PM Workspace Setup

One-command vault installer, adding your Anthropic API key, connecting JIRA or Linear, and setting up Vault Bridges.

This guide installs the optional Obsidian + Claude Threads workspace used by profiles that route capabilities to Obsidian. It is not required for compass-full or jpd-jira; start with pm-setup and follow only sections for your resolved providers.

Time: ~30 minutes for the full stack. What you’re installing:

Tool	What it does for you
Obsidian	Your PM notes home — OST, Signal Ledger, daily synthesis, everything searchable
Claude Threads plugin	Claude running inside Obsidian — threaded conversations that see your notes
Vault Bridges plugin	A live link from your product repo (or docs folder) into your vault
Issue tracker connection	Your Linear or JIRA work items surfaced alongside your OST
Agent PM skills	The 6 agents + PM skills (ost-workflow, pm-signal-synthesis, etc.) installed in Claude Code

Step 1 — Install Obsidian + the pre-configured vault

The fastest path is the one-command installer. It downloads a pre-configured vault template with Claude Threads, Linear integration, and the right workspace layout already set up:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rbcodelabs/ObsidianSetup/main/install.sh)"

The installer will:

Check Obsidian is installed (download from obsidian.md if not)
Download the pre-configured vault (~1.6MB)
Ask where to put it on your machine
Register it so it appears in Obsidian’s vault picker on relaunch

Restart Obsidian. Your new vault will appear in the picker — open it.

Prefer manual install? If you’d rather configure Obsidian yourself: create a new vault, enable community plugins (Settings → Community plugins → Turn on), then install Claude Threads and Vault Bridges via BRAT (see Appendix at the end of this doc).

Step 2 — Add your Anthropic API key

Claude Threads needs an Anthropic API key to run conversations. Your key is stored in the macOS keychain — not in any file.

Get your key:

Go to console.anthropic.com → API Keys → Create Key
Name it “Obsidian PM Workspace” and copy it — you won’t see it again

Add it to Claude Threads:

In Obsidian: Settings (⌘,) → Claude Threads → Secret environment variables
In the “Add secret key” field, type ANTHROPIC_API_KEY → press Enter
A prompt appears for the value — paste your key → confirm
The key is saved to your macOS keychain under the name ct-secret-ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

Verify: Open the Claude Threads panel (left sidebar or Cmd+P → “Open Claude Threads”). Start a new thread and type anything. You should get a response; if you get an auth error, the key wasn’t saved — repeat Step 2.

Step 3 — Connect your issue tracker

Pick your tracker below. Both follow the same pattern: get a key, add it as a secret, confirm the connection.

Linear

Get your API key:

Go to linear.app → Settings (bottom-left) → API → Personal API Keys
Click New API key → label it “Obsidian PM Workspace” → Create
Copy the key

Add it as a secret in Claude Threads:

Settings → Claude Threads → Secret environment variables
Add key name: LINEAR_API_KEY → paste the value → confirm

Add your workspace identifier:

Add a second secret: LINEAR_WORKSPACE_SLUG → your workspace’s slug (the part in your Linear URL after linear.app/, e.g., acme from linear.app/acme/)

Verify: In a Claude Thread, ask: “List my 5 most recent Linear issues.” If it returns issues, you’re connected. If it can’t find the key, re-check the secret names exactly.

JIRA (Atlassian)

Get your API token:

Go to id.atlassian.com/manage-profile/security/api-tokens
Click Create API token → label it “Obsidian PM Workspace” → Create
Copy the token — you won’t see it again

Add the three secrets:

Secret name	Value
`JIRA_API_TOKEN`	Your token from above
`JIRA_EMAIL`	The email address on your Atlassian account
`JIRA_BASE_URL`	Your Jira instance URL, e.g. `https://yourcompany.atlassian.net`

Add each: Settings → Claude Threads → Secret environment variables → key name → paste value → confirm.

Verify: In a Claude Thread, ask: “List my 5 most recent JIRA issues assigned to me.” A working connection returns a list; an auth error means one of the three secrets is wrong — check JIRA_EMAIL and JIRA_BASE_URL first.

Step 4 — Set up Vault Bridges

Vault Bridges creates a bidirectional link between a local folder (a product repo, a Notion export, a docs folder) and your vault. Pull to bring the repo’s content into your vault; edit in Obsidian; push to send your changes back to the repo. You don’t need a code repo — any folder of files works.

