The ModelBrain plugin for Obsidian

ModelBrain already reads an Obsidian vault as a folder. Add the vault once and your assistants can answer from your notes, with or without this plugin. That setup is in Use ModelBrain with an Obsidian vault.

Install the plugin if you want to search and save from inside Obsidian instead of from an assistant.

1. Install ModelBrain and start it once. See the install guide. The plugin does nothing without the app.
2. In Obsidian, open Settings, then Community plugins, then Browse. Search for ModelBrain, choose Install, then Enable. It needs Obsidian 1.13 or later on macOS, Windows or Linux.
3. Open the plugin's settings. Status should read Connected. If ModelBrain asks whether to allow Obsidian, choose Allow.
4. Connect the vault, if it is not already. Open the ModelBrain menu, choose Add Vault, and pick the vault's folder. ModelBrain only adds a folder that you choose yourself, so the plugin cannot do this step for you. Its settings show which folder to pick.

It never changes, creates or deletes a note.

Obsidian's automatic review labels this plugin with one warning: it runs outside programs. That is accurate. The plugin starts the two helper programs that the ModelBrain app installed, because ModelBrain is a separate app and those programs are how it talks to it. That is the only thing it does outside the vault. Since version 0.1.2 it no longer reads the disk to find them, so the earlier file access warning is gone.

It makes no network requests, has no telemetry and does not use the clipboard. What it sends to ModelBrain, on your own computer, is the text you search for, the text you choose to save with the note's path, and, for related memories, the open note's title and about its first 400 characters.

The source is public under the MIT licence at github.com/ModelBrain/modelbrain-obsidian. Obsidian's review rebuilt version 0.1.2 from that source and got the released file byte for byte, and each release file carries a GitHub build attestation that shows it was built from the public source. The ModelBrain app itself is closed source; what it does with your notes is on the privacy page.

Version 0.1.1 was run on November 10, 2026 in Obsidian 1.15.0 on macOS against ModelBrain 0.9.2: search, opening a note from a result, saving a selection, related memories and the status tab all worked. Version 0.1.2 was checked the same way on the same day: the panel found the app and a search returned vault notes and saved memories.

It has not yet been run on Windows or Linux. If it fails there, write to hello@modelbrain.net or open an issue on GitHub.