WorkDesk OS · Setup
WorkDesk OS

Your working surface, set up in ten minutes.

WorkDesk OS turns a fresh Obsidian vault into a five-zone, agent-guided system that captures your work and surfaces what matters. This page gets it running on your Mac — one command, one plugin, one first session.

Watch the 2-minute walkthrough Go to the steps
About 10 minutes macOS Needs Obsidian + Claude Code

Watch the setup walkthrough first

2:02 · a quick screen recording of the whole thing →
Three steps

Follow along

Do these in order. The whole thing takes about ten minutes, and you won't need an admin password or Homebrew.

01

Install the configuration

Open the Terminal app and paste this in, then press return. It builds a fresh vault at ~/Workdesk-OS/ and won't touch any Obsidian vaults you already have.

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BenaliHQ/workdesk-configuration/main/init.sh | bash
02

Open the vault and add the WorkDesk plugin

Open Obsidian, switch to the new Workdesk-OS vault (vault switcher, bottom-left corner), then add the plugin through BRAT:

  1. If Obsidian asks about community plugins, choose Turn on community plugins.
  2. Open Settings (the gear, bottom-left) and scroll the left sidebar down to BRAT.
  3. Click Add Beta plugin.
  4. Paste the repository below into the box, then click Add Plugin. It installs and turns itself on.
BenaliHQ/workdesk-operating-system
03

Start your first session

Back in Terminal, open the vault with Claude Code:

$ cd ~/Workdesk-OS && claude

Then type these two, one at a time — press return after each and follow along:

  1. /workdesk-doctor — a quick health check that everything installed cleanly.
  2. /onboarding — a calm, ~10-minute guided setup that captures your role and gets you rolling.

That's it. You'll land in a fresh WorkDesk with the full surface, ready for your own work.

Good to know

A few reassurances

It won't touch your existing vaults

The installer creates a brand-new vault at ~/Workdesk-OS/. Anything you already keep in Obsidian stays exactly as it is.

You get the system, not someone's data

You're installing the framework — the five zones, skills, and structure — completely empty, ready for your work. No one else's notes come with it.

No admin password, no Homebrew

The install is macOS-native. It doesn't ask for your password, install Homebrew, or need developer tools.

Want to see it first?

Add WORKDESK_INIT_DRYRUN=1 in front of the step 1 command to preview exactly what it will do — no files written.

One command away

Ready when you are.

If anything looks off during setup, email khalil@benali.com — you'll be un-stuck in a minute. Nothing here is fragile.

WorkDesk OS · Mac-only · a Benali system