A production-grade MCP server that transforms your Obsidian vault into an intelligent knowledge system powered by AI.
TurboVault provides Claude and other AI agents with 44 specialized tools for reading, writing, searching, analyzing, and managing your notes—all with sub-100ms performance for most operations. Built in Rust for speed, safety, and reliability.
TurboVault is a modular system composed of specialized crates. The main entry point is turbovault which orchestrates all functionality:
| Crate | Purpose | Docs |
|---|---|---|
| turbovault | Main MCP server binary | |
| turbovault-tools | MCP tools implementation | |
| turbovault-core | Core models & types | |
| turbovault-vault | Vault management & I/O | |
| turbovault-parser | OFM parser | |
| turbovault-graph | Link graph analysis | |
| turbovault-batch | Batch operations | |
| turbovault-export | Export & reporting |
Unlike basic note readers, TurboVault understands your vault's knowledge structure:
- Full-text search across all notes with BM25 ranking
- Link graph analysis to discover relationships, hubs, orphans, and cycles
- Vault intelligence with health scoring and automated recommendations
- Atomic batch operations for safe, transactional multi-file edits
- Multi-vault support with instant context switching
- Runtime vault addition — no vault required at startup, add them as needed
TurboVault is built on TurboMCP, a Rust framework for building production-grade MCP servers. TurboMCP provides:
- Type-safe tool definitions — Macro-driven MCP tool implementation
- Standardized request/response handling — Consistent envelope format
- Transport abstraction — HTTP, WebSocket, TCP, Unix sockets (configurable features)
- Middleware support — Logging, metrics, error handling
- Zero-copy streaming — Efficient large payload handling
This means TurboVault gets battle-tested reliability and extensibility out of the box. Want to add custom tools? TurboMCP's ergonomic macros make it straightforward.
From crates.io (after publishing):
# Minimal install (7.0 MB, STDIO only - perfect for Claude Desktop)
cargo install turbovault
# With HTTP server (~8.2 MB)
cargo install turbovault --features http
# With all cross-platform transports (~8.8 MB)
# Includes: STDIO, HTTP, WebSocket, TCP (Unix sockets only on Unix/macOS/Linux)
cargo install turbovault --features full
# Binary installed to: ~/.cargo/bin/turbovaultFrom source:
git clone https://github.com/epistates/turbovault.git
cd turbovault
make release
# Binary: ./target/release/turbovaultturbovault --vault /path/to/your/vault --profile productionThen add to ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"turbovault": {
"command": "/path/to/turbovault",
"args": ["--vault", "/path/to/your/vault", "--profile", "production"]
}
}
}Start the server without a vault:
turbovault --profile productionThen add vaults dynamically:
{
"mcpServers": {
"turbovault": {
"command": "/path/to/turbovault",
"args": ["--profile", "production"]
}
}
}Once connected to Claude:
You: "Add my vault at ~/Documents/Notes"
Claude: [Calls add_vault("personal", "~/Documents/Notes")]
You: "Search for machine learning notes"
Claude: [Uses search() across the indexed vault]
You: "What are my most important notes?"
Claude: [Uses get_hub_notes() to find key concepts]
You: "Find all notes about async Rust and show how they connect"
Claude: search() → recommend_related() → get_related_notes() → explain relationships
You: "What's the health of my vault? Any issues I should fix?"
Claude: quick_health_check() → full_health_analysis() → get_broken_links() → generate fixes
You: "What are my most important notes? Which ones are isolated?"
Claude: get_hub_notes() → get_isolated_clusters() → suggest connections
You: "Create a project note for the TurboVault launch with status tracking"
Claude: list_templates() → create_from_template() → write auto-formatted note
You: "Move my 'MLOps' note to 'AI/Operations' and update all links"
Claude: move_note() + batch operations → atomic multi-file update
You: "Based on my vault, what notes should I link this to?"
