TurboVault

A production-grade MCP server that transforms your Obsidian vault into an intelligent knowledge system powered by AI.

TurboVault provides Claude and other AI agents with 44 specialized tools for reading, writing, searching, analyzing, and managing your notes—all with sub-100ms performance for most operations. Built in Rust for speed, safety, and reliability.

Core Crates

TurboVault is a modular system composed of specialized crates. The main entry point is turbovault which orchestrates all functionality:

Crate	Purpose	Docs
turbovault	Main MCP server binary
turbovault-tools	MCP tools implementation
turbovault-core	Core models & types
turbovault-vault	Vault management & I/O
turbovault-parser	OFM parser
turbovault-graph	Link graph analysis
turbovault-batch	Batch operations
turbovault-export	Export & reporting

Why TurboVault?

Unlike basic note readers, TurboVault understands your vault's knowledge structure:

• Full-text search across all notes with BM25 ranking
• Link graph analysis to discover relationships, hubs, orphans, and cycles
• Vault intelligence with health scoring and automated recommendations
• Atomic batch operations for safe, transactional multi-file edits
• Multi-vault support with instant context switching
• Runtime vault addition — no vault required at startup, add them as needed

Powered by TurboMCP

TurboVault is built on TurboMCP, a Rust framework for building production-grade MCP servers. TurboMCP provides:

• Type-safe tool definitions — Macro-driven MCP tool implementation
• Standardized request/response handling — Consistent envelope format
• Transport abstraction — HTTP, WebSocket, TCP, Unix sockets (configurable features)
• Middleware support — Logging, metrics, error handling
• Zero-copy streaming — Efficient large payload handling

This means TurboVault gets battle-tested reliability and extensibility out of the box. Want to add custom tools? TurboMCP's ergonomic macros make it straightforward.

Quick Start

Installation

From crates.io (after publishing):

# Minimal install (7.0 MB, STDIO only - perfect for Claude Desktop)
cargo install turbovault

# With HTTP server (~8.2 MB)
cargo install turbovault --features http

# With all cross-platform transports (~8.8 MB)
# Includes: STDIO, HTTP, WebSocket, TCP (Unix sockets only on Unix/macOS/Linux)
cargo install turbovault --features full

# Binary installed to: ~/.cargo/bin/turbovault

From source:

git clone https://github.com/epistates/turbovault.git
cd turbovault
make release
# Binary: ./target/release/turbovault

Option 1: Static Vault (Recommended for Single Vault)

turbovault --vault /path/to/your/vault --profile production

Then add to ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "turbovault": {
      "command": "/path/to/turbovault",
      "args": ["--vault", "/path/to/your/vault", "--profile", "production"]
    }
  }
}

Option 2: Runtime Vault Addition (Recommended for Multiple Vaults)

Start the server without a vault:

turbovault --profile production

Then add vaults dynamically:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "turbovault": {
      "command": "/path/to/turbovault",
      "args": ["--profile", "production"]
    }
  }
}

Once connected to Claude:

You: "Add my vault at ~/Documents/Notes"
Claude: [Calls add_vault("personal", "~/Documents/Notes")]

You: "Search for machine learning notes"
Claude: [Uses search() across the indexed vault]

You: "What are my most important notes?"
Claude: [Uses get_hub_notes() to find key concepts]

What Can Claude Do?

Search & Discovery

You: "Find all notes about async Rust and show how they connect"
Claude: search() → recommend_related() → get_related_notes() → explain relationships

Vault Intelligence

You: "What's the health of my vault? Any issues I should fix?"
Claude: quick_health_check() → full_health_analysis() → get_broken_links() → generate fixes

Knowledge Graph Navigation

You: "What are my most important notes? Which ones are isolated?"
Claude: get_hub_notes() → get_isolated_clusters() → suggest connections

Structured Note Creation

You: "Create a project note for the TurboVault launch with status tracking"
Claude: list_templates() → create_from_template() → write auto-formatted note

Batch Content Operations

You: "Move my 'MLOps' note to 'AI/Operations' and update all links"
Claude: move_note() + batch operations → atomic multi-file update

Link Suggestions

You: "Based on my vault, what notes should I link this to?"
Claude: suggest_links() → get_link_strength() → recommend cross-references

44 MCP Tools Organized by Category

File Operations (5)

• read_note — Get note content with hash for conflict detection
• write_note — Create/overwrite notes (auto-creates directories)
• edit_note — Surgical edits via SEARCH/REPLACE blocks
• delete_note — Safe deletion with link tracking
• move_note — Rename/relocate with automatic wikilink updates

Link Analysis (6)

• get_backlinks — All notes that link TO this note
• get_forward_links — All notes this note links TO
• get_related_notes — Multi-hop graph traversal (find non-obvious connections)
• get_hub_notes — Top 10 most connected notes (key concepts)
• get_dead_end_notes — Notes with incoming but no outgoing links
• get_isolated_clusters — Disconnected subgraphs in your vault

Vault Health & Analysis (5)

