sources
the catalog — every source behind every claim, dated and typed.
the catalog
every claim on this site carries source ids that resolve here. type marks the evidence role; dates keep the precision the source gave.
- 1945-07as we may thinkthe atlantic · vannevar bushthe memex — the founding image of knowledge as a trail network that every tool-for-thought inherits.
- 1962-10augmenting human intellect: a conceptual frameworkdoug engelbart institute · doug engelbartcomputers as intellectual prostheses — the report behind the mother of all demos.
- 1968-12-09the mother of all demoswikipediathe 1968 nls demo: hypertext, the mouse, dynamic file linking, and real-time collaboration in one system.
- 1980scommunicating with slip boxesluhmann archive (surge.sh mirror) · niklas luhmannluhmann's own account of the slip-box as a communication partner that surprises you.
- 2024zettelkastenwikipediathe method lineage — ~90,000 cards behind ~70 books.
- 2020zettelkasten method overviewzettelkasten.dethe practitioner canonization of luhmann's method for digital notes.
- 2024project xanaduwikipedianelson's hypertext and transclusion vision — the field's canonical unfinished project.
- 2024notecardswikipediaxerox parc's hypertext personal knowledge base — its browser card is the graph view's direct ancestor.
- 2024wikiwikiwebwikipediacunningham's 1995 wiki — linking before writing, camelcase as invitation.
- 2000swikihistoryc2.com · ward cunninghamthe first-party history of the first wiki.
- 2019-10how can we develop transformative tools for thought?numinous productions · andy matuschak and michael nielsenthe essay that named the movement and its ambition — tools that expand what people can think.
- 2020evergreen notesnotes.andymatuschak.org · andy matuschakatomic, concept-titled, evolving notes as the unit of knowledge work — the practice obsidian hosts.
- 2022-06-14building a second brainsimon element · tiago fortethe mass-market second-brain method — capture, organize, distill, express.
- 2020linking your thinkinglinking your thinking · nick milothe community and education layer built around linking practice.
- 2023lyt conference 3 speaker page: kepanolinking your thinking · linking your thinkingkepano's lyt conference bio — inkodye, lumi, then obsidian ceo; notably no ink & switch employment.
- 2019roam research — a note-taking tool for networked thoughtroam research · roam researchthe wave's commercial spearhead — networked thought in the cloud.
- 2024roam (software)wikipedialaunch, pricing, the $200m seed, and the decline arc.
- 2020-09-11a $200 million seed valuation for roam shows investor frenzy for note-taking appsboffosocko.com · chris aldrichthe september 2020 ~$200m seed-valuation report — the peak marker of the tools-for-thought bubble.
- 2020-09-14roam research coveragethe hustle · the hustlethe #roamcult dynamics at peak hype.
- 2023-08-25the note-taking app warsthe verge · david piercethe note-taking wars field survey, including the storage-vs-thinking critique.
- 2020logseqlogseq · logseqthe open-source sibling — local markdown/org files under agpl.
- 2024logseqwikipediaagpl, local files, positioning.
- 2024notionnotion · notionthe cloud workspace incumbent.
- 2024notion (productivity software)wikipediathe scale and collaboration counterpoint.
- 2022tanatana · tanasupertag graph-database notes — the wave's most aggressive structure-over-files bet.
- 2025tana outlinertana · tanatana's agent and outliner surface.
- 2022capacitiescapacities · capacitiesobject-based notes — keeps the structure, drops the files.
- 2021heptabaseheptabase · heptabasevisual-spatial pkm — whiteboards and cards, now with an agent/cli surface.
- 2024memmem · memthe 'ai chief of staff' repositioning — agent-first, files-never.
- 2024anyproto/anytype-tsgithub · anytypelocal-first, e2e-encrypted, open-source object workspace — ~8.8k stars as accessed september 2026.
