Notebrain

Notebrain

AI agent inside your Obsidian notes -- chat with DeepSeek directly in any note, with 21 tools for vault search, web research, academic papers, and more.

Features

• Chat inside any note -- Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (macOS: Cmd+Shift+Enter) to start a conversation. The AI reads your note context and responds directly in the same file. All conversation history lives in the note itself using %% comment markers, so nothing leaves your vault.

• 21 built-in tools -- The AI can search your vault, read/create/edit notes, browse the web, search academic papers, query Wikipedia, fetch Chinese news, and more. Tools are called automatically when needed.

• Thinking mode -- DeepSeek's reasoning/thinking is captured and displayed in collapsible %% comment blocks. Reasoning context is preserved across multi-turn conversations for coherent long interactions.

• Streaming responses -- Responses stream into the note as they are generated. File writes are batched at configurable intervals (20-500ms) for smooth rendering.

• FIM completion -- Fill-in-the-Middle code/text completion via the +++ marker. Place +++ on a line where you want content inserted; everything above it is the prefix, everything below is the suffix. Use +++512 to set a custom max token count.

• NOTEBRAIN.md -- A vault-wide AI instruction file, auto-created on first load. Describe your vault structure, note conventions, and preferences. The contents are injected into the AI's system prompt with highest priority.

• Chat cache -- 30-minute in-memory cache preserves tool call history and thinking context between messages, so the AI maintains full conversational awareness even when you switch notes and come back.

• Tool permissions -- Destructive tools (createNote, editNote) require user approval via a modal dialog before execution. Notes must carry a configurable permission tag (default #notebrain) to be editable.

• Mobile compatible -- Works on both desktop and mobile. Uses Obsidian's requestUrl() for CSP compliance and vanilla DOM only (no React).

Quick Start

1. Install the plugin and enable it in Obsidian's Community Plugins settings.
2. Go to Settings > Notebrain > Model and enter your DeepSeek API key (from platform.deepseek.com).
3. Open any note and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (or Cmd+Shift+Enter on macOS).
4. Type your message and watch the AI respond directly in the note.

The first load creates a NOTEBRAIN.md file in your vault root. Edit it to tell the AI about your vault structure and preferences.

How to Use

Inline Chat

1. Open any markdown note in edit mode.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (or click the brain icon in the ribbon).
3. Type your message at the cursor position.
4. The AI streams its response into the note below your message.

Each conversation turn is structured as:

user message

%%
user
[Timestamp: 2026-05-19T10:30:00.000Z]
%%
---
%%thinking content%%
[Tool calls]
searchNotes: {"query":"project notes"}
%%
AI response here...

%%
assistant
[Timestamp: 2026-05-19T10:30:15.000Z]
%%
---

Thinking blocks and tool calls live inside %%...%% comment pairs (invisible in reading mode). Tool results are passed to the AI but never written to the note. The #notebrain-session tag is automatically added to the note's frontmatter after the first chat session.

FIM Completion

Use Fill-in-the-Middle to generate content between existing text:

Chapter 1: The Beginning

It was a dark and stormy night.
+++
Chapter 2: The Return

Place the cursor on the +++ line and trigger FIM from the ribbon icon (pen) or the Notebrain: FIM Completion command. The AI fills in the gap and replaces the marker with generated content.

To control output length, append a number to the marker:

+++512

FIM uses separate API settings (key, base URL, model) configurable in the FIM settings tab, so you can use a different model than the chat model.

NOTEBRAIN.md

The NOTEBRAIN.md file is the instruction manual for the AI in your vault. It is auto-created with a template on first load. The AI treats these instructions with highest priority.

Example NOTEBRAIN.md:

---
tags:
  - notebrain
---

# NOTEBRAIN.md

## Vault Structure
- Daily/ -- daily notes, named YYYY-MM-DD
- Projects/ -- project plans and tracking
- Reference/ -- knowledge base and research

## Note Conventions
- All notes use "date" and "tags" in frontmatter
- Meeting notes start with "Meeting -"
- Use [[wikilinks]] for all internal references

## Preferences
- Language: Chinese
- Response style: Concise
- Never create notes without confirmation

The file path is configurable in Settings > Notebrain > Basic. The plugin searches for any markdown file named "notebrain" in your vault and loads the first one it finds with the permission tag.

Settings

Basic

Model

Tools

Note

FIM

FIM (Fill-in-the-Middle) uses separate API credentials from the chat model, so you can use a different provider or model.

Tools Reference

Vault (6)

Time (1)

Web -- Free (3)

Tavily (6)

All Tavily tools require a Tavily API key (free tier available at tavily.com).

Academic / Knowledge (4)

Reference (1)

Installation

From Community Plugins

1. Open Obsidian and go to Settings > Community Plugins.
2. Click Browse and search for "Notebrain".
3. Click Install, then Enable.

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Create a folder notebrain inside your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory.
3. Copy the three files into the notebrain folder.
4. Restart Obsidian and enable the plugin in Settings > Community Plugins.

BRAT (Beta Testing)

1. Install the BRAT plugin.
2. In BRAT settings, click Add Beta Plugin.
3. Enter the repository URL: https://github.com/kiluahh/notebrain
4. Enable Notebrain in Settings > Community Plugins.

Commands

Ribbon Icons

• Brain icon -- Start inline chat in the active note.
• Pen icon -- Trigger FIM completion at the current cursor position.

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.7.0 or later
• DeepSeek API key (from platform.deepseek.com)
• Optional: Tavily API key for advanced web search
• Optional: GitHub token for higher API rate limits
• Optional: Baidu AppBuilder key for Baidu Baike

Compatibility

• Desktop -- Windows, macOS, Linux
• Mobile -- Android, iOS (vanilla DOM, no React, requestUrl() for CSP compliance)

License

MIT