• quick_health_check — Fast 0-100 health score (<100ms)
• full_health_analysis — Comprehensive vault audit with recommendations
• get_broken_links — All links pointing to non-existent notes
• detect_cycles — Circular reference chains (sometimes intentional)
• explain_vault — Holistic overview replacing 5+ separate calls

Full-Text Search (5)

• search — BM25-ranked search across all notes (<500ms on 100k notes)
• advanced_search — Search with tag/metadata filters
• recommend_related — ML-powered recommendations based on content similarity
• find_notes_from_template — Find all notes using a specific template
• query_metadata — Frontmatter pattern queries

Templates (4)

• list_templates — Discover available templates
• get_template — Template details and required fields
• create_from_template — Render and write templated notes
• get_ofm_examples — See all Obsidian Flavored Markdown features

Vault Lifecycle (7)

• create_vault — Programmatically create a new vault
• add_vault — Register and auto-initialize a vault at runtime
• remove_vault — Unregister vault (safe, doesn't delete files)
• list_vaults — All registered vaults with status
• get_vault_config — Inspect vault settings
• set_active_vault — Switch context between multiple vaults
• get_active_vault — Current active vault

Advanced Features (12)

• batch_execute — Atomic multi-file operations (all-or-nothing transactions)
• export_health_report — Export vault health as JSON/CSV
• export_broken_links — Export broken links with fix suggestions
• export_vault_stats — Statistics and metrics export
• export_analysis_report — Complete audit trail
• get_metadata_value — Extract frontmatter values (dot notation support)
• suggest_links — AI-powered link suggestions for a note
• get_link_strength — Connection strength between notes (0.0–1.0)
• get_centrality_ranking — Graph centrality metrics (betweenness, closeness, eigenvector)
• get_ofm_syntax_guide — Complete Obsidian Flavored Markdown reference
• get_ofm_quick_ref — Quick OFM cheat sheet
• get_vault_context — Meta-tool: single call returns vault status, available tools, OFM guide

Real-World Workflows

Initialize Without a Vault

# Server starts with NO vault required
response = client.call("get_vault_context")
# Returns: "No vault registered. Call add_vault() to get started."

response = client.call("add_vault", {
    "name": "personal",
    "path": "~/Documents/Obsidian"
})
# Auto-initializes: scans files, builds link graph, indexes for search

Multi-Vault Workflow

# Add multiple vaults
client.call("add_vault", {"name": "work", "path": "/work/notes"})
client.call("add_vault", {"name": "personal", "path": "~/notes"})

# Switch context instantly
client.call("set_active_vault", {"name": "work"})
search_results = client.call("search", {"query": "Q4 goals"})

client.call("set_active_vault", {"name": "personal"})
recommendations = client.call("recommend_related", {"path": "AI/ML.md"})

Vault Maintenance & Repair

# Quick diagnostic
health = client.call("quick_health_check")
if health["data"]["score"] < 60:
    # Deep analysis if needed
    full_analysis = client.call("full_health_analysis")

# Find and fix issues
broken = client.call("get_broken_links")
# Process broken links...

# Atomic bulk repair
client.call("batch_execute", {
    "operations": [
        {"type": "DeleteNote", "path": "old/deprecated.md"},
        {"type": "MoveNote", "from": "old/notes.md", "to": "new/notes.md"},
        # ... more operations
    ]
})

# Verify improvement
client.call("explain_vault")  # Holistic view

Content Discovery

# Find what matters
hubs = client.call("get_hub_notes")  # Top concepts
orphans = client.call("get_dead_end_notes")  # Incomplete topics

# Deep search
results = client.call("search", {"query": "machine learning"})

# Explore relationships
related = client.call("get_related_notes", {
    "path": "AI/ML.md",
    "max_hops": 3
})

# Get suggestions
suggestions = client.call("suggest_links", {"path": "AI/ML.md"})

Performance Profile

Operation	Time	Notes
read_note	<10ms	Instant with caching
get_backlinks, get_forward_links	<50ms	Graph lookup
write_note	<50ms	Includes graph update
search (10k notes)	<100ms	Tantivy BM25
quick_health_check	<100ms	Heuristic score
full_health_analysis	1–5s	Exhaustive, use sparingly
explain_vault	1–5s	Aggregates 5+ analyses
Vault initialization	100ms–5s	Depends on vault size

Key insight: Fast operations (<100ms) for common tasks, slower operations (1–5s) for exhaustive analysis. Claude uses smart fallbacks.

Configuration Profiles

Profile	Use Case
development	Local dev with verbose logging
production	Production with security auditing and optimized logging
readonly	Read-only access for safe exploration
high-performance	Large vaults (10k+ notes) with aggressive caching

Dual-Use: Library and Server

TurboVault is both a Rust library and a standalone MCP server:

As a Standalone MCP Server

Build the optimized binary (LTO + fat codegen for maximum performance):

git clone https://github.com/epistates/turbovault.git
cd turbovault
cargo build --release

Or build with specific transports only:

# STDIO only (MCP standard, smallest binary)
cargo build --release --no-default-features

# HTTP transport only
cargo build --release --no-default-features --features http

# WebSocket + Unix socket
cargo build --release --no-default-features --features "websocket,unix"

# All transports (default)
cargo build --release --features full

Then run it:

./target/release/turbovault --vault /path/to/vault --profile production

The binary is fully self-contained with:

• Link-time optimization (LTO) for maximum performance
• Full stripping (no debug symbols)
• Single codegen unit for optimal runtime speed
• Configurable transports — Build only what you need for smaller binaries

Now Claude (via Claude Desktop) can use all 44 tools.