- 2026subconscioussubconscious.network · gordon branderthe most direct ink & switch-lineage successor experiment; the domain sat parked/for-sale as accessed september 2026 — local-first without a business model dies.
- 2020obsidianobsidian · obsidianthe product site — 'the free and flexible app for your private thoughts.'
- 2024about obsidianobsidian · obsidianthe manifesto and team roster — yours, durable, private, malleable, independent.
- 2020obsidian blogobsidian · obsidianthe company blog — launch posts, version announcements, and kepano-era letters.
- 2020obsidian forumobsidian forum · obsidianthe community forum — the earliest public record of the beta period and the founders' own voices.
- 2021obsidian helpobsidian · obsidianthe official help vault, itself an obsidian vault — documentation as product demonstration.
- 2020-05-27show hn: obsidian — a knowledge base that works on local markdown fileshacker news · erica xuthe launch thread — erica's 'three fundamental values' comment is the cleanest statement of the fork.
- 2020-05-27obsidian on product huntproduct huntlaunch-day record; review themes already include weak search and mobile.
- 2021-10obsidian — a knowledge base from a local folder of plain text markdown fileshacker newsthe eighteen-month community verdict — extensibility as the differentiator.
- 2022-10obsidian 1.0hacker news · erica xuthe 1.0 thread — 'over 670 plugins' and the org-roam origin of the first beta users.
- 2021-07-12obsidian for mobileproduct huntmobile launch — #1 product of the day.
- 2021-07-07obsidian mobile v1.0.0 changelogobsidian · obsidianthe mobile v1.0.0 baseline.
- 2023-06-01the new obsidian iconobsidian · steph angokepano's first company byline — the knapping metaphor, the 1960s/2060s durability line, and the june 2023 figures: ~1,000 plugins, 100k discord, 1m release downloads.
- 2024obsidian pricingobsidian · obsidianthe free-core-plus-services structure in one page.
- 2024obsidian licenseobsidian · obsidianfree for personal and commercial use.
- 2024obsidian privacy policyobsidian · obsidianthe no-analytics posture written as policy.
- 2021obsidian syncobsidian · obsidianthe e2e-encrypted paid sync — half of the revenue model that replaced venture capital.
- 2025sync headless docsobsidian · obsidianprogrammatic vault sync for automation and agents.
- 2021obsidian publishobsidian · obsidianthe vault-to-website paid service — the other half of the paid layer.
- 2024-11obsidian web clipperobsidian · obsidianthe browser extension that saves pages as markdown — launched november 2024, with the interpreter feature.
- 2026obsidian cliobsidian · obsidian'read, search, and write to your vault programmatically. give agentic tools the ability to interact with your vault' — verbatim positioning.
- 2026-02-27obsidian 1.12 desktop changelogobsidian · obsidianthe desktop 1.12 changelog that introduced the cli publicly.
- 2025-08-18obsidian 1.9.10 changelogobsidian · obsidianthe 1.9.10 changelog — bases shipped to all users august 18, 2025.
- 2026-09community plugins directoryobsidian community · obsidianthe live community directory — 7,701 plugins, 759 themes, 917 in the ai category as accessed september 2026.
- 2024community themesobsidian · obsidianthe community theme directory — where minimal became the default aesthetic.
- 2026-09copilot plugin listingobsidian community directory · brevilabs llc'run ai agents such as claude code, codex, and opencode inside your vault' — 1.9m downloads shown as accessed september 2026.
- 2026-05-12the future of obsidian pluginsobsidian · obsidian4,000+ plugin and theme projects, 120m downloads, a 2,300-submission review queue cleared by automation — because coding agents are now writing the plugins.
- 2024why obsidian is not open sourceobsidian help · obsidianthe official closed-core rationale.
- 2024obsidian roadmapobsidian · obsidiandeclared work — mobile startup time among it.
- 2024obsidian (software)wikipediathe tertiary record — founders, dynalist lineage, release history.