Claude: suggest_links() → get_link_strength() → recommend cross-references
read_note— Get note content with hash for conflict detectionwrite_note— Create/overwrite notes (auto-creates directories)edit_note— Surgical edits via SEARCH/REPLACE blocksdelete_note— Safe deletion with link trackingmove_note— Rename/relocate with automatic wikilink updates
get_backlinks— All notes that link TO this noteget_forward_links— All notes this note links TOget_related_notes— Multi-hop graph traversal (find non-obvious connections)get_hub_notes— Top 10 most connected notes (key concepts)get_dead_end_notes— Notes with incoming but no outgoing linksget_isolated_clusters— Disconnected subgraphs in your vault
quick_health_check— Fast 0-100 health score (<100ms)full_health_analysis— Comprehensive vault audit with recommendationsget_broken_links— All links pointing to non-existent notesdetect_cycles— Circular reference chains (sometimes intentional)explain_vault— Holistic overview replacing 5+ separate calls
search— BM25-ranked search across all notes (<500ms on 100k notes)advanced_search— Search with tag/metadata filtersrecommend_related— ML-powered recommendations based on content similarityfind_notes_from_template— Find all notes using a specific templatequery_metadata— Frontmatter pattern queries
list_templates— Discover available templatesget_template— Template details and required fieldscreate_from_template— Render and write templated notesget_ofm_examples— See all Obsidian Flavored Markdown features
create_vault— Programmatically create a new vaultadd_vault— Register and auto-initialize a vault at runtimeremove_vault— Unregister vault (safe, doesn't delete files)list_vaults— All registered vaults with statusget_vault_config— Inspect vault settingsset_active_vault— Switch context between multiple vaultsget_active_vault— Current active vault
batch_execute— Atomic multi-file operations (all-or-nothing transactions)export_health_report— Export vault health as JSON/CSVexport_broken_links— Export broken links with fix suggestionsexport_vault_stats— Statistics and metrics exportexport_analysis_report— Complete audit trailget_metadata_value— Extract frontmatter values (dot notation support)suggest_links— AI-powered link suggestions for a noteget_link_strength— Connection strength between notes (0.0–1.0)get_centrality_ranking— Graph centrality metrics (betweenness, closeness, eigenvector)get_ofm_syntax_guide— Complete Obsidian Flavored Markdown referenceget_ofm_quick_ref— Quick OFM cheat sheetget_vault_context— Meta-tool: single call returns vault status, available tools, OFM guide
# Server starts with NO vault required
response = client.call("get_vault_context")
# Returns: "No vault registered. Call add_vault() to get started."
response = client.call("add_vault", {
"name": "personal",
"path": "~/Documents/Obsidian"
})
# Auto-initializes: scans files, builds link graph, indexes for search# Add multiple vaults
client.call("add_vault", {"name": "work", "path": "/work/notes"})
client.call("add_vault", {"name": "personal", "path": "~/notes"})
# Switch context instantly
client.call("set_active_vault", {"name": "work"})
search_results = client.call("search", {"query": "Q4 goals"})
client.call("set_active_vault", {"name": "personal"})
recommendations = client.call("recommend_related", {"path": "AI/ML.md"})# Quick diagnostic
health = client.call("quick_health_check")
if health["data"]["score"] < 60:
# Deep analysis if needed
full_analysis = client.call("full_health_analysis")
# Find and fix issues
broken = client.call("get_broken_links")
# Process broken links...
# Atomic bulk repair
client.call("batch_execute", {
"operations": [
{"type": "DeleteNote", "path": "old/deprecated.md"},
{"type": "MoveNote", "from": "old/notes.md", "to": "new/notes.md"},
# ... more operations
]
})
# Verify improvement
client.call("explain_vault") # Holistic view# Find what matters
hubs = client.call("get_hub_notes") # Top concepts
orphans = client.call("get_dead_end_notes") # Incomplete topics
# Deep search
results = client.call("search", {"query": "machine learning"})
# Explore relationships
related = client.call("get_related_notes", {
"path": "AI/ML.md",
"max_hops": 3
})
# Get suggestions
suggestions = client.call("suggest_links", {"path": "AI/ML.md"})| Operation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
read_note |
<10ms | Instant with caching |
get_backlinks, get_forward_links |
<50ms | Graph lookup |
write_note |
<50ms | Includes graph update |
search (10k notes) |
<100ms | Tantivy BM25 |
quick_health_check |
<100ms | Heuristic score |
full_health_analysis |
1–5s | Exhaustive, use sparingly |
explain_vault |
1–5s | Aggregates 5+ analyses |
| Vault initialization | 100ms–5s | Depends on vault size |
Key insight: Fast operations (<100ms) for common tasks, slower operations (1–5s) for exhaustive analysis. Claude uses smart fallbacks.
| Profile | Use Case |
|---|---|
development |
Local dev with verbose logging |
production |
Production with security auditing and optimized logging |
readonly |
Read-only access for safe exploration |
high-performance |
Large vaults (10k+ notes) with aggressive caching |
TurboVault is both a Rust library and a standalone MCP server:
Build the optimized binary (LTO + fat codegen for maximum performance):
git clone https://github.com/epistates/turbovault.git
cd turbovault
cargo build --releaseOr build with specific transports only:
# STDIO only (MCP standard, smallest binary)
cargo build --release --no-default-features
# HTTP transport only
cargo build --release --no-default-features --features http
# WebSocket + Unix socket
cargo build --release --no-default-features --features "websocket,unix"
# All transports (default)
cargo build --release --features fullThen run it:
./target/release/turbovault --vault /path/to/vault --profile productionThe binary is fully self-contained with:
- Link-time optimization (LTO) for maximum performance
- Full stripping (no debug symbols)
- Single codegen unit for optimal runtime speed
- Configurable transports — Build only what you need for smaller binaries
Now Claude (via Claude Desktop) can use all 44 tools.
