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BOB Overview — What It Is & How It Works

What is BOB? How does the tech stack work? What problems does it solve? Start here for a complete conceptual foundation.

What is BOB?

BOB = Business Operating Brain

BOB is an AI-powered system that helps businesses run better by making intelligent decisions and automating work. It's like having a smart business advisor available 24/7 — but it's not a chatbot for small talk.

Key difference from ChatGPT

ChatGPT BOB
Generic AI chat tool AI system designed specifically for business operations
Answers questions Solves business problems: sales, finance, HR, strategy, operations
No memory of your business Understands your company: customer lists, processes, decisions, history
Each conversation is separate Learns from your vault: patterns, preferences, past work
"Talk to AI" interface Integrated into your workflow: works inside tools you already use
One model (GPT) Multiple AI models: Claude, OpenAI, Gemini — you choose

What Problems Does BOB Solve?

BOB handles questions and tasks across the entire business:

Business Area Example BOB Tasks
Sales Lead scoring, proposal generation, pipeline forecasting, objection handling
Marketing Campaign planning, content creation, audience segmentation, competitive analysis
Operations Process optimization, vendor evaluation, cost reduction, bottleneck identification
Finance Forecasting, budget reviews, supplier negotiations, cash flow analysis
HR Hiring decisions, compensation review, skill gap analysis, team structure
Strategy Market analysis, competitive positioning, growth planning, risk assessment

The pattern: Wherever you have business data + a decision to make, BOB can help.

How BOB Works (The Tech Stack)

BOB is built on four layers. Each layer does one thing:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  LAYER 1: OBSIDIAN (Your Knowledge Hub)                 │
│  • All business data stored as markdown files            │
│  • Notes about customers, deals, processes, decisions   │
│  • Vault = your company's brain (organized, searchable) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                            ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  LAYER 2: ACP PLUGIN (Obsidian Integration)             │
│  • "Agent Client Protocol" plugin in Obsidian           │
│  • Lets you ask BOB questions without leaving Obsidian  │
│  • Sees your vault data, reads/creates notes            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                            ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  LAYER 3: CLAUDE CODE (AI Agent Engine)                 │
│  • Receives your question from ACP plugin               │
│  • Searches vault for relevant data                     │
│  • Chooses the right "skill" to use                     │
│  • Runs that skill to generate your answer              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                            ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  LAYER 4: ANTHROPIC API (The AI Model)                  │
│  • Claude, OpenAI, or Gemini model                      │
│  • Does the actual thinking and writing                 │
│  • Can switch providers without changing anything else  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

What Each Layer Does

Layer 1 — Obsidian (Knowledge Storage) - Your vault is a folder full of markdown files - Files are organized: /{company.clients}, /{company.root}, /{resource.root} - BOB reads from this vault to understand your business context - When BOB creates output, some workflows save it back to the vault during the run; review the output paths shown in the run to see where files landed

Layer 2 — ACP Plugin (The Interface) - ACP = Agent Client Protocol - It's a plugin that runs inside Obsidian - You type your question into ACP; it passes it to Claude Code - ACP also gives Claude Code access to your vault files

Layer 3 — Claude Code (The Agent) - Claude Code is an AI coding assistant from Anthropic - But BOB uses it as an agent — it can think, search, and take actions - When you ask BOB a question: 1. Claude Code reads your question 2. It searches your vault for relevant information 3. It picks a "skill" (a workflow) to handle your request 4. It runs that skill 5. It returns the answer to you

Layer 4 — The AI Model (The Brain) - The actual AI doing the thinking - Could be Claude (Anthropic), GPT-4 (OpenAI), or Gemini (Google) - You can switch without changing Layers 1–3 - Think of it like swapping out the engine in a car — the rest still works

The Data Flow: How a Question Becomes an Answer

Let's trace what happens when you ask BOB a question:

