reMarkable Tagged Sync

Sync tagged reMarkable notebooks into Obsidian as searchable Markdown notes, routed to folders by tag.

Tag a notebook or a single page on your reMarkable tablet (e.g. sync), and this plugin pulls it from the reMarkable cloud, renders the handwriting to a PDF, transcribes it to searchable text, and writes a Markdown note into the vault folder mapped to that tag — with the render embedded as an attachment and the transcript underneath it.

This is a desktop-only, one-way (reMarkable → Obsidian) sync. It never writes back to your reMarkable.

Before you install

Two limits, so you know them up front:

• This free version syncs one tag. You map one reMarkable tag to one vault folder. You can change or remove that mapping at any time. The one-tag limit is a limit of the free version: a paid version that lifts it is planned but not yet available. Everything described in this README works without payment.
• Text transcription needs macOS 13 or later. On Windows and Linux your notes still sync, with the full handwriting render embedded — but there is no transcript.

Handwriting transcription

Transcription runs locally on macOS 13 or later using Apple's Vision framework — no account, no API key, no network. On Windows and Linux there is no transcription: notes sync with the handwriting render embedded, and no ## Transcript text.

You can also set the backend to Off if you only want the render. That is the default where Apple Vision cannot run.

How the local backend works, for transparency:

• Each page is rendered to a temporary PNG under your OS temp directory (os.tmpdir()), never under Documents/Desktop/Downloads/iCloud. The plugin deletes these images as soon as transcription finishes.
• The PNGs are transcribed by invoking the built-in /usr/bin/osascript binary, which drives Apple's Vision framework. This runs entirely on your machine with no network egress — no page image or text ever leaves the device.

Apple Vision auto-detects language and reads cursive well, but produces flat text — no headings, lists, task lists, or tables. Its structured API is macOS Swift-only and unavailable here. It can also misread; see Correcting a transcript.

Network use

This plugin makes network requests to exactly one place:

• reMarkable cloud (required) — the plugin authenticates to my.remarkable.com via a one-time device code, then reads your notebook/page list, tags, and content over the reMarkable cloud API to sync it into your vault. This is read-only; nothing is written back to your reMarkable account.

Transcription is local. Nothing else is contacted.

No telemetry or analytics of any kind are collected or sent by this plugin.

Other permissions this plugin uses

Two behaviours show up in Obsidian's automated plugin review, so they are spelled out here:

• Clipboard — write only. The Copy diagnostics button in settings writes your plugin version, Obsidian version, platform, selected OCR backend, number of mapped tags, and last sync time to the clipboard, so you can paste them into a bug report. The plugin never reads your clipboard, and nothing is sent anywhere — you choose where to paste it.
• Vault folder list. The tag-routing settings read the list of folders in your vault to fill the "map this tag to a folder" dropdown. Only folder paths are read; note contents are never scanned for this, and the list never leaves your machine.

Setup

1. Install and enable the plugin.
2. Open Settings → reMarkable Tagged Sync, and follow the "Connect" link to my.remarkable.com/device/browser/connect to get a one-time code. Enter it and click Connect. Codes expire after a few minutes, so get a fresh one if it is refused.
3. Click Discover tags to scan your reMarkable notebooks and pages for tags, then map the tag you want to sync to a vault folder. Only a mapped tag is synced — an unmapped tag is simply not selected, not lost.
4. Click Sync now.

Sync is also available from the command palette as reMarkable Tagged Sync: Sync now.

Automatic sync

Off by default. Under Automatic sync you can turn on a sync when Obsidian launches, plus an interval backstop while it stays open. A manual sync pushes the next automatic one out rather than triggering a redundant run.

Re-transcribing

To refresh transcripts on notes you already synced, run reMarkable Tagged Sync: Re-transcribe all synced notes. It re-fetches each notebook and rewrites only the transcript region, leaving your own notes and the embedded render untouched. It asks for confirmation first.

What gets synced

• A notebook tagged with a mapped tag syncs as one note for the whole notebook.
• An individual page tagged with a mapped tag syncs as its own note, independent of any notebook-level tag.
• Each note has the rendered PDF embedded, then a ## Highlights section (one quote callout per page, if you highlighted anything on the tablet), then the ## Transcript. If transcription is off, fails, or finds nothing, the note is still created with the render and no ## Transcript section — the render is never lost.
• A synced note carries no frontmatter. Everything the sync needs to track lives in the plugin's own data.json, not in your notes.
• Removed or untagged units are never deleted. The plugin stops updating them and leaves the note exactly where it is, so nothing you already have can disappear.

Correcting a transcript

Everything between the tagged-sync:begin and tagged-sync:end markers is rewritten on every sync. Your own writing belongs below that block, where it is preserved.

If you do edit inside the block — for example to fix a misread word — the plugin notices and refuses to overwrite that note, telling you which notes it skipped. Your edit is never silently erased. Move it below the block to let syncing resume.

Limitations

• Desktop only. Obsidian on mobile is unsupported.
• One-way sync: reMarkable → Obsidian only. Nothing is ever written back to your tablet.
• One tag → folder mapping.
• Transcription requires macOS 13 or later. Windows and Linux get the render and no text.
• Transcripts are flat text — no headings, lists, task lists, or tables.
• The reMarkable cloud API used here (via rmapi-js) is reverse-engineered and unversioned; firmware changes on reMarkable's side can break sync. See below.

What I do not control

This plugin talks to the reMarkable cloud. I do not work for reMarkable. I have no contract with them and no advance warning of their plans. They can change or switch off their cloud at any time. This already happened: in April 2026 a format change broke every tool in this space.

If it happens again:

• I will work on a fix as fast as I can. I cannot promise a date.
• Your notes are safe. Everything already synced is plain Markdown and PDF in your own vault. It stays there. Nothing is deleted.

Reporting a problem

Open an issue at github.com/thomas-hochbichler/obsidian-remarkable-tagged-sync/issues.

Before you write it, press Copy diagnostics in the plugin settings and paste the result into the issue. It contains your plugin and Obsidian versions, your OS, whether Apple Vision is available, and the last error — nothing is sent anywhere by pressing it.

Development

npm install
npm run dev      # watch build
npm run build    # typecheck + production build
npm test         # vitest

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE. Third-party notices are in NOTICE.