You can ask questions about your Obsidian notes without uploading the vault to an AI service. OGAD (Off Grid AI Desktop) connects to a local Obsidian folder and gives the selected model tools to list, search, and read its Markdown notes. Select a local model to keep the model work on your computer.
This is useful when you remember that a decision is in your notes, but you do not remember which file contains it. You can ask for the decision, its date, and the note that supports it, then open the source in Obsidian.
Download OGAD | Read the beta 122 release notes
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What does the connection read?
The integration reads Markdown files in the folder you select. It can list notes, search their names and contents, and read a selected note when the assistant needs it. Connecting a folder does not automatically load every note into each conversation.
This is a read-only connection. Use Obsidian to edit the source files. The integration does not promise to understand every plugin, drawing, attachment, or graph relationship in a vault. Start with ordinary Markdown text and questions that have an answer in that text.
An Obsidian vault is a folder of notes. It is separate from OGAD's encrypted password Vault. Choosing an Obsidian folder does not move it into the password database.
Connect one local folder
Use a desktop build that includes the Obsidian integration. This guide follows beta 122 and its included integration code. Have your notes available as real local files. A file that exists only as a cloud-storage placeholder must finish downloading before a local reader can use it.
- Open Integrations in OGAD.
- Find Obsidian and select Choose vault.
- Choose the folder that contains your Markdown notes.
- Confirm that the card shows the connected vault.
- Select a local text model with tool support, then open a chat with the integration available.
You do not need an Obsidian cloud account or an Obsidian API key for this local folder connection. App and model downloads need internet during setup. Reading downloaded notes with a downloaded local model can work afterward without internet.
Ask a question you can verify
Choose a small project with three useful notes: a project brief, meeting decisions, and open questions. Ask for one decision first:
Search my Obsidian vault for the launch review. What did we decide about the signup form? Read the relevant notes before answering. Give the filename and date for each decision. Quote the short passage that supports it. If two notes conflict, show both.
Open the named file in Obsidian. Check that the passage exists and that its date has the meaning the answer claims. A file's modified time does not necessarily give the date when a decision was made.
If the answer only repeats your question or says it cannot access the notes, check whether the integration is enabled for that conversation. Also check the model's tool support. A model that can chat does not necessarily use search and read tools correctly.
Use the notes to prepare a next step
Once the first answer has a sound source, ask a question that combines notes. For example, compare the original project brief with the latest review. Ask which requirements changed and which open questions still block the work.
A useful output can have four columns:
| Requirement | Original position | Latest evidence | Next question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signup fields | From the project brief | From the review note | What still needs approval? |
Ask the assistant to fill the table from your notes. Do not accept a completed row without a source. If no newer decision exists, “not found in the notes read” is more useful than an invented update.
You can then request a meeting agenda or a draft project update. Keep source names with the draft until you have checked it. Copy the approved text into Obsidian yourself; the reader connection does not write it back.
Work with more than one vault
Use Add vault to connect another folder. Separate work and personal vaults can remain separate on disk. Name the vault you want in your question, especially when both contain common terms such as “planning” or “weekly review”.
For example: “Search only Field notes for the launch decision.” This gives the model a clear scope. It also makes a missing result easier to diagnose than a request across every connected folder.
If you move a vault, use Change or Choose again on its entry to restore access. Removing a connection stops future reading through that connection. It does not delete your original notes or erase text already copied into a saved conversation.
Improve a weak search result
The tools search text; they do not guarantee that every related concept will be found from one broad phrase. Try the project name, a person's name, or an exact term you remember from the note. Ask the assistant to search a second term if the first result is empty.
Large vaults and very long notes have read and search limits. Narrow the request to a folder, project, or known filename, and ask which files were actually read. A partial search should not become a claim that a decision never existed.
The privacy condition is the selected model. A remote model may receive note text needed to answer your question. A local model keeps that inference on your computer. If you separately sync Obsidian through a cloud service, that service remains part of your own note-storage setup.
Connect your first vault in OGAD. Start with one decision you remember, check its source, then use the same method for a question you have not yet resolved.
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