vault-pkm vs Vault Cortex
vault-pkm is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by AdrianV101. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-community). Vault Cortex is an MCP server published by aliasunder. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-15. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |  vault-pkm |  Vault Cortex |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-community | Listed Version: 3.10.1 Forks (GitHub): 3 Stars (GitHub): 14 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.54.13 Forks (GitHub): 3 Stars (GitHub): 26 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | vault-pkm | Vault Cortex |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 14 (worse) | 26 (better) |
| Forks (GitHub) | 3 | 3 |
| Last release (differs) | Not published | 2026-10-12 |
| Where it runs (differs) | On your machine (obsidian-pkm) | On your machine (ghcr.io/aliasunder/vault-cortex:0.54.13) |
| Transport (differs) | Not stated | Streamable HTTP |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 1, secrets among them: 0 | 24, secrets among them: 1 |
| Hooks it runs (differs) | 2 | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 14 | Not a bundle |
| Licence (differs) | MIT | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/adrianv101/obsidian-pkm-plugin | github.com/aliasunder/vault-cortex |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 2 |
| First seen (differs) | 2026-10-12 | 2026-10-11 |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
vault-pkm
Personal knowledge management for Claude Code. Connect to your Obsidian vault with 20 MCP tools, semantic search, wikilink graph traversal, template-based note creation, link health audits, and cross-session activity logging. Includes 3 autonomous agents and hooks for proactive knowledge capture.
Vault Cortex
Standalone MCP server for Obsidian vaults — hybrid search, notes & files, memory, tasks, OAuth 2.1
How to run each
vault-pkm As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
/plugin install vault-pkm@claude-communityVault Cortex
No data for an automatic command: what its marketplaces declare does not say unambiguously how to connect it.
Requires: MCP_AUTH_TOKEN (secret)
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
Neither one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
Only vault-pkm asks for
VAULT_PATH
Only Vault Cortex asks for
DAILY_NOTES_FOLDERDAILY_NOTES_FORMATDISABLED_TOOLSEMBEDDING_ENABLEDFILE_TOOLS_ENABLEDLOG_DIRLOG_LEVELLOG_RETENTION_DAYSMAX_FILE_BYTESMAX_IMAGE_OUTPUT_BYTESMAX_PDF_RENDER_PAGESMCP_AUTH_TOKEN (secret)
Show the remaining 12
MEMORY_DIRMEMORY_ENABLEDORPHAN_EXCLUDE_FOLDERSPROTECTED_PATHSPUBLIC_URLREADONLY_MODERERANK_MODESERVICE_DOCUMENTATION_URLTRUST_FORWARDED_HOPSTRUST_PROXY_HOPSTZWINDOWS_MODE
Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.
What it can do: vault-pkm · What it can do: Vault Cortex · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-community/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.