commonplace

Workshop materials — Claude Workshop Day, Detroit, 12 August 2026. github.com/briannaworkman/commonplace

Drop a source into raw/, and Claude compiles it into cross-linked articles in wiki/. Obsidian draws the graph. No Python, no database, no build step — a folder of markdown files and a slash command you can read in a minute.

A commonplace book is what readers kept for four centuries before software: a bound notebook of passages worth keeping, copied out by hand and cross-referenced so they could be found again. Milton kept one. So did Locke, who published his own system for indexing them. The practice is old and well-tested. What's new is that you no longer have to do the copying, the cross-referencing, or the indexing yourself.

What's in here

If you fall behind during the session, don't scramble. finished/ has the completed version, and starter/ works fine at your kitchen table afterwards.

Before you start

• Obsidian — free, Mac/Windows/Linux.
• Claude Code — signed in.

Get the files

For the workshop — no git needed. Green Code button → Download ZIP → unzip. You'll get a folder called **commonplace-main**; that's the repo root, and starter/ is inside it. Fastest path, and the one to take if we're doing this live.

To keep it in git — use the template button, not fork.

Go to ** and click Use this template → Create a new repository, and set it to Private.