Vault Assistant

Vault Assistant

Chat with an OpenAI-compatible model about your Obsidian vault. Search stays on your device. Notes are only sent when you chat, and only the pieces needed to answer. Creating or updating a note always waits for Apply.

Requires Obsidian 1.13.0+.

Features

• Sidebar chat with markdown replies and [[wikilinks]]
• Bring your own key: OpenAI, OpenRouter, or Ollama (localhost or a custom URL)
• Local note search (no cloud indexing, no embeddings)
• Pin notes with Add note, Add open note, or [[wikilinks]] on desktop
• Propose new or updated notes in chat; nothing is written until you apply it

Getting started

1. Install Vault Assistant from Settings → Community plugins, or copy a release’s main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into .obsidian/plugins/vault-assistant/.
2. Enable the plugin, then open Settings → Vault Assistant.
3. Read the privacy notice and turn on I understand what is sent to the provider.
4. Choose a provider and model:

5. For Ollama, keep http://localhost:11434 or enter a custom http(s) host. Do not put credentials in the URL.
6. Optionally Detect models and Test connection.
7. Open chat from the ribbon or the command Open chat.

Ollama must expose /v1/chat/completions. Models that cannot use tools still answer from locally retrieved note chunks.

Using chat

• Ask a question. Matching notes are retrieved locally and sent with your prompt when search is enabled.
• Add note picks any markdown note. Add open note uses notes already open in tabs. On desktop, type [[ to insert a wikilink. Open notes are never attached unless you add them.
• Referenced notes take priority over search results (up to 10).
• When the assistant wants to create or update a note, review the card and select Apply or Dismiss. Open note is available after you apply.

Commands

• Open chat — open the sidebar chat
• Add open note — pin an open markdown tab as context
• Rebuild search index — rebuild the local search index

Mobile

• Enter inserts a newline. Use Send to submit.
• The composer stays above the keyboard. Use Done or tap the transcript to hide it. Send still submits.
• Use Add note and Add open note. The [[ picker does not open on a phone, so the keyboard stays focused.
• localhost Ollama is usually unreachable from a phone. Set a reachable URL, or use OpenAI / OpenRouter.

Privacy

• On this device: API keys in the plugin data.json, and the search index in search-index.json. Keys are never logged.
• Indexing lists markdown note paths in the vault (getMarkdownFiles) so search can run locally. It does not send notes anywhere. Use Exclude folders to skip paths.
• Chat sends your prompt, retrieved chunks, conversation history, notes you explicitly reference, and any note the assistant reads. The whole vault is not uploaded.
• There is no telemetry. Network calls happen only when you chat, detect models, or test the connection, and only to the provider you chose (OpenAI, OpenRouter, or your Ollama URL).
• Use Ollama on localhost if you do not want notes to leave the machine.

See CHANGELOG.md for release history.

Developers: see DEVELOPMENT.md.