You (in Obsidian):
"Analyze our top 10 customers and recommend which ones to prioritize for upsell"
        ↓
ACP Plugin:
Captures your question, passes it to Claude Code
        ↓
Claude Code:
1. Searches your vault: "Find all customer files in /{company.clients}"
2. Reads recent deals, contact history, revenue data
3. Searches for a skill: "Is there an upsell-strategy skill?"
4. Runs that skill with your customer data as input
        ↓
Claude Model (API):
Thinks through your customer data, scores them, ranks by upsell potential
        ↓
Claude Code:
Formats the result as markdown; depending on the workflow, either creates a new note in your vault directly or returns the draft for you to save
        ↓
ACP Plugin:
Shows the answer in Obsidian; if a path was written, it's listed in the run output
        ↓
You:
Review the analysis (and the output paths), edit if needed, ask BOB to save anything not yet saved

Why This Stack Matters

Layer Why It's There
Obsidian All your data is yours, in files you own. No vendor lock-in. You can search, link, organize it your way.
ACP You never leave Obsidian. No switching apps. BOB integrates into your existing workflow.
Claude Code It's not just a language model — it's an agent that can think, search, and act. It can read your vault, pick the right skill, and execute it.
API You can swap the AI model. If Claude is slow, switch to OpenAI. If you prefer Gemini, use that. Same system, different brain.

What Are "Skills"?

A skill is a workflow that BOB can run. Think of it as a mini-program designed for a specific business task.

Examples: - lead-qualifier — reads a lead's profile, scores them, decides if worth pursuing - proposal-writer — interviews you about a deal, drafts a proposal - market-sizing-analysis — researches a market, estimates opportunity size - competitive-battlecard — compares your product to competitors

How Claude Code picks a skill: 1. You ask BOB a question 2. Claude Code reads your question 3. It thinks: "What skill would solve this?" 4. It loads that skill (a set of instructions + templates) 5. It runs that skill using your data 6. It returns the result

This vault includes a comprehensive library of skills, covering sales, marketing, operations, finance, HR, and more.

What You'll Install

A working BOB setup has:

✅ Obsidian — knowledge management app
✅ ACP Plugin — agent interface inside Obsidian
✅ Claude Code — AI agent engine (runs locally)
✅ This vault — a full library of business skills + your company data
✅ API keys — Claude/OpenAI/Gemini credentials (you choose)

When it's all installed: - You open Obsidian - You type a business question into the ACP panel - Claude Code searches the vault, picks a skill, runs it - You get an answer, review it, and the output paths the run wrote to (some workflows save during execution; if a path isn't shown, ask BOB to save the draft) - Done — no app-switching, no chat tabs, no email chains

Key Concepts to Understand

  1. Vault = Your Company's Brain
  2. Every decision, customer, deal, process is in markdown files
  3. BOB reads from this vault to understand your context

  4. The more structured your vault, the better BOB's answers

  5. Skills = Workflows

  6. Pre-built decision-making processes
  7. "Draft a proposal", "Score a lead", "Analyze a market"

  8. Claude Code picks the right skill based on your question

  9. Obsidian Never Leaves

  10. You ask BOB inside Obsidian via ACP plugin
  11. Answer appears inside Obsidian

  12. No context-switching, no ChatGPT tabs, no email chains

  13. Multiple AI Models

  14. Claude, OpenAI, Gemini all work
  15. Switch by changing one config file

  16. Useful for cost, latency, or feature tradeoffs

  17. Transparent & Auditable

  18. Some playbook runs create a TaskNote step log capturing the playbook, what was invoked, the original user input, and per-step output paths — enough to retrace what BOB did
  19. The audit-trail skill compiles a readable record of what was run from the agent session logs — an activity trail, not a cryptographically tamper-proof or hash-chained ledger (it computes no hashes and does not chain entries). For formal tamper-evidence in client/Mode-3 work, layer on an out-of-band system (signed version history, an external WORM log)
  20. All vault data stays in your markdown files — not a black box, you own the data

Next Steps

  1. Read through this guide carefully
  2. If any section is unclear, research it (links provided above)
  3. Verify your environment with the environment_checklist
  4. Refer back to this guide as you work through installation — the 4 layers will become concrete when you see them running