obsidian-smart-composer: Add Vault-Aware AI Writing to Obsidian

Overview

Smart Composer brings AI chat and writing assistance into Obsidian, where conversations can draw on notes already stored in a vault. This reduces the need to repeatedly paste background information and lets users work with AI alongside their notes.

It is most useful for people who want contextual answers or draft edits within Obsidian. It supports multiple hosted model providers as well as local models, and can connect to external tools through MCP.

Key Features

• Select vault files or folders as chat context using @<fname>.
• Search vault notes semantically and use relevant results to inform answers.
• Request document edits and apply suggested changes with one click.
• Add website links, images, and YouTube transcripts as conversation context.
• Connect to external tools and data sources through MCP servers.
• Configure providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama, and OpenAI-compatible services.
• Use local language and embedding models with Ollama for offline workflows.
• Create reusable prompt templates and custom system prompts.

Use Cases

• Researchers can ask questions across selected notes and find related material in a large vault.
• Writers can get feedback on a draft and apply proposed document changes without leaving Obsidian.
• Students and knowledge workers can summarize or discuss notes alongside relevant web pages and images.
• Privacy-conscious users can configure local models with Ollama when they want an offline workflow.
• Tool-oriented users can connect MCP servers to bring external tools or data sources into chat.

Getting Started

Install Smart Composer from Obsidian's Community plugins browser, enable it, then configure a subscription connection or provider in the plugin settings. For setup details and provider guidance, see the repository README and documentation.

Alternatives

• cherry-studio: Cherry Studio offers a standalone desktop chat client for cloud and local models, rather than AI assistance embedded in an Obsidian vault.
• local-deep-research: Local Deep Research produces cited reports from web, academic, and private-document searches, rather than assisting with notes inside Obsidian.

Considerations

• The maintainer says the plugin is not under active development and that issues or feature requests may not receive prompt attention.
• Subscription connections are not the same as official API access. The README warns that third-party Claude subscription OAuth use may risk account restrictions, and advises using it at your own risk without automation.
• API-based providers may involve usage-based billing. Review provider privacy policies before sending sensitive vault content, especially when using free APIs.
• The README notes that a recent Obsidian installer may be required if the plugin does not load properly.