- 2015dynalistdynalist · dynalist incthe outliner shida li and erica xu built before obsidian — the direct prequel and the funding runway.
- 2020-05-30dynalist & obsidiandynalist blog · dynalist team'obsidian public beta was launched two days ago… obsidian values connections more, whereas dynalist values structures more… we will develop and maintain dynalist as usual.'
- 2016-11-09about the makersdynalist forum · shida li and erica xuthe autobiographical thread — omniflow as a student side project, the hn launch, the division of labor.
- 2021-02no monthly blog update threaddynalist forum · erica xu'dynalist is my hobby work' — the february 2021 thread on priorities, a newborn, and the discord shift, later clarified.
- 2020-08-27why is obsidian named so?obsidian forum · erica xuthe canonical name answer — 'if your raw, unstable thoughts are lava, then obsidian is… well, obsidian. it is your crystallized (and beautiful) knowledge.' plus minecraft.
- 2020-08-04open sourcing of obsidianobsidian forum · erica xuthe four-point closed-source rationale — 'the cost to benefit ratio is very low for our small team of 2.'
- 2020-05-25note agingobsidian forum · erica xuan early feature musing — 'discover areas in your knowledge base that haven't been reviewed.'
- 2020-05-19u/silver.jsonobsidian forum · erica xuthe discourse api record — forum user #2, invited by licat, account created the forum's founding day.
- 2020-05-19u/licat.jsonobsidian forum · shida lithe discourse api record — forum user #1, 194 accepted answers, 'solution institution' badge.
- 2020topics created by silverobsidian forum · erica xushe seeded the forum's structure — and the gems-of-the-year and obsidian october machinery.
- 2020silver posts by likesobsidian forum · erica xuher highest-liked posts — the privacy/auto-updater answer and the markdown data-ownership reply.
- 2020licat postsobsidian forum · shida lithe technical reply corpus — plugin sandboxing, api design, yaml debates. 'there is ABSOLUTELY NO SECURE WAY to run plugins without severely crippling the plugin api.'
- 2023-02ceo announcement threadobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe community reception thread for the ceo announcement.
- 2024-10translated fork my brain interviewobsidian zh forum · obsidian zh forumthe translated fork my brain interview — the full superfan-to-ceo narrative and the team roster.
- 2024-10-28zh reposts of founder interviewsobsidian zh forum · obsidian zh forumtranslated reposts of the ness labs interview — evidence of reach english search misses.
- 2021exploring the power of note-making with the co-founder of obsidianness labs · anne-laure le cunffthe primary erica xu interview — origin story, team-of-two-plus-two-cats, plugin philosophy, 'the ide for thought.'
- 2019steph angostephango.com · steph angokepano's personal site — the largest single corpus in this dossier.
- 2024about mestephango.com · steph angobio, the interview table, and the colophon — the career record: inkodye, lumi, obsidian. no ink & switch.
- 2024what i'm doing nowstephango.com · steph angothe now page — ceo plus the lumi and well made recap.
- 2024projectsstephango.com · steph angothe complete dated project list, 2002–2026 — winamp skins to obsidian cli-era tools.
- 2023-07-01file over appstephango.com · steph ango'in the fullness of time, the files you create are more important than the tools you use to create them. apps are ephemeral, but your files have a chance to last.' the three-word philosophy.
- 2023-10-27quality software deserves your hard-earned cashstephango.com · steph ango'quality software from independent makers is like quality food from the farmer's market' — the indie-software economics essay that topped hacker news.
- 2024-02-10100% user-supportedstephango.com · steph angothe anti-vc manifesto — 'eventually all vcware must exit… being 100% user-supported is by far the most fun way to build.'
- 2023-08-07in good handsstephango.com · steph angocraft and omakase trust — 'i know i am in good hands when i sense a cohesive point of view expressed with attention to detail.'
- 2023-09how i use obsidianstephango.com · steph angohis public vault template — no folders, profuse links, fractal journaling.
