Problem
I needed a context harness: somewhere to feed notes into AI and pull structured output back, with everything versioned in git. No org-level tool did this. I wanted the structure of Notion with the speed of Obsidian, running locally and never sending data out. So I built my own.
What I did
V1 was built through Claude Code sessions, one conversation at a time: Express server, git-backed file API, React frontend with wiki-links and backlinks, D3 graph, command palette, drag-and-drop sidebar, Python MCP server, macOS Launch Agent. For V2 I moved to Claude Design to rethink the structure and visual language. Two design passes: warm paper first, then Tina DS.
How AI was used
All development happened conversationally through Claude Code. The MCP server is the key piece: it gives Claude direct read/write access to my notes, so the harness works in both directions. I send context in, Claude pulls from it, and everything commits to git automatically.
Where human judgment mattered
I ran the security audit myself and caught five vulnerabilities Claude had introduced: swapped exec for execFile to block command injection, added path traversal guards, and locked down the file API. Four sidebar rewrites, every architecture decision. AI wrote the code, but I decided what was safe to run.
Security & Architecture
15 commits since 2026-04-11, zero external services, and no data leaves the machine. Every save auto-commits to git for a full audit trail. No auto-linking, no remote calls, no Tailwind dependency chain. The full stack is React + Express + Python MCP + D3.
Architecture Stack
Express server, file API with path traversal guards, markdown rendering with wiki-link syntax.
Python MCP server for Claude brain access, SSE file watcher for live updates, D3 knowledge graph.
Two visual passes: warm paper aesthetic, then Tina DS. Four sidebar rewrites preserving all prior features.
Human-led security audit: blocked command injection (exec → execFile), added path traversal guards, locked file API endpoints. Git auto-commit on every save for full audit trail.
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