PM Workspace Setup

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

This guide gets your full Obsidian + Claude Threads + issue-tracker stack running. No philosophy — just the desk. By the end you’ll have a configured workspace and know what to click on Monday morning.

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 configure my notes system, issue tracker, and current desired outcome.

Answer its questions — especially desired outcome (a measurable behavior change, not a feature). This writes pm-config.md, which every agent and skill reads for context.

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 your OST note. Take the clusters that add, update, or challenge your tree and edit your OST Markdown note in the vault. Two minutes, same vault, searchable forever.

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