- 2022-09-17evergreen notes turn ideas into objects that you can manipulatestephango.com · steph angothe matuschak-derived note practice in his own words.
- 2016-10-2040 questions to ask yourself every yearstephango.com · steph angohis most-shared artifact — an annual ritual translated into 35 languages by the internet.
- 2023flexokistephango.com · steph angothe inky oklab-derived color scheme 'for prose and code' — named from flexography, ported to dozens of apps.
- 2022-10-09calmness is a superpowerstephango.com · steph ango'you can be the calm one' — the calm-software temperament essay.
- 2022-10-18photoshop for textstephango.com · steph angothe prescient 2022 essay — 'language models need to be local to the device so that they be private, offline and future-proof.'
- 2023-09-03style is consistent constraintstephango.com · steph ango'style is a set of constraints that you stick to' — sub-500-word essays, monochromatic clothes, yyyy-mm-dd dates.
- 2025-10-20use the saw, fear the sawstephango.com · steph ango'we should not stop making powerful tools because they are dangerous. rather, we should empower people to use powerful tools safely.' — his ai stance.
- 2025-07-31if you're remote, ramblestephango.com · steph angoobsidian's no-meetings culture — per-person muted 'ramblings' channels and an annual week-long meetup.
- 2022-07-23a camera for ideasstephango.com · steph angothe essay that coined 'synthography' — 'a new kind of camera… turns ideas into pictures.'
- 2012-11-21agents of chaosstephango.com · steph angohis 2012 juvenilia — knowledge 'sourced with more or less certainty by billions of agents — human at first but increasingly animal and robotic.' the agent era, drafted a decade early.
- 2022recipesstephango.com · steph angoeight published recipes, including the deluxe chocolate chip cookies.
- 2020minimal themestephango.com · steph angothe minimal project page — the theme, minimal.guide docs, and the companion plugins.
- 2024obsidian (project page)stephango.com · steph angohis own project page for obsidian — 'community contributor → ceo feb 2023.'
- 2015computer showstephango.com · steph angothe retro-comedy youtube show about computers he produced and guest-starred in.
- 2023-02-06i'm joining obsidian full-time as ceoobsidian · steph angothe letter — 'obsidian is, and will continue to be: free to use, built on durable open file formats without lock-in, private, endlessly customizable… above all, obsidian is 100% user-supported.'
- 2021-12-15live preview updateobsidian · erica xuthe silver-byline post shipping the 0.13 live preview editor engine.
- 2021-01-092020 gems of the year winnersobsidian · erica xuthe silver-byline gems-of-the-year winners post — the community-award machinery she built.
- 2024creditsobsidian · obsidianthe official credits — core team, contributors, moderators, alumni, and sandy the office cat.
- 2024credits.mdgithub — obsidianmd/obsidian-help · obsidianthe repository mirror of the credits file, epithets included.
- 2025-08-18obsidian ceo steph ango on productivity software and notes appsthe verge · casey newtonthe verge's decoder — 'how the head of obsidian went from superfan to ceo.' seven ftes, profitable five years, no analytics, ai the biggest plugin category, 'all of the llms speak markdown.'
- 2025dialectic ep.8 — tools for amplifying our lightdialectic · jackson dahlhis longest conversation — writing, design, agency; biology and industrial design bio.
- 2023evergreen notes with stephan ango — ep.81metamuse · metamusethe muse podcast on evergreen notes — team was six full-time, 'tools for thought rubs him the wrong way.'
- 2025the interconnectedness of everything — #28 kepanothe other stuff · internetvinthe 221-minute one — the kepano name origin, winamp skins, furniture, kepiano, cookies.
- 2023fireside chat with @kepanolinking your thinking · nick milothe linking your thinking fireside chat — team vaults and shared defaults.
- 2023the future of obsidian livefork my brain · nicole van der hoeventhe future of obsidian livestream — the superfan-to-ceo path.