As a Rust Library

// Use in your own Rust projects
use turbovault_core::MultiVaultManager;
use turbovault_vault::VaultManager;
use turbovault_tools::SearchEngine;

// Build custom applications on top of turbovault
let manager = MultiVaultManager::new();
manager.add_vault("notes", "/home/user/notes").await?;
let vault = manager.get_vault("notes")?;
let results = vault.search("machine learning")?;

Each crate is published to crates.io, so you can depend on individual components or the full stack.

Architecture

Built as a modular Rust workspace:

turbovault-core        — Core types, MultiVaultManager, configuration
turbovault-parser      — OFM (Obsidian Flavored Markdown) parsing
turbovault-graph       — Link graph analysis with petgraph
turbovault-vault       — Vault operations, file I/O, atomic writes
turbovault-batch       — Transactional batch operations
turbovault-export      — JSON/CSV/Markdown export
turbovault-tools       — 44 MCP tool implementations
turbovault-server      — CLI and MCP server entry point (binary)

All crates are published to crates.io for public use.

Obsidian Flavored Markdown (OFM) Support

TurboVault fully understands Obsidian's syntax:

• Wikilinks: [[note]], [[note|alias]], [[note#section]], [[note#^block]]
• Embeds: ![[image.png]], ![[note]], ![[note#section]]
• Tags: #tag, #parent/child/tag
• Tasks: - [ ] Task, - [x] Done
• Callouts: > [!type] Title
• Frontmatter: YAML metadata with automatic parsing
• Headings: Hierarchical structure extraction

Security

• Path traversal protection — No access outside vault boundaries
• Type-safe deserialization — Rust's type system prevents injection
• Atomic writes — Temp file → atomic rename (never corrupts on failure)
• Hash-based conflict detection — edit_note detects concurrent modifications
• File size limits — Default 5MB per file (configurable)
• No shell execution — Zero command injection risk
• Security auditing — Detailed logs in production mode

System Requirements

• Rust: 1.90.0 or later
• OS: Linux, macOS, Windows
• Memory: 100MB base + ~80MB per 10k notes
• Disk: Negligible (index is in-memory)

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/epistates/turbovault.git
cd turbovault

# Development build
cargo build

# Production build (optimized)
cargo build --release

# Run tests
cargo test --all

Or use the Makefile:

make build       # Debug build
make release     # Production build
make test        # Run tests
make clean       # Clean build artifacts

Documentation

Docs

Examples

Example 1: Search-Driven Organization

You: "What topics do I have the most notes on?"
Claude:
  1. get_hub_notes() → [AI, Project Management, Rust, Python]
  2. For each hub:
     - get_related_notes() → related topics
     - get_backlinks() → importance/connectivity
  3. Report: "Your core topics are AI (23 notes) and Rust (18 notes)"

Example 2: Vault Health Improvement

You: "My vault feels disorganized. Help me improve it."
Claude:
  1. quick_health_check() → Health: 42/100 ❌
  2. full_health_analysis() → Issues: 12 broken links, 8 orphaned notes
  3. get_broken_links() → List of specific broken links
  4. suggest_links() → AI-powered link recommendations
  5. batch_execute() → Atomic fixes
  6. explain_vault() → New health: 78/100 ✅

Example 3: Template-Based Content Creation

You: "Create project notes for Q4 initiatives"
Claude:
  1. list_templates() → "project", "task", "meeting"
  2. create_from_template("project", {
       "title": "Q4 Planning",
       "status": "In Progress",
       "deadline": "2024-12-31"
     })
  3. Creates structured note with auto-formatting
  4. Returns path for follow-up edits

Benchmarks

M1 MacBook Pro, 10k notes, production build:

• File read: <10ms
• File write: <20ms
• Simple search: <50ms
• Graph analysis: <200ms
• Vault initialization: ~500ms
• Memory usage: ~80MB

Roadmap

• Real-time vault watching (VaultWatcher framework ready)
• Cross-vault link resolution
• Encrypted vault support
• Collaborative locking
• WebSocket transport (beyond MCP stdio)

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please ensure:

• All tests pass: cargo test --all
• Code formats: cargo fmt --all
• No clippy warnings: cargo clippy --all -- -D warnings

License

MIT License - See LICENSE for details

Links

• Repository: https://github.com/epistates/turbovault
• Issues: https://github.com/epistates/turbovault/issues
• MCP Protocol: https://modelcontextprotocol.io
• Obsidian: https://obsidian.md
• Related: TurboMCP

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Get started now: ./target/release/turbovault --profile production 🚀