OpenWhispr Sync for Obsidian

Sync your OpenWhispr notes — including meeting notes with speaker-labeled transcripts — into an Obsidian vault folder.

Instead of talking to an API directly, this plugin drives the official openwhispr CLI, so it works against whichever backend the CLI is configured for (local desktop app or the cloud API). Because it shells out to the CLI, the plugin is desktop-only.

✨ Features

• 🔄 One-click & auto sync — sync from the ribbon icon, command palette, or the Manual sync button; or auto-sync on a fixed frequency (1 min → daily) and/or when Obsidian starts.
• 🧩 Selectable content — pick which sections land in each note: My Notes (your personal notes, on by default), Enhanced Notes (the AI-cleaned version), and the full Transcript (speaker-labeled, taken verbatim from notes get <id> --transcript --format markdown).
• 🗂️ File organization — keep notes flat, in date-based subfolders (by meeting date), or mirror your OpenWhispr folders; notes are re-organized on every sync when their folder changes.
• 🧱 Rich frontmatter — openwhispr_id, title, folder (resolved to its name via folders list), created_at, updated_at, and source.
• ♻️ Dedup & update-in-place — notes are matched by openwhispr_id; choose to overwrite, skip, or keep a timestamped copy when a file already exists.
• 🏷️ Configurable filenames — optional prefix, templates ({title}, {id}, {created_date}, {folder}), date format, and separator (incl. none).
• 🎚️ Sync limit — sync only the most-recent N notes, or the entire history.
• 🔌 Backend selection — Auto, Local (--local), or Remote (--remote).
• 🩺 Test connection — a one-click command that runs the CLI and reports its version so you can confirm the plugin can reach it.

🔒 Privacy & network use

The plugin makes no network calls of its own. It only spawns the local openwhispr CLI and writes markdown into your vault — all backend communication is handled by the CLI you configured and authenticated. There is no telemetry, analytics, or third-party service.

Because it spawns a child process and may resolve an absolute binary path, the plugin is marked isDesktopOnly and does not run on Obsidian mobile.

📦 Requirements

• Obsidian 1.6.6+ on desktop (Windows / macOS / Linux).

• The OpenWhispr CLI, installed and configured:

  npm i -g @openwhispr/cli    # requires Node.js 20+
  

🛠️ Installation

Manual

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release (or build them yourself — see Development).
2. Copy the three files into your vault at <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/openwhispr-to-obsidian/.
3. Reload Obsidian and enable OpenWhispr Sync under Settings → Community plugins.

🎯 Usage

First-time setup:

1. Open Settings → OpenWhispr Sync and set the CLI path if openwhispr isn't on Obsidian's PATH (an absolute path such as /usr/local/bin/openwhispr is safest — see Troubleshooting).
2. Click Test connection to confirm the plugin can reach the CLI.
3. Choose which content to include and how notes are named/organized (see Configuration), then run your first sync.

You can trigger a sync three ways:

• Ribbon icon — click the microphone in the left ribbon.
• Command palette — run Sync OpenWhispr notes.
• Settings — the Sync now button under the Sync section.

Or turn on auto-sync (a frequency and/or Sync on startup) and let it run in the background. The status bar shows live progress (OpenWhispr: 3/12) and the result of the last run (OpenWhispr: 8 synced).

Tip — first run: enable Sync all historical notes to backfill your entire history once, then turn it off so routine syncs stay fast.

⚙️ Configuration

Access plugin settings via Settings → Community Plugins → OpenWhispr Sync

OpenWhispr CLI

• CLI path — Path to the openwhispr executable. A bare name (openwhispr) resolves via PATH; an absolute path (e.g. /usr/local/bin/openwhispr) is safest because Obsidian launches with a stripped-down PATH. Find yours with which openwhispr / where openwhispr.
• Backend — Which backend to target: Auto (let the CLI decide — local, then remote), Local (--local, the desktop app), or Remote (--remote, the cloud API). Match how your CLI is authenticated.
• Test connection — Runs the CLI and reports its version, confirming the plugin can reach it before you sync.

Note content

Each note is a single # <title> heading followed by whichever sections you enable below. Turn them all on for a complete record, or keep just the one you actually read.

• Include my notes (default: on) — The notes you typed yourself in OpenWhispr, under ## My Notes.
• Include enhanced notes (default: off) — OpenWhispr's AI-cleaned rewrite of your notes (grammar fixed, filler removed, action items surfaced), under ## Enhanced Notes.
• Include full transcript (default: off) — The complete speaker-labeled transcript with timestamps (**Me** *(0:03)*: …), under ## Transcript. This can be long.

Filename settings

• Filename prefix — Optional text added to the start of every filename (e.g. openwhispr- → openwhispr-Weekly-Standup.md). Handy for grouping synced notes or spotting them at a glance. Empty by default.

• Filename template (default: {title}) — Build filenames from tokens: {title}, {id}, {created_date}, {folder}. For example {created_date}_{title} → 2026-07-15_Weekly-Standup.

• Date format — Format for the {created_date} token. Tokens: YYYY, MM, DD, HH, mm, ss. Examples: YYYY-MM-DD (ISO, 2026-07-15), DD-MM-YYYY (European, 15-07-2026), MM-DD-YYYY (US, 07-15-2026).

