claude-desktop

Claude Desktop Integration

Claude Desktop can access the full Rebar knowledge base through the MCP filesystem server. This gives Claude Desktop the same context available in Claude Code — wiki pages, expertise.yaml, agent definitions, and client data.

How It Works

Claude Desktop supports MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that provide file access. The @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem server gives Claude Desktop read access to specified directories.

The sync-obsidian.sh script already syncs framework files to a Windows-accessible path, so Claude Desktop can reach them without WSL path translation.

Setup

1. Sync Framework Files to Windows

The Obsidian sync script copies framework directories to a Windows path:

bash scripts/sync-obsidian.sh

This syncs to a Windows-accessible location:

• wiki/ — knowledge wiki
• apps/ — app configurations and expertise
• clients/ — client configurations and expertise
• system/ — agent definitions and config
• .claude/commands/ — slash command definitions
• CLAUDE.md — framework instructions

2. Configure MCP in Claude Desktop

Add the filesystem server to your Claude Desktop MCP config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rebar": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
        "C:\\path\\to\\rebar\\wiki",
        "C:\\path\\to\\rebar\\apps",
        "C:\\path\\to\\rebar\\clients",
        "C:\\path\\to\\rebar\\system"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after editing the config.

3. Add Project Instructions

In Claude Desktop, create a project and add this to the project instructions:

Read wiki/index.md first for navigation. Follow [[wiki links]] to drill into topics.
Read system/paperclip.yaml for agent definitions.
Read clients/{name}/expertise.yaml for project-specific context.

This tells Claude Desktop where to start when answering questions about the framework.

What Claude Desktop Can Access

Path	Content
wiki/	Knowledge wiki — patterns, decisions, platform knowledge
wiki/index.md	Page summaries and navigation (read this first)
apps/*/expertise.yaml	App-specific operational data
clients/*/expertise.yaml	Client-specific operational data
system/paperclip.yaml	Agent orchestration config
system/agents/*.yaml	Detailed agent definitions

Same Knowledge, Multiple Interfaces

The framework’s knowledge is stored in plain files. This means the same context is available across all interfaces:

Interface	Access Method
Claude Code (CLI)	Direct file reads, slash commands
Claude Desktop	MCP filesystem server
Claude.ai (web)	Upload files or paste content
Obsidian	Direct vault on wiki/ directory
Quartz site	Rendered wiki at GitHub Pages URL

The self-learn loop (expertise.yaml) and wiki grow through Claude Code sessions. Claude Desktop reads the results. The sync script keeps everything current.

Related

• Obsidian — local wiki editing
• Quartz — wiki as a website
• Paperclip — agent orchestration