README file from
GithubSimilar Notes for Obsidian
Find semantically similar notes using AI. Choose local models for privacy or cloud APIs for flexibility.
Similar Notes View
As you write, similar notes appear at the bottom of your current note.
Semantic Search
Press Cmd+Shift+O (or Ctrl+Shift+O) to search your vault by meaning, not just keywords.
Features
- Flexible Options: Run locally (100% private) or use cloud APIs like OpenAI
- Mobile & Desktop: Built-in models work on iOS, Android, and all desktop platforms
- OpenAI Support: Use OpenAI embedding models or any OpenAI-compatible API
- Ollama Support: Connect to custom models via Ollama (desktop only)
- No Setup Required: Built-in models work out of the box, no API keys needed
Getting Started
- Install the plugin
- The default model will download automatically (one-time, ~30MB)
- Your notes will be indexed in the background
- Similar notes will appear at the bottom of your current note
Progress appears in the status bar.
Model Options
Built-in Models (Mobile & Desktop)
Supports any Sentence Transformer model from Hugging Face. Local processing, no API keys required.
Recommended:
all-MiniLM-L6-v2(English, default)paraphrase-multilingual-MiniLM-L12-v2(multilingual)
Mobile note: Large models may cause crashes due to memory limits. Consider using the default model or OpenAI API on mobile.
OpenAI / Compatible API
Supports any OpenAI-compatible embedding API.
Recommended:
text-embedding-3-small
Note for CJK users: For Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text, multilingual models like
bge-m3(via Ollama) often outperform OpenAI models in both quality and token efficiency.
Ollama (Desktop Only)
Supports any Ollama embedding model.
Recommended:
nomic-embed-text(English)bge-m3(multilingual)
Technical Details
- Transformers.js: Runs Hugging Face models directly in Obsidian
- WebGPU: GPU acceleration on desktop, automatic CPU fallback
- Orama: Built-in vector database for fast search
- Web Workers: All processing runs in background threads
Multi-Device Usage
This plugin stores all data locally in IndexedDB, which is device-specific storage that does not sync across devices.
What this means:
- Each device maintains its own independent index
- Obsidian Sync, iCloud, Syncthing, or any other file sync tool will not sync the plugin's data
- When you open your vault on a new device, the plugin will automatically index your notes from scratch
This is by design - IndexedDB provides fast, reliable local storage that doesn't interfere with vault syncing.