Notes and agent context in Hive

Hive's notes app for a markdown or Obsidian vault: a tree, rendered notes, links and search in a pane. And hive context, so agents can look up and record project knowledge.

Hive has its own notes app and a context store for your agents, built on a plain markdown vault. It works alongside Obsidian: same files, nothing to import, and Obsidian doesn't need to be installed.

The vault

A vault is a folder of .md files. Hive uses the folder with .obsidian/ at or above where you are, within the repository, or one directly inside the repository root (vault/, docs/, …). Set HIVE_VAULT to use another one. Every session started in a space with a vault gets HIVE_VAULT set, so agents and scripts can find it.

The notes app

╭ Notes · vault ─────────╮╭ ADR-0012 Worktrees ──────────────────────────╮
│▾ Decisions             ││ ADR-0012: Worktrees created by the daemon    │
│    ADR-0011 Workspaces ││                                              │
│    ADR-0012 Worktrees  ││ Context                                      │
│▾ Log                   ││ Phase 4 requires optional worktree isolation │
│    2026-11-02          ││ …                                            │
│  Home                  ││ Linked from                                  │
│  Status                ││ • Home  • Roadmap                3 links · 40%│
╰────────────────────────╯╰──────────────────────────────────────────────╯
 ⏎ open  / search  n new  t today  e edit  o obsidian  ? keys  q quit

With [integrations.obsidian] enabled = true, Ctrl+Space N opens it beside the focused pane. You can also run hive notes in any terminal, or hive notes DIR for a folder of your choice. The note under the cursor shows on the right as you move, and notes changed elsewhere (in Obsidian, by an agent) reload on their own.

Key	Does
`j` `k` `↑` `↓`	Move in the tree, or scroll the note
`Enter` `→`	Open a note, or fold or unfold a folder
`Esc` `←`	Back to the tree; fold a folder
`Tab` `Shift+Tab`	Next or previous link in the note, including the "Linked from" list
`Enter` on a link	Follow it. A link to a note that doesn't exist creates it, as in Obsidian. Web links open in your browser
`Backspace`	Back to the previous note
`/`	Search every note; the preview follows the result you pick
`n`	New note in the selected folder (`Folder/Name` for another)
`t`	Today's daily note, in `journal_dir`
`e`	Edit the note in `$VISUAL` or `$EDITOR` (else nvim, vim, vi or nano)
`o`	Open the note in the Obsidian app
`?` `q`	All keys; quit

It renders headings, lists, checkboxes, quotes and callouts, code, tables and [[wikilinks]] (with #heading and |alias). To open the vault with something else instead, set agent under [integrations.obsidian] to an [agents.*] entry.

Context for agents

hive context lets agents look things up in the vault and record what they decide. It reads the files directly, with no daemon and no index to keep fresh, and prints path:line so an agent can open the exact spot. Add --json for programs.

$ hive context search how are dirty worktrees handled
Decisions/ADR-0012 Worktrees created by the daemon, never deleted dirty.md:5
    # ADR-0012: Worktrees created by the daemon, never deleted dirty
Roadmap/Phase 4 - Workspaces and Git.md:17
    | Safe cleanup | … Dirty worktree: TUI said "Kept worktree…

$ hive context get ADR-0012          # the whole note, its links and backlinks
$ hive context list -n 10            # recently changed notes
$ hive context add Hive/Decisions "Tokens expire after 1h; refresh in the client"

add appends a dated entry (signed with the session, and --by NAME if given) and never rewrites a note. Search ranks file names, tags and exact phrases above passing mentions, and matches plurals.

To have your agents use it, add a line like this to the project's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md:

Project knowledge lives in the notes vault. Before non-trivial work, run
`hive context search <topic>` and read the relevant notes with `hive context get`.
Record decisions with `hive context add Hive/Decisions "<what and why>"`.