Install Vault Bridges (if it’s not already in your vault):

Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search “Vault Bridges” → Install → Enable
Or via BRAT: see Appendix

Add a bridge:

Settings → Vault Bridges → Add Bridge
Fill in:
- Name: something descriptive, e.g., “Product Docs”
- Repo path: the absolute path to the local folder you want to bridge, e.g., /Users/you/projects/my-product/docs
- Vault path: where in your vault it should appear, e.g., Product/Docs
- Branch: main (or whichever branch you want to sync from)
Click Sync now to pull the initial copy into your vault

Verify: Navigate to the vault path you specified — you should see the files from your folder.

No code repo? Bridge any folder: a Notion export, a shared Google Drive folder synced locally, a folder of spec PDFs. The bridge copies files as Markdown-readable content into your vault.

Step 5 — Install the Claude Code agent skills

The agents and skills (ost-workflow, pm-signal-synthesis, investment-gate, etc.) run in Claude Code, not in Obsidian. If you haven’t done this yet:

git clone https://github.com/rbcodelabs/agent-pm-playbook
cd agent-pm-playbook
./setup.sh --dry-run   # preview what it will install
./setup.sh             # do it

Restart Claude Code afterward (exit then claude again). Confirm by opening a session and typing use the pm-coach skill — it should respond as a thinking partner.

If you haven’t installed Claude Code yet, see Module 1: Environment Setup for the Step 0 install instructions.

Step 6 — Configure pm-setup (one-time)

With Claude Code running inside your product workspace folder:

Run the pm-setup skill to select an integration profile, configure capability providers, and set my current desired outcome.

Answer its questions — especially desired outcome (a measurable behavior change, not a feature). This writes the routing manifest and scaffolds only Markdown/Obsidian-owned capabilities.

Your first 10 minutes on Monday

Here’s what “using the stack” actually looks like day-to-day:

1. Open Obsidian → open today’s daily note (Cmd+Shift+D or the calendar in the sidebar).

2. 10-minute passive triage. Scan your inbox: new JIRA/Linear comments, app store reviews, any support tickets that came in over the weekend. Don’t synthesize yet — just note that there’s material.

3. Open a Claude Thread. In the left panel, start a new thread in your product project.

4. Run a quick synthesis. Paste or describe the signals:

Synthesize this batch of customer signals into OST-ready opportunity clusters:
[paste tickets / quotes / review excerpts]

The pm-signal-synthesis skill will cluster them, tag confidence, flag contradictions, and suggest OST mappings.

5. Update the OST in its provider. The synthesis skill resolves ost from pm-config.md and updates Compass, JPD, or Markdown/Obsidian as configured.

6. Done. One Signal Ledger entry, one OST update, 10 minutes of judgment work. That’s the weekly heartbeat.

Appendix — Manual plugin install via BRAT

If you’re setting up plugins without the ObsidianSetup installer, or if a plugin needs updating:

Install BRAT first: Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search “BRAT” (by TfTHacker) → Install → Enable

Install Claude Threads:

Settings → BRAT → Add Beta Plugin
Enter repo: rbcodelabs/obsidian-claude-threads
Click Add Plugin → enable it in Community plugins

Install Vault Bridges:

Settings → BRAT → Add Beta Plugin
Enter repo: rbcodelabs/obsidian-vault-bridges
Click Add Plugin → enable it

Verify each: both should appear under Settings → Community plugins with a toggle you can flip on.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Claude Thread returns auth error	API key not saved or mistyped	Settings → Claude Threads → Secret environment variables → remove and re-add `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`
“Can’t find Linear/JIRA issues”	Secret name has a typo or workspace slug wrong	Re-check the exact secret names in Step 3; they’re case-sensitive
Vault Bridges sync shows nothing	Wrong repo path, or folder doesn’t exist	Confirm the path in Settings → Vault Bridges → your bridge; run Sync now
`pm-coach` answers generically	`pm-config.md` missing or empty	Re-run `pm-setup` from inside your project folder
BRAT plugin shows no plugins after install	Forgot to enable the plugin	Settings → Community plugins → scroll to find the plugin → flip the toggle on
Vault doesn’t appear in Obsidian after ObsidianSetup	Obsidian wasn’t restarted	Quit and reopen Obsidian completely

← Back to training · Module 1: Environment Setup