// Use in your own Rust projects
use turbovault_core::MultiVaultManager;
use turbovault_vault::VaultManager;
use turbovault_tools::SearchEngine;
// Build custom applications on top of turbovault
let manager = MultiVaultManager::new();
manager.add_vault("notes", "/home/user/notes").await?;
let vault = manager.get_vault("notes")?;
let results = vault.search("machine learning")?;Each crate is published to crates.io, so you can depend on individual components or the full stack.
Built as a modular Rust workspace:
turbovault-core — Core types, MultiVaultManager, configuration
turbovault-parser — OFM (Obsidian Flavored Markdown) parsing
turbovault-graph — Link graph analysis with petgraph
turbovault-vault — Vault operations, file I/O, atomic writes
turbovault-batch — Transactional batch operations
turbovault-export — JSON/CSV/Markdown export
turbovault-tools — 44 MCP tool implementations
turbovault-server — CLI and MCP server entry point (binary)
All crates are published to crates.io for public use.
TurboVault fully understands Obsidian's syntax:
- Wikilinks:
[[note]],[[note|alias]],[[note#section]],[[note#^block]] - Embeds:
![[image.png]],![[note]],![[note#section]] - Tags:
#tag,#parent/child/tag - Tasks:
- [ ] Task,- [x] Done - Callouts:
> [!type] Title - Frontmatter: YAML metadata with automatic parsing
- Headings: Hierarchical structure extraction
- Path traversal protection — No access outside vault boundaries
- Type-safe deserialization — Rust's type system prevents injection
- Atomic writes — Temp file → atomic rename (never corrupts on failure)
- Hash-based conflict detection —
edit_notedetects concurrent modifications - File size limits — Default 5MB per file (configurable)
- No shell execution — Zero command injection risk
- Security auditing — Detailed logs in production mode
- Rust: 1.90.0 or later
- OS: Linux, macOS, Windows
- Memory: 100MB base + ~80MB per 10k notes
- Disk: Negligible (index is in-memory)
git clone https://github.com/epistates/turbovault.git
cd turbovault
# Development build
cargo build
# Production build (optimized)
cargo build --release
# Run tests
cargo test --allOr use the Makefile:
make build # Debug build
make release # Production build
make test # Run tests
make clean # Clean build artifactsYou: "What topics do I have the most notes on?"
Claude:
1. get_hub_notes() → [AI, Project Management, Rust, Python]
2. For each hub:
- get_related_notes() → related topics
- get_backlinks() → importance/connectivity
3. Report: "Your core topics are AI (23 notes) and Rust (18 notes)"
You: "My vault feels disorganized. Help me improve it."
Claude:
1. quick_health_check() → Health: 42/100 ❌
2. full_health_analysis() → Issues: 12 broken links, 8 orphaned notes
3. get_broken_links() → List of specific broken links
4. suggest_links() → AI-powered link recommendations
5. batch_execute() → Atomic fixes
6. explain_vault() → New health: 78/100 ✅
You: "Create project notes for Q4 initiatives"
Claude:
1. list_templates() → "project", "task", "meeting"
2. create_from_template("project", {
"title": "Q4 Planning",
"status": "In Progress",
"deadline": "2024-12-31"
})
3. Creates structured note with auto-formatting
4. Returns path for follow-up edits
M1 MacBook Pro, 10k notes, production build:
- File read: <10ms
- File write: <20ms
- Simple search: <50ms
- Graph analysis: <200ms
- Vault initialization: ~500ms
- Memory usage: ~80MB
- Real-time vault watching (VaultWatcher framework ready)
- Cross-vault link resolution
- Encrypted vault support
- Collaborative locking
- WebSocket transport (beyond MCP stdio)
Contributions welcome! Please ensure:
- All tests pass:
cargo test --all - Code formats:
cargo fmt --all - No clippy warnings:
cargo clippy --all -- -D warnings
MIT License - See LICENSE for details
- Repository: https://github.com/epistates/turbovault
- Issues: https://github.com/epistates/turbovault/issues
- MCP Protocol: https://modelcontextprotocol.io
- Obsidian: https://obsidian.md
- Related: TurboMCP
Get started now: ./target/release/turbovault --profile production 🚀