Literature Review Synthesizer

Literature Review Synthesizer

An Obsidian plugin that transforms your academic reading notes into structured literature review outputs using LLMs — entirely within your vault, with your own API key.

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What It Does

PhD students and academic researchers read between 50 and 200 sources for a single literature review. Taking notes is the easy part. Synthesizing them is the bottleneck.

Literature Review Synthesizer connects your Obsidian reading notes directly to an LLM of your choice, and produces:

• Thematic Synthesis — Identifies recurring themes and patterns across your sources
• Methodological Comparison Matrix — Compares research designs, samples, and analysis methods (Pro)
• Research Gap Analysis — Surfaces what is missing, contested, or unresolved (Pro)
• Draft Literature Review Section — Produces a fluent, citation-ready draft (Pro)

All processing happens between your Obsidian and your chosen LLM provider. Your notes and API key never leave your machine.

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Key Features

• Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) — Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (OpenRouter, Ollama, etc.)
• Zero data sovereignty compromise — No cloud sync, no telemetry, no server
• Folder or tag-based source selection — Point it at any folder or tag in your vault
• Structured output — Results saved as new notes with frontmatter, backlinks, and timestamps
• Citation format support — APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard
• Free tier — 3 syntheses per month at no cost
• Pro tier — Unlimited syntheses, all four modes, custom prompts

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Installation

From Obsidian Community Plugins

1. Open Obsidian → Settings → Community Plugins
2. Search for "Literature Review Synthesizer"
3. Click Install, then Enable

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release from GitHub Releases
2. Extract into your vault's .obsidian/plugins/literature-review-synthesizer/ folder
3. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins

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Setup

1. Open Settings → Literature Review Synthesizer
2. Choose your LLM provider (OpenAI or Anthropic)
3. Enter your API key
4. Optionally enter a Custom Base URL for OpenRouter or local models
5. Click Test Connection to verify

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Usage

1. Press ⌘/Ctrl + P and run Open Literature Review Synthesizer
2. Select your source type: by folder or by tag
3. Choose a synthesis mode
4. Add optional context about your research focus
5. Click Run Synthesis

The generated note will open automatically in your vault under the Literature Reviews folder.

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Free vs Pro

Get Pro: Purchase on Gumroad

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Privacy

• Your API key is stored locally in Obsidian's plugin data
• Your notes are sent only to your chosen LLM provider, not to any server controlled by this plugin's developer
• No analytics, no telemetry, no tracking of any kind
• Network use: This plugin sends your note content to the LLM provider you configure (OpenAI, Anthropic, or a compatible endpoint). No data is sent to the plugin developer's servers. Internet access is required only for LLM API calls.

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Supported LLM Providers

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Requirements

• Obsidian 1.4 or later
• An API key from a supported LLM provider
• Desktop only (Windows, macOS, Linux)

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License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

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Support

For bug reports and feature requests, please open an issue on GitHub. For license activation issues, open a GitHub Issue in this repository.