Obsidian Smart Connections
https://github.com/brianpetro/obsidian-smart-connections
Obsidian community plugin. Generates embeddings locally with a bundled model (TaylorAI/bge-micro-v2, 384-dim); chat with notes + see semantically related links. No API key required for local; supports 100+ cloud models optionally. Privacy-first.
Active · Verified 2026-10-22 · fresh as of 2026-10-22 · 41 cited facts, 4 with a third-party source · 2 recorded changes · Suggest a correction
At a glance
- Type
- Local-first semantic search over notes repo fix
- Tier
- T2
- Latest release
- v4.7.2 (2026-08-06) repo fix
- License
- proprietary (Smart Plugins License, source-available) repo fix
- Funding
- searched not found fix
- Freshness
- 2026-10-22 fix
- Layer
- agent-infra repo fix
- Licensing
- commercial repo fix
- Developer activity
- OpenRank 3.1 (12-mo avg 9.96) · 13 participants — 2026-09 third-party fix
Memory taxonomy
- storage
- vector
- retrieval
- similarity
- persistence
- long-term
- update
- overwrite
- unit
- document
- governance
- user-controllable
- conflict
- overwrite
When to use
Optimised for: personal-knowledge-management UX + AI-augmented note-taking
Anti-fit: not for enterprise / programmatic use; not for compliance-regulated workloads
Pros & cons
Pros
Plugin to the most-extensible PKM tool — memory layered on top of your local markdown vault means full data ownership.
Cons
Obsidian-tied; community plugin so quality depends on maintainer; setup more involved than first-party AI.
Claims & capabilities
786,090 downloads from Obsidian community plugin directory (January 2026); growth: <100k downloads early 2023 to ~500k mid-2024 to 786k by Jan 2026. Free open-source plugin from Brian Petro; local-first semantic search with on-device embeddings (or 100+ APIs)
Technical surface
- API surface
- not applicable — Obsidian plugin
- Backend storage
- file (Obsidian vault)
- Deployment
- Both (local-first plugin; optional cloud LLM APIs)
- Embedding model
- multiple supported
- Multi-tenancy
- not applicable — local
- MCP
- not applicable — file-as-memory paradigm (no API surface)
- A2A
- not applicable — file-as-memory paradigm
- OpenTelemetry
- not applicable — file-as-memory paradigm
Alternatives to Obsidian Smart Connections → live options ranked by shared design, licence, hosting and MCP support
Similar systems
Other personal ai / pkm / lifelogging memory in the catalog, ranked by inbound references.
- Screenpipe T3
Local-first 24/7 screen and audio recorder that indexes what you see/hear and exposes it as context/memory to AI agents (MCP, API); open-source Rewind/Recall alternative. Y Combinator S26
- Amplenote T2
Tags + bidirectional links + task/calendar integration. "Task Score" priority matrix. AmpleAI plugin supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Ollama.
- Apple Notes + Apple Intelligence T1
Folder + tag hierarchy; iCloud sync. Writing Tools (proofread / rewrite / summarise) across all note content; audio transcription + AI summary; smart search; reminders from to-dos.
- Capacities T2
Object-graph (people, books, projects as typed objects); daily notes; bidirectional links. AI chat grounded in current note; AI property auto-fill; in-editor writing assistant; pattern-finding across objects.
- CORE (RedPlanet) T3
Always-on 'personal AI OS' that indexes email, meetings, GitHub, Linear, Slack and assistant chats into a temporal knowledge graph with fact classification and intent-driven retrieval, plus MCP integrations. reports 88.24% on LoCoMo (vendor claim)
- Craft AI T1
Hierarchical block-based documents + nested pages (no native graph). In-document AI assistant: summarise, rewrite, translate, Q&A over docs, proofread.
Sources (40 cited facts, 4 third-party)
Each fact links to the page it came from; the badge says who published it (how to read sources).
- What it is Local-first semantic search over notes repo
- What it does & what's distinct Obsidian community plugin. Generates embeddings locally with a bundled model (TaylorAI/b… repo
- Claims / benefits 786,090 downloads from Obsidian community plugin directory (January 2026); growth: <100k… third-party
- Modalities text repo
- Created 2022-12 repo
- Latest release v4.7.2 (2026-08-06) repo
- License proprietary (Smart Plugins License, source-available) repo
- GitHub brianpetro/obsidian-smart-connections — ~5.5k stars, last commit 2026-08 repo
- Mindshare 4.9k GitHub stars; no public HN count found repo
- Pricing Free core plugin; Pro (all-access) subscription — 14-day free trial then paid vendor
- Compliance not applicable — OSS plugin; no formal certifications repo
- Deployment Both (local-first plugin; optional cloud LLM APIs) repo
- HQ US (Brian Petro / WFH Brian — US-based solo developer) third-party
- Founders / pedigree Brian Petro (solo maintainer; US-based) third-party
- Memory volume / scale local vault (no upper bound claimed) repo
- Backend storage file (Obsidian vault) vendor
- Embedding model multiple supported vendor
- Versioning snapshots repo
- Tombstoning hard-delete supported repo
- Schema evolution free-form / no schema repo
- Namespace primitives hierarchical repo
- Contradiction handling always overwrite (last-write-wins) repo
- Forgetting policy user-controlled forget repo
- Import / export Markdown / plain text (the file itself is the export) repo
- Validated verticals consumer / individual (knowledge workers, students, researchers) repo
- Time to running <10min (hosted SaaS sign-up or app download) repo
- Anti-fit not for enterprise / programmatic use; not for compliance-regulated workloads repo
- Optimised for personal-knowledge-management UX + AI-augmented note-taking repo
- Adjacent infrastructure self-contained app; some require iCloud / Google Drive repo
- Pros Plugin to the most-extensible PKM tool — memory layered on top of your local markdown va… repo
- Cons Obsidian-tied; community plugin so quality depends on maintainer; setup more involved th… repo
- Project & sources GitHub brianpetro/obsidian-smart-connections smartconnections.app repo
- commit-trajectory [{"ym":"2024-08","cum":838},{"ym":"2024-09","cum":896},{"ym":"2024-10","cum":945},{"ym":… repo
- cost-pricing-model subscription vendor
- cost-last-verified 2026-06-29 vendor
- architecture-deployment-locus local repo
- licensing-bucket commercial repo
- positioning-platform-vs-product product repo
- taxonomy-three-layer-rollup agent-infra repo
- developer-activity-opendigger {"activity":17.21,"as_of":"2026-09","openrank_12mo":9.96,"openrank_current":3.1,"partici… third-party
What changed
Changes to this record's lifecycle, licence, release, pricing and hosting facts, from the catalog's git history. Subscribe (Atom)
- 2026-10-23
- Pricing “Free core plugin; Pro (all-access) subscription — 14-day free trial then paid; Founding Supporter one-time lifetime…” → “Free core plugin; Pro (all-access) subscription — 14-day free trial then paid” source
- 2026-10-22
- License “Custom” → “proprietary (Smart Plugins License, source-available)” source
- Latest release “4.5.0 2026-05-05” → “v4.7.2 (2026-08-06)” source