MarinMind

An all-in-one study tool for Obsidian that combines an e-book reader, a mind map, and flashcards with spaced repetition.

Read and annotate → every excerpt becomes a knowledge card → drag cards onto mind maps → review them until they stick.

Features

Desktop-only: this plugin relies on Node.js/Electron APIs (file system access, system tray, native window capture), so it does not run on mobile.

Module	Description
Reading & annotating	Read PDF / EPUB / MOBI books; highlight, and excerpt text, rectangular areas, free-form lasso regions, handwriting, photos, and voice notes
Excerpt → card	Every excerpt automatically becomes a knowledge card — one piece of data, three uses (mind map node, flashcard, back-link to the source)
Mind maps	Drag cards onto an infinite canvas to build mind maps; cards link back to the exact position in the book (page + coordinates); merge and bi-link cards
Flashcards	Turn any card into a flashcard and review with a built-in FSRS-style spaced repetition scheduler, covering the full study loop from preview to long-term retention
Multi-pane workspace	Reader, mind map, and cards side by side with study / research layouts and adjustable linkage
OCR	Recognize text in scanned PDFs (Chinese & English mixed)
Mixed documents	Put multiple books in one notebook and build cross-book mind maps
Extras	Web clipping, screen capture with a tray shortcut, translation, and an AI assistant that works on your excerpts

Installation

From the community directory (once reviewed and published)

Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search "MarinMind" → Install → Enable.

Beta testing with BRAT

1. Install the BRAT plugin.
2. BRAT settings → Add Beta plugin → xiewangsun/marinmind.
3. Enable "MarinMind" in Community plugins.

Manual

Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/marinmind/, then enable the plugin in settings.

Usage

A complete Chinese tutorial (18 chapters, covering import, excerpts, mind maps, review, backup, settings, AI, and more) is available at docs/使用教程.md.

The basic flow:

1. Open the MarinMind home view and import a PDF / EPUB / MOBI book.
2. Excerpt while reading — text, area, lasso, handwriting, photo, or voice.
3. Drag cards onto a mind map and organize them.
4. Send cards to review and let spaced repetition do the rest.

Data & privacy

• All data (books, cards, mind maps, settings) is stored locally in your vault under the MarinMind/ folder (configurable in settings; desktop installations may also use a folder outside the vault).
• The plugin collects no telemetry, analytics, or usage statistics. Nothing leaves your machine except the explicitly user-triggered network requests listed below.
• Backup: export everything to a .marginpkg archive (a zip of your data, books, and attachments) from settings.

Network usage

All network requests are user-initiated and use API keys you configure yourself:

Feature	Endpoints
AI assistant	Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint you configure (default preset: api.deepseek.com); web-search-augmented answers can also use OpenRouter's :online suffix
Web search (for AI)	Tavily (api.tavily.com), Bocha (api.bochaai.com), or a self-hosted SearXNG instance — whichever you configure
Translation	Google Translate, Baidu, Youdao, or DeepL — whichever you configure
OCR	On first use, downloads the OCR engine and language data from public CDNs (jsDelivr / tessdata.projectnaptha.com)
Web clipper	Fetches any URL you enter and downloads images from that page into your vault

Development

npm install    # install dependencies
npm run dev    # dev mode: esbuild watch, rebuilds main.js on change
npm run build  # production build: tsc type-check, then esbuild bundle
npm test       # run all tests (vitest)

For debugging, symlink or copy this folder into your vault's .obsidian/plugins/marinmind/ (it must contain main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css), then enable the plugin.

中文说明

本插件为中文优先开发，完整中文使用教程见 docs/使用教程.md。

License

MIT