- n.d.why we should return to a local-first culture in the digital ageyoutubethe local-first culture talk — japan and long-term-company thinking.
- 2023thoroughly considered ep.93relay fm · relay fmthe pure side-quest episode — the hario v60 coffee maker.
- 2011the new disruptors ep.11the new disruptors · glenn fleishmanthe earliest recorded kepano interview — inkodye era.
- 2018giant robots ep.286giant robots · thoughtbotlumi and the purescript libraries.
- currentshida lilinkedin · linkedinuw software engineering 2012–2017; the dynalist stack in his own words.
- currentsteph angolinkedin · linkedincolorado college biology, artcenter industrial design, flex delft, narvar.
- currenterica xulinkedin · linkedin'i also make obsidian' — oakville.
- currentlishid profile and reposgithub · shida liorebfuscator and openinv — the famous minecraft bukkit plugins are still his top-starred repos.
- currentkepano profile and reposgithub · steph angoobsidian-minimal ~5.4k stars; obsidian-skills ~48k stars as accessed september 2026.
- currentericaxu profilegithub · erica xujoined github november 2011; location field: 'maple syrup land.'
- 2016quantified-chefgithub · erica xu'track your cooking!' — the quantified chef repo.
- 2013-09-18second-year students victorious at nokia imaging hackathonu waterloo cs · university of waterlooshida li and rudi chen's 27-hour nokia imaging hackathon win in lund, sweden.
- currentstephan angowikitiaborn december 18, 1985, paris; raised in meudon; french father, american mother. secondary-grade wiki — flagged.
- 2014stephan ango profilecreativemornings · creativemorningsthe lumi-era profile — 'evolutionary biologist. or sandwich architect.'
- current리 시다 (shida li)korean wikipediathe korean wikipedia bio — toronto-based chinese-canadian; dynalist inc. in oakville.
- currentstart here — silverlandericaxu.com · erica xuher live digital garden on obsidian publish with flexoki — the product hosting its co-founder's brain.
- currentshida li — garden noteericaxu.com · erica xu'my partner in crime… known as licat in the mabinogi community too.'
- currenthow i thinkericaxu.com · erica xu'i think in patterns and forces… in order to make real impact, you need to ride the waves.'
- 2025-06-12on understandingericaxu.com · erica xu'life is a game of predict… creating is the ultimate test of understanding' — with feynman.
- currentforcesericaxu.com · erica xu'physical forces decide how objects behave, and mental forces decide how people behave' — her named framework.
- currentmusic patternsericaxu.com · erica xu'melody is the character. rhythm is the plot. harmony is the setting.'
- 2016erica xu — old sitegithub pages · erica xuthe ~2016 personal site — intj, the education critique, the project list, the dormant edu blog, the death calc.
- 2021-02-28dynalist enters the 'hobby work' phaseoutlinersoftware.com · outlinersoftwarethe forum coverage that quoted and contextualized the 'hobby work' post.
- n.d.为什么 obsidian 要叫做 obsidiangithub discussions — obsidianzh · obsidian zhthe chinese translation of the name-origin post — the name traveled further than the interviews.
- 2026history of obsidiantaskade blog · taskadea secondary history — the minimal-to-dms-to-ceo narrative and the waterloo origin.
- 2026obsidian: $25m arr, 8 people 1 catreadthesignal.co · the signal'$25m arr, 8 people 1 cat' — speculative arr/valuation claims, flagged as such.
- n.d.oss business models researchdevonmeadows.com · commune researchoss business-model research quoting kepano and silver on files and open source.
- 2020crazy fun fact about obsidianmedium · francesco d'alessiothe 'crazy fun fact' post — three people, and liam cain as the third member.
- 2021-03obsidian-style-settingsgithub · matthew meyersthe actual author of style settings — mgmeyers, not kepano.
- currentjoethei profilegithub · johannes theiner'worked as a software developer in the obsidian team' — plugin review.
