Since the start we've tried to avoid dependencies in Obsidian. It takes a bit longer to add some features, but it reduces the risk of supply chain attacks, and gives us more control over performance.

On agents and Obsidian

Today in ransomware, Slack increases pricing by $195k with a week's notice for a non-profit that teaches teenagers how to code.

This should be a fun challenge! I gave it a quick pass and was able to get something basic working in a few minutes using Notion integrations.

One of my favorite use cases for Obsidian Bases is custom sidebar views. Here's one I made for "Related notes". It finds notes that have overlapping links and tags with the active note. The notes are sorted by a count of overlaps.

Dropbox is discontinuing the Paper app. Now all your notes will only be available via the web. It's so strange that a company designed around syncing files created the .paper format which only stores a URL, and no actual content. How did they lose sight of file over app?

Is there a word to describe Obsidian's business model? Revenue primarily comes from optional paid services that have free alternatives. Freemium isn't quite right because freemium apps typically paywall features, or have usage-based pricing. Obsidian's features are free and there's no usage limit.

life update 💞

passion fruit sorbet

The sample Obsidian plugin template now has an AGENTS.md file. Hopefully this means coding tools better follow Obsidian guidelines, and create plugins that can more quickly pass review. github.com/obsidianmd/o...

somehow I just learned there's a variety of blackberries called obsidian, and of course it makes the best jam stephango.com/quality-software

whatever you think an hour of your time is worth, it's worth at least ten times more

My top ten tips for Obsidian Bases

not sped up

We're considering ways that IT departments can more confidently deploy Obsidian to employees and students. What do you think about this approach?

The keyboard should feel much much smoother on iOS and Android with Obsidian 1.9. We fixed a dozen tiny issues with positioning text when the keyboard opens and closes. This will probably be totally invisible to most people, but it's one of my favorite QOL improvements.

no one told me that when you turn 30, you start accumulating a random new ailment every year that never fully goes away what happens when you turn 40? I'm guessing it's two ailments per year

Obsidian Web Clipper 0.11.9 has a new "embedded" mode that opens in the page instead of a popup This means you can use highlighter and interpreter in multiple browser tabs, at the same time

don't say "my joke about this is..." just say the joke

travelled with my so for her work offsite, one week later everyone's sick this is why I work remotely

what I learned this morning is that most people are deeply conditioned by fear-based employment endemic in tech it makes me think we have too few examples of work environments that prioritize deep focus, individual agency, async collaboration, no meetings

ramblings: a tip for remote teams of 2-10 people

brown butter apricot tart (recipe below)

in Sakai, outside of Osaka, there are dozens of small knife factories within walking distance — if you enjoy cooking and sharp things it's a necessary pilgrimage

No one knows how many users @obsidian.md has I think it's around 5-10 million people but I'm not sure? Anyone can download the app and start using it without creating an account or talking to anyone, and there are no analytics built-in 🤷‍♂️

the new formula editor makes it fun to manipulate data you have stored in properties

demi-glace reducing new kitchen almost done

Obsidian 1.9.3 (early access) is now available for desktop and mobile, with more improvements to Bases: - New Cards view lets you display files in a grid layout - "New item" button creates a file that matches filters of the current view - Sort menu lets you easily sort items

cyborg vs. cyborg when planning a vacation post-singularity you launch a swarm of agents that harnesses the energy of a small powerplant to build software that dodges a new generation of ads, spam, scams, surge pricing algos, fake reviews, and finds you reasonably priced airfare

these AI vs AI arms races will accelerate everywhere adversarial contexts exist: homework, hiring, sales, procurement, etc the instinct is to add more complexity, more steps, but this doesn't work — it weeds out humans not AIs the solution is to simplify, de-escalate

a few well-chosen typos relaly make your prose seem like it wasn't written by AI

my personal vault template is updated to the latest and greatest Bases features from Obsidian 1.9.2

OpenAI is now required by court order to preserve all ChatGPT logs including "temporary chats" and API requests that would have been deleted if I understand this correctly, it means data retention policies for apps that use OpenAI API simply cannot be honored

vibe clamping

Bases in Obsidian 1.9 can be exported to CSV or copy-pasted anywhere — as Markdown, or into any spreadsheet app

you can put an @obsidian.md base in a sidebar, and reference the current file

with Obsidian Bases you can create embedded views that reference the current file — for example if I put my "Places" base inside Taipei I get only places I saved in Taipei

Migrated my personal vault to Obsidian Bases and it feels so good I was able to translate ~3,000 dataview queries into about 30 bases. Makes for a more maintainable approach to bottom-up notetaking. My updated vault template is here: stephango.com/vault

this is nifty, someone has already made an open source Dataview → Bases conversion tool for @obsidian.md 1.9 bases-toolbox.vercel.app

Obsidian 1.9.1 (early access) is now available to Catalyst members for desktop and mobile with many small improvements for Bases obsidian.md/changelog/20...

Obsidian Bases + Obsidian Web Clipper is the web archival tool I always wanted replaces my read-it-later app and saves everything to local markdown files

all your base are belong to *you*

a chamfered wood edge catches light beautifully and honors the material you rarely see this on mass-produced furniture because it would expose the cheap particleboard underneath the veneer

if I can, I always prefer to buy directly from the maker, the farmer, the developer

today is the real "liberation day"

more progress converting our kitchen into a sushi bar... the omakase counter will seat four

Obsidian 1.8.10 introduces a new vault location option for Android. With the new app storage option, your data is stored in Obsidian’s private app storage. This keeps your data isolated from other apps for added privacy. Learn more: help.obsidian.md/android

if you're using Tailwind you should still also use semantic class and ID names in your HTML to make your content more parseable (e.g. read-it-later apps)