What is Smart Connections?
Smart Connections is an Obsidian plugin for the problem every large vault eventually has: the note you need exists, and you have forgotten it. It sits in the Notes & Knowledge Bases category of the AI Productivity & Writing tools and is open-source, written in JavaScript and licensed Smart Plugins License Agreement (source-available).
Overview
Smart Connections is an Obsidian plugin for the problem every large vault eventually has: the note you need exists, and you have forgotten it. It embeds your vault with a local model and then continuously shows the notes and excerpts most semantically related to whatever you are writing right now, in a Connections view you can read as a ranked list or a mini graph and drag links out of directly.
The design choice that sets it apart from most AI note plugins is that it does not phone home. The plugin ships with a local embedding model that starts indexing as soon as you enable it — no extra apps, no CLI tools, no API key — and works offline and on mobile. The author leans on a deliberately small dependency surface, arguing the codebase can be audited several times faster than comparable AI plugins.
Alongside the Connections view there is a Lookup view for running semantic searches across the vault on demand, and a settings layer (the Smart Environment) for tuning indexing, filters, ranking and UI defaults on large or specialised vaults. The core is source-available under the project's own Smart Plugins License Agreement, with paid Pro surfaces layered on top — inline connections that suggest notes while you type in the editor, and an Obsidian Bases integration.
What it does
- Connections view: semantically related notes and excerpts for the current note, as a ranked list or mini graph, with links you can drag straight into your writing
- Lookup view for on-demand semantic search across the whole vault
- A bundled local embedding model — zero setup, no API key, works offline and on mobile
- Smart Environment settings for indexing, filters, ranking and UI defaults, aimed at large or specialised vaults
- Ultra-lightweight bundle with minimal third-party dependencies, written to be auditable
- Pro surfaces on top of the free core: inline connections while writing, and an Obsidian Bases integration
Getting started
The plugin is designed to work with no configuration — the README's own three-step plan is install, keep writing, open the view.
Install from Obsidian Community plugins
Find Smart Connections in the Obsidian Community plugins directory and enable it. No extra apps, no CLI tools, no API key.
Settings → Community plugins → Browse → "Smart Connections" → Install → EnableLet it index
The bundled local model starts creating embeddings for your vault immediately; a notice tells you when embedding is complete. Just keep writing while it works.
Open the Connections view
From the left ribbon (the Connections icon) or the command palette. Related notes appear for whatever note you are in, and you can drag links from the list into your text.
Command palette → "Open: Connection view"Search on demand with Lookup
Use the Lookup view when you want to ask the vault a question directly rather than see what relates to the current note.
Tune it for a big vault
The Smart Environment settings control indexing, filters, ranking and UI defaults; the Getting Started guide is reachable from the plugin's settings pane.
Commands and code are distilled from the project's own documentation — always check the official repo for the latest.
When to use it
- Surface forgotten prior work while drafting, so research you already did resurfaces instead of being repeated
- Build links and structure in a large vault semantically rather than by remembering exact titles or tags
- Run semantic search over personal or sensitive notes on a machine that never sends them to a hosted model
- Keep the same related-notes workflow on mobile, where the local model still runs
How Smart Connections compares
Smart Connections alongside other open-source notes & knowledge bases tools AI/TLDR tracks, ranked by GitHub stars.
| Tool | Stars | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| SiYuan | ★ 47k | A self-hosted, block-level knowledge base with Markdown WYSIWYG editing, SQL queries over blocks, spaced-repetition flashcards and AI writing and Q&A through an OpenAI-compatible API. |
| notebooklm-py | ★ 20.1k | An unofficial Python API, CLI and MCP server for Google's Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM): bulk source import, cited Q&A, and batch export of audio, video, slides, quizzes, mind maps and data tables. |
| MineContext | ★ 5.5k | Local-first desktop app that captures and understands your screen context, then proactively delivers summaries, to-do lists and activity records. |
| Smart Connections | ★ 5.5k | Semantic search and related-note surfacing inside Obsidian, with a local embedding model |
| OpenKnowledge | ★ 4.8k | A local-first WYSIWYG markdown IDE and LLM wiki that keeps a knowledge base as plain files in git and exposes it to Claude, Codex and OpenCode over MCP. |
| ReadAny | ★ 2.9k | A local-first e-book reader for desktop and mobile that indexes your library into a local vector store, then answers questions about a book with hybrid vector + BM25 retrieval, alongside highlights, notes, TTS and WebDAV sync. |
| LLM Wiki Compiler | ★ 2.2k | CLI, MCP server and TypeScript SDK (llmwiki) that compiles raw sources into an interlinked, citation-traceable markdown wiki for people and agents. |
| LLM Wiki | ★ 1.7k | An open-source take on Karpathy's LLM Wiki that has Claude compile your documents, web clips and highlights into a cited, cross-linked Markdown wiki over MCP, with a web app, graph viewer and Chrome clipper. |