KOS2

KOS2 is a Knowledge Operating System for Obsidian. Open, local-first, built for excellence in boring work.

KOS2 helps you move from note entropy to useful work:

• Organise intake notes into stabilised draft artifacts with traceability
• Next steps from projects, areas, and messy notes
• Decision drafts from evidence, not vibes
• Review loops that capture outcomes and missing follow-ups

If you want the mental model behind the product, read KOS Philosophy.

If You're In A Hurry

1. Install KOS2 with BRAT using pdurlej/KOS2
2. Start Ollama locally
3. Pull qwen3:8b and bge-m3
4. Turn on Privacy (local) Mode
5. Run Organise from the KOS starter or command palette

Install

Install with BRAT (recommended beta path)

1. Install the BRAT plugin in Obsidian from Community Plugins
2. Open the command palette and run BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing
3. Enter the GitHub repo: pdurlej/KOS2
4. Install the latest release and enable KOS2

BRAT is the easiest way to test new KOS2 releases without manually copying files.

Install from release assets

1. Download the latest release from GitHub Releases
2. Create the plugin folder in your vault:

mkdir -p "/path/to/YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/kos2"

3. Copy these three files into that folder:

• main.js
• manifest.json
• styles.css

4. In Obsidian:
   • open Settings -> Community plugins
   • turn off Restricted mode if needed
   • reload plugins or restart Obsidian
   • enable KOS2

Install from source (contributors)

git clone https://github.com/pdurlej/KOS2.git
cd KOS2
npm install
npm run build
mkdir -p "/path/to/YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/kos2"
cp main.js manifest.json styles.css "/path/to/YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/kos2/"

Privacy Modes

Mode	What stays local	What uses cloud
Local-only	Ollama chat, Ollama embeddings, vault workflows	Nothing
Hybrid	Local chat, local embeddings, vault workflows	Optional Ollama Cloud for web search/fetch

For the strongest local path, use:

• Privacy (local) Mode
• KOS2 Local Agent
• local embeddings in Knowledge
• no Ollama Cloud key configured

KOS2 can run fully local if you want your notes, embeddings, and decisions to stay on your machine.

What KOS2 Is Not

• not a generic chat sidebar for everything
• not a multi-provider playground
• not a promise of fully autonomous vault control

KOS2 is most useful when you use it as a local workflow layer for note operations.

Local Model Starting Points

These are practical starting points, not hard requirements:

• Fast: smaller Qwen or Gemma models
• Balanced: qwen3:8b
• Best local quality: larger Qwen or Gemma models if your machine can handle them
• Embeddings: bge-m3

Inside the plugin, Knowledge surfaces recommendations based on what is actually installed and what your machine looks capable of running.

First Local Setup

Install Ollama from ollama.com, then run:

ollama pull qwen3:8b
ollama pull bge-m3

Then in KOS2:

1. Open Settings -> KOS2 -> Setup
2. Confirm local Ollama is reachable
3. Turn on Privacy (local) Mode if you want the default path to stay local
4. Use KOS2 Local Agent or pick a specific local chat model
5. Open Knowledge, sync models, and choose a local embedding model

Optional Cloud And Transcripts

KOS2 uses Ollama Cloud only for web search and web fetch. It is optional.

For YouTube transcripts, the current setup path is:

• Supadata for transcript API access
• or local preparation with yt-dlp and whisper

Transcript UX is present in the plugin, but this is still an evolving capability rather than a fully finished media pipeline.

Troubleshooting

Ollama is not running

• Start Ollama and make sure http://127.0.0.1:11434 is reachable
• Confirm ollama list shows installed models

No models found after sync

• Open Settings -> KOS2 -> Knowledge
• Click Refresh Ollama Models
• Confirm the host matches your local Ollama address

Embeddings are not showing

• Make sure you actually pulled an embedding model such as bge-m3
• Refresh models again in Knowledge
• If chat models show up but embeddings do not, try re-pulling the model and refreshing

No cloud key configured

• Local chat and local embeddings still work
• Only web search and web fetch flows stay unavailable until Ollama Cloud is configured

Help Test KOS2

If you try KOS2, the most useful feedback right now is:

• install friction
• model sync issues
• whether Organise is genuinely useful
• whether the privacy model matches your expectations

Open an issue here: github.com/pdurlej/KOS2/issues/new/choose

More Docs

• Getting Started
• KOS Philosophy
• Chat Interface
• Agent Mode and Tools
• Vault Search and Indexing
• Troubleshooting and FAQ

Planning And Design Docs

• PRD
• Architecture
• Epics and stories
• Test strategy
• Workflow contracts
• Release QA checklist
• BMAD archive

License And Attribution

KOS2 remains licensed under AGPL-3.0.

This project starts from logancyang/obsidian-copilot and keeps its AGPL obligations. KOS2 is a soft fork with a different product direction, not a claim that the upstream project authored this roadmap.