• Filename separator — Character that replaces spaces in filenames, so it matches your naming convention. Daily Standup becomes:

  • Dash (-) → Daily-Standup (default)
  • Underscore (_) → Daily_Standup
  • Space → Daily Standup
  • None → DailyStandup

• Existing notes — What to do when a note that was already synced (matched by its openwhispr_id) has a file in your vault:

  • Overwrite in place (default) — keep the file up to date with the latest content.
  • Skip — leave it untouched, preserving any manual edits you made.
  • Keep timestamped copy — leave the old file and add a new one (e.g. Standup_13-40.md) whenever the content has actually changed, so you keep a history of versions.

  Two different notes that happen to resolve to the same filename are always kept as separate files (Standup.md, Standup-2.md) — nothing is silently overwritten.

File organization

• Sync folder (default: OpenWhispr) — Vault folder that synced notes are written to, created automatically if it doesn't exist.
• Folder structure — How notes are laid out inside the sync folder. Notes are moved to the right folder automatically on every sync if their folder changes:
  • Flat (default) — everything in one folder.
  • Date-based subfolders — grouped by creation (meeting) date, e.g. OpenWhispr/2026-07-15/Weekly-Standup.md.
  • Mirror OpenWhispr folders — recreates the folders you set up in the OpenWhispr app, e.g. OpenWhispr/Meetings/Weekly-Standup.md.
• Folder date format — (shown only for date-based folders) Date format for the subfolders. Use / to nest: YYYY-MM-DD → 2026-07-15, YYYY/MM → 2026/07, YYYY/MM/DD → 2026/07/15.

Sync

• Manual sync — A Sync now button (same as the ribbon icon and the command).
• Sync all historical notes (default: off) — When on, every sync pulls your entire note history, ignoring the sync limit. Great for a one-time backfill; turn it off afterward.
• Sync limit (default: 50) — (shown when the above is off) Maximum number of most-recent notes to pull per sync. Keeps routine syncs quick.
• Auto-sync frequency (default: Never) — How often to sync in the background: Never, every 1 / 5 / 10 / 30 minutes, hourly, or daily. Every 5–10 minutes is a good balance; shorter is more up-to-date but busier.
• Sync on startup (default: off) — Run a sync automatically when Obsidian finishes loading.

📄 Note format

A synced note is YAML frontmatter, a single # <title> heading, then whichever content sections you enabled. With My Notes on (the default) and the transcript also enabled:

---
openwhispr_id: "1234"
title: "Weekly Standup"
folder: "Meetings"
created_at: "2026-07-10T14:30:00.000Z"
updated_at: "2026-07-10T15:05:00.000Z"
source: openwhispr
---

# Weekly Standup

## My Notes

- Ship the beta on Friday

## Enhanced Notes

- **Decision:** ship the beta on Friday.
- **Action item:** finalize the release notes.

## Transcript

**Me** *(0:03)*: Let's get started.

**Speaker 2** *(0:11)*: Sounds good, I'll share my screen.

Only the sections you enable appear, in this order: My Notes, Enhanced Notes, Transcript. If a section is enabled but the note has no such content (e.g. no personal notes), it's simply omitted.

Where each part comes from:

Part	Source
Frontmatter	Built by the plugin. openwhispr_id keys dedup / update-in-place.
## My Notes	The note's content (your typed notes).
## Enhanced Notes	The note's enhanced_content (OpenWhispr's AI rewrite).
## Transcript	notes get <id> --transcript --format markdown, with its duplicate # title heading stripped.

🐛 Troubleshooting

"Could not find the openwhispr executable" — but it works in my terminal

Obsidian is launched from your desktop, not a login shell, so it inherits a stripped-down PATH. The plugin already searches the common install locations (Homebrew, /usr/local/bin, nvm/volta/fnm, %AppData%\npm), but if your binary lives elsewhere, find its absolute path and paste it into CLI path:

which openwhispr    # macOS / Linux
where openwhispr    # Windows

Test connection fails or no notes sync

• Confirm the CLI itself works: openwhispr --version and openwhispr doctor in a terminal.
• If you use a non-default backend, make sure Backend matches how the CLI is configured (Local vs Remote).

🧑‍💻 Development

npm install
npm run dev      # watch build → main.js
npm run build    # type-check + production bundle

Source lives in src/:

• cli.ts — openwhispr CLI wrapper (notes list / notes get / notes get --transcript --format markdown) and PATH augmentation.
• format.ts — filename/date/YAML formatting helpers (dependency-free).
• settings.ts — settings tab.
• types.ts — shared types and defaults.
• main.ts — plugin lifecycle and sync engine.

Releasing

Releases are automated. To cut one:

1. Add your changes under the ## [Unreleased] heading in CHANGELOG.md.
2. Run npm version <patch|minor|major>. This bumps manifest.json / versions.json, stamps the [Unreleased] notes into a dated ## [<version>] section, and creates a matching git tag (no v prefix — Obsidian requires the tag to equal the manifest version exactly).
3. git push && git push --tags.

Pushing the tag triggers .github/workflows/release.yml, which builds the plugin, verifies the tag matches manifest.json, and publishes a GitHub Release with main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css — using the matching changelog section as the release notes.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md for how to report issues, propose features, and open pull requests.

📝 License

MIT © Sam Kawsarani.

---

Not officially affiliated with OpenWhispr or Obsidian.