The AI Second Brain architecture
Wire Claude Code into your second brain. Obsidian + PARA + daily notes — editable, queryable, and compounding over time.
The three-layer system
Memory feeds capabilities. Capabilities trigger the heartbeat.
Security + the daily cycle
Keep the trifecta in check. Keep the cycle running.
How to wire it up
Four steps. Start today. Compound forever.
~/.claude/soul.md — personality, voice, brand. ~/.claude/user.md — your name, role, goals, ICP. ~/.claude/memory.md — decisions, rules, recurring context.
Add a PreToolUse hook in settings.json that cats your memory files before any tool runs. Claude reads context before acting.
Point daily notes to ~/notes/daily/. Use PARA folders: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive. Claude can read, write, and query any file in the vault.
A cron job runs Claude every morning: pulls Gmail + Slack, reasons over the context, writes to your daily note, Slack-notifies you. Runs without you.
Starter templates
Copy, personalise, ship.
# soul.md — who I am name: Claude (AY Automate instance) voice: direct, no fluff, execution-first brand: AY Automate owner: Walid Boulanouar language: match user, default EN # always - be specific, not vague - give next action, not theory - short > long
# .claude/settings.json { "hooks": { "PreToolUse": [{ "matcher": ".*", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "cat ~/.claude/memory.md" }] }] } }
# daily-heartbeat.sh (cron: 0 8 * * *) claude --print " 1. Check ~/.claude/memory.md 2. Pull Gmail unread (last 24h) 3. Pull Slack unreads 4. Summarise top 3 actions 5. Append to ~/notes/daily/$(date +%F).md 6. Slack notify me with summary "
What becomes possible
When memory is persistent and skills compound.
Ask Claude to search across your entire Obsidian vault. “What did I decide about pricing last month?” — instant answer.
Every skill runs with your identity baked in. Content sounds like you. Research uses your ICP. Outreach knows your offer.
Daily heartbeat extracts learnings from logs, promotes them to memory.md. The system gets better every day without manual input.
Claude monitors your inbox and Slack overnight. Surfaces what matters. Drafts replies. You wake up to a done list, not a task list.
PARA structure enforced automatically. Every session appends to the right daily note file. No manual filing.
Claude knows your active projects, current goals, and recent decisions. Every action is contextual, not generic.