude Pro or Max plan — “Claude Code in your terminal with one unified subscription” — and its usage limits are “shared across Claude and Claude Code”.

    Claude Help Center

  • It keeps checkpoints of the edits it makes with its file tools, which you can rewind; its docs say they're not a replacement for version control such as git.

    Claude Code docs, Checkpointing

  • Anthropic “does not permit third-party developers to offer Claude.ai login into their own applications”, or to send requests on a Free, Pro or Max plan for their users.

    Claude Code docs, Legal and compliance

Side by side

How they differ.

  • Setting it up

    Obsidian with Claude Code
    Install Obsidian and Claude Code, write the instructions file, and run it from a terminal or Claude Code's desktop app.
    Graphite
    Open it in a browser, or install the Mac app. The structure is small: the Inbox, the Map, the Logbook, and the folders and projects you set up.

  • Who writes the notes

    Obsidian with Claude Code
    The model. In the gist's words, you “never (or rarely) write the wiki yourself”.
    Graphite
    You do. Graphite files what you write, answers what you ask, finds what's missing, and arranges an outline or a draft from your own sentences when you ask — anything it can't find in your notes, it leaves out. What it writes is labelled as its own, and goes into your notes only when you keep it; an edit it suggests is written only once you accept it. It never changes a word of yours you haven't accepted.

  • Seeing what it did

    Obsidian with Claude Code
    Claude Code's checkpoints rewind the edits it made with its file tools; for lasting history, its docs point to version control such as git. The wiki's log.md is written by the model.
    Graphite
    Every organizing act, and every change of Graphite's you accept, is a line in the Logbook — what changed, and why — kept for 90 days, with Undo, which applies only if the note hasn't changed since.

  • What it's for

    Obsidian with Claude Code
    A wiki the model writes from sources you collect, such as articles and papers, and answers questions from.
    Graphite
    Making something of what you learn, in your own words — what's missing, a draft arranged from your sentences, a page you publish — and understanding it, by teaching it back, marked against your own notes. It doesn't read a book or a paper you drop in yet.

  • Which AI, and who pays

    Obsidian with Claude Code
    Claude Code runs on a Claude Pro or Max plan, or an Anthropic Console account.
    Graphite
    Your own API key from any major provider, or your OpenRouter account. A Claude subscription can't be used: Anthropic doesn't allow it in other apps.

  • Where it runs

    Obsidian with Claude Code
    Obsidian runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android; Claude Code in a terminal on macOS, Linux and Windows, and in a browser.
    Graphite
    A Mac (macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple silicon), and a browser on a computer or phone. No native phone, Windows or Linux app yet.

Choosing

Which to use.

When Obsidian with Claude Code is the better choice

  • You're at home in a terminal, and want to shape every part: the folder, the instructions, the workflow.
  • You already pay for Claude Pro or Max, and don't want a separate API key.
  • You want the model to write and keep up the whole wiki, from sources you collect.
  • You want Obsidian's native apps on Windows, Linux or your phone.

When Graphite fits

  • You'd rather not set anything up, or open a terminal.
  • You want to write your own notes, with the filing done for you, each act shown, with Undo, and drafts only when you ask for them.
  • You want to understand what you keep, not only look it up: explain it, connect it, teach it back.

Using both

The two don't exclude each other. On the Mac, a Graphite notebook is a folder of markdown files, which Claude Code can read like any other, and Graphite picks up what changes outside it.

For help choosing a workflow for your vault, read how to use AI with Obsidian notes.