NoteMakerAI for Obsidian

This project is public for transparency and use, but I am not currently accepting outside contributions or Pull Requests.

Turn any photo into a structured Obsidian note using AI.

NoteMakerAI helps you create and add to collections such as Books, Wine, or Albums—by converting photos into rich, structured notes. Define your own "Subjects" using simple YAML files such as Wine, Albums, or Recipes (see the Subject Definition Guide), and let your selected LLM extract metadata, write summaries, and gather all manner of information about the subject in the photo. NoteMakerAI is designed to work well with the Bases feature of Obsidian by allowing you to quickly add new notes in a common format, full of rich information, with a minimum of fuss.

Features include batch processing, iterative "Redo" with custom instructions, and smart image optimization. Note: You must provide your own API key (BYOK) for the AI providers, such as OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, or OpenRouter.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• The Redo Feature
• Additional Media
• Subject Definition Files
• Subject Creation Kit for Chatbots
• License

Features

• AI-Powered Analysis: Sends the image—along with its location, date, and camera metadata—to your AI provider to identify titles, authors, descriptions, vintages, and more.
• Flexible Subjects: Comes with built-in support for Books, Albums, and Wine but is designed to be easily extensible for any collection (Coins, Plants, etc.).
• Supports Major AI Providers: Including OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic, and OpenRouter.
• Seamless Integration: Works entirely within Obsidian. Snap a photo, drop it in your vault, and click the button.
• Smart Image Handling: Automatically resizes and optimizes images to minimize the footprint in your vault and LLM tokens used.
• Iterative Refinement: Not happy with the result? Use the "Redo" command to provide specific instructions (e.g., "Use the narrative voice of Hunter S. Thompson.") and regenerate the note.

Installation

Beta Installation (via BRAT)

Since this plugin is currently in Beta, the easiest way to install it is using the BRAT plugin.

Note: This plugin is currently in open beta.

1. Install BRAT from the Obsidian Community Plugins list.
2. Open the BRAT settings.
3. Click Add Beta plugin.
4. Paste the URL of this repository: https://github.com/ricparks/note-maker-ai.
5. Click Add Plugin.
6. Enable NoteMakerAI in your Community Plugins list.

Manual Installation

For users who want to test the latest unreleased changes:

1. Download the latest release from GitHub.
2. Extract the files (main.js, manifest.json, styles.css) to <VaultFolder>/.obsidian/plugins/note-maker-ai/.
3. Reload Obsidian.

Quick Start Information

1. Configure AI: Go to Settings > NoteMakerAI and enter your API key for your preferred provider (e.g., OpenAI or Gemini) and specify the model to use. Note that you can enter multiple AI vendors and their keys. You might want to use different models for different subjects.
2. Choose a Subject: We provide three starter subjects in the examples/ directory: Books, Albums, and Wine. Copy the Subject Definition File (SDF) for your desired subject into your vault to use it as-is, or use it as a template to define your own custom collection.
3. Configure Settings: You'll need to specify the location of the subject definition file in your vault as well as the target directory for the newly created notes and reduced images.
4. Capture: Drag and drop an image (JPG/PNG) into your Obsidian vault.
5. Process: Open the image note and click the NoteMakerAI ribbon icon for your subject on the left sidebar. You can also select multiple images from the files view for batch processing.
6. Result: Watch the progress modal as the AI analyzes the image. A new note will be created in the designated folder (e.g., Bases/Books) with all extracted metadata.

The Redo Feature

The Redo feature allows you to refine or regenerate a note without losing your personal additions. This is useful when the AI output isn't quite right, or if you want to change the style of the content.

How it works

1. Open an existing note created by NoteMakerAI.
2. (Optional) Add a #### Redo Instructions heading (or #### RI) and type instructions for the AI (e.g., "Write the summary in the style of Hunter S. Thompson").
3. Click the Ribbon Icon for the subject (e.g., the Book icon) or run the "Create Note" command again while the note is active.
4. Processing: The plugin will regenerate the note. (You will only be asked to confirm if there is a subject mismatch).

What gets preserved?

• My Notes: Sections defined as {{my_notes}} are never touched. This is where you should write your personal reviews or thoughts.
• Protected Properties: Properties marked as touch_me_not: true in the Subject Definition File will not be overwritten if they already exist.
• Framework Sections: The Redo Instructions and Additional Media sections are preserved.
• Unknown Sections: Any sections not defined in the Subject Definition File (other than My Notes/RI/Media) will be replaced by the AI generation.

Additional Media

You can use the Redo command to automatically process additional images related to your subject (e.g., back covers, inner sleeves, details).

1. Add a section #### Additional Media (or just #### Media) to the bottom of your note.
2. Drag and drop your raw images into this section.
3. Run the Redo command.

The plugin will:

• Optimize the images (resize/compress) according to your settings.
• Rename them to match the subject's naming convention (e.g., BookTitle_2.jpg).
• Move them to the subject's designated photo folder.
• Update the links in your note to point to the new, clean files.

[!NOTE] At present, additional media is optimized and organized but not sent to the AI for analysis. Multi-image analysis is a possible future feature.

Subject Definition Files

NoteMakerAI is built on the concept of Subject Definition Files (SDFs). These are Markdown files that contain YAML to tell the AI what to look for and how to format the result.

For a comprehensive guide, see the Subject Definition Guide.

Subject Creation Kit for Chatbots

We have created the Subject Creation Kit to help you easily build your own custom subjects. This kit includes a chatbot-ready prompt file that guides you through the process of defining your subject's properties and sections.

Download the kit here: Subject-Maker-Kit.zip

The zip file includes:

• Subject-Maker-Kit.md: Suggested chatbot prompt for creating a Subject Definition File.
• Subject-Definition-Guide.md: Reference documentation.
• README.md: This README file
• Three sample Subject Definition Files (SDFs).

License

This project is licensed under the AGPLv3 License.

Commercial License Option

If you wish to use this software in a proprietary product or are unable to comply with the terms of the AGPLv3, a commercial license is available. For commercial licensing inquiries, please contact: license@theapplicationfoundry.com