Using 'Obsidian × Google Drive' to keep Claude Code (AI employees) from losing their memory — Data synchronization across multiple PCs and the pitfalls I actually encountered

In previous articles, I introduced how the 'AI employees' created with Claude Code conduct research and make decisions. This time, I'll talk about the behind-the-scenes, mundane but crucial mechanism of 'how to keep the AIs' memories from being erased.'

Why is a 'place to store memories' necessary?

Conversations with AIs like Claude Code are basically completed within that session (a single interaction). Once the session ends, the content researched and the rules decided at that time will not be carried over to the next time unless you do something. In human terms, it's like having to explain everything from scratch to a new hire who is talented but has their memory reset every time.

Since this is problematic, we use a system where 'the AI writes down the content it researched, the rules it decided, and its work logs as local files.' The combination of the note-taking app Obsidian and the cloud storage Google Drive is what we use to store those files.

The combination of tools we use

• Obsidian: An app that allows you to treat Markdown files as notes. It has a simple structure where one file equals one note, without using a special database.
• Google Drive for Desktop: A synchronization tool that displays Google Drive as a 'regular folder' on your computer.

What we do is very simple: just place the Obsidian Vault (the folder where notes are stored) inside a folder that Google Drive is syncing. This alone allows you to open the same note contents from multiple computers, such as an office PC, a store PC, or a home PC. When you ask an AI agent to 'save this content,' it is written as a Markdown file inside this shared folder, so even if you start a new session on a different computer, you can read that file and continue the conversation from where you left off.

Basic setup flow

1. Install Google Drive for Desktop and sync the drive as a folder on your computer
2. Create one folder for storing notes inside the synced folder (you can also use a folder you are already using)
3. Install Obsidian and open that folder as a 'Vault'
4. On another computer, install Obsidian as well, and open the same Vault folder inside the folder synced with the same Google account

With just this, notes written on one computer will be reflected in the Obsidian on the other computer after a short wait (once Google Drive synchronization is complete).

Prerequisites you should know

There is one point to note here. Neither Google Drive nor Obsidian performs real-time collaborative editing like Google Docs. Since it is strictly a mechanism to 'sync files,' if you edit the same file on different computers at almost the same time, the changes from one might be overwritten and lost. If you use this without knowing this premise, it can lead to accidents where 'notes you thought you saved have disappeared.'

For those who say, 'I want to entrust research and record-keeping to AI in my own company, but I want to outsource the creation of this kind of foundation,' we also provide a service that handles the construction of AI utilization foundations (including agent design and the creation of memory persistence mechanisms). For details, click here: https://www.cyclebridgeokinawa.com/ai-shainka/

In the paid section, I will specifically introduce, at a reproducible level, how we actually deal with this 'disappearing due to simultaneous editing' problem, and how to deal with the even more troublesome 'drive letter changes' problem when operating on multiple computers.