- currentjohannes theinerlinkedin · johannes theinerobsidian since july 2022 — plugin code review.
- currentsigrunixia profilegithub · rebbecca bishopcommunity moderator to staff — customer experience, docs maintainer.
- currentshida li on product huntproduct hunt · shida lihis maker page — obsidian was hunted by the founders themselves in may 2020.
- 2025three engineers, zero financing36kr en · 36krthe waterloo and quarantine-origin recap — the chinese-press view of the founding.
- 2019-05local-first software: you own your data, in spite of the cloudink & switch · martin kleppmann, adam wiggins, peter van hardenberg, mark mcgranaghanthe ink & switch paper that named local-first software — seven ideals including the one obsidian still doesn't satisfy: seamless collaboration.
- 2017ink & switchink & switch · ink & switchthe research lab adjacent to obsidian's philosophy — conceptually, not by employment.
- 2024season 1 transcriptlocal-first fm · local-first fmthe practitioner and author discussion of local-first's state.
- 2023-09why people are obsessed with obsidian, the indie darling of note-taking appsfast company · casey newtonthe 'indie darling' profile — ~1m users per the company's own estimate, 110k+ discord, ~94.6k subreddit members. paywalled; figures via cited summaries.
- 2025-07kepano on obsidian's unknowable user countmastodon · steph ango'no one knows how many users obsidian has. i think it's around 5-10 million… anyone can download the app… there are no analytics built-in.' the post is confirmed; the estimate is a ceo guess.
- 2023-02-06obsidian is growing upmitchwagner.com · mitch wagnerthe ceo-news community reaction — 'obsidian is growing up.'
- 2022-10obsidian 1.0macsparky · david sparksthe mainstream power-user reception of 1.0.
- 2022-10obsidian 1.0 releaseit's foss · it's fossthe linux-community coverage of 1.0.
- 2024obsidian discord community listingthe hive index · the hive indexcommunity-size corroboration for the discord.
- 2021-07obsidian ios app is now availablethe sweet setup · the sweet setupthe mobile launch coverage.
- 2021what's the point of the graph view? how are you using it?obsidian forum · obsidian forumthe long-running community thread — users divided on whether the graph does anything.
- 2023is the obsidian graph useless?drearicheli.blog · dre arichelithe skeptical graph-view analysis.
- 2023making obsidian's graph view actually usefuldanholloran.me · dan hollorana practitioner's fixes — which imply the default falls short.
- 2023is obsidian's graph view useful?codeculture.store · code culturemore graph-utility debate.
- 2023-08the value (or lack thereof) in bidirectional linkingnathansnelgrove.com · nathan snelgrovethe insider critique — the linking payoff questioned by a community member.
- 2023-08quitting the paint factorynathansnelgrove.com · nathan snelgrovethe community-management burnout perspective.
- 2024why your second brain is making you dumberdev.to · walid azrourthe capture-without-synthesis critique — warehouses, not thinking.
- 2020can multiple users edit at the same time?obsidian forum · obsidian forumthe long-running multiplayer request.
- 2020obsidian sync live team collaborative editingobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe real-time collaboration feature request.
- 2021share files or folders with other obsidian users for collaborationobsidian forum · obsidian forumsharing and collaboration requests.
- 2024relay — multiplayer plugin for obsidianobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe community-built live-collaboration plugin — multiplayer arriving through the ecosystem, not the core.
- 2024-08-23on obsidian's licensepreslav.me · preslav rachevthe licensing and closed-core analysis.
- n.d.why isn't obsidian open source?obsidian rocks · obsidian rocksthe ecosystem explainer on the closed core.
- n.d.mobile quick capture in obsidianobsidian rocks · obsidian rocks'waiting 5-15 seconds to capture an idea is not quick' — the capture-friction record.
- 2025extremely slow ios app wakeupobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe cold-start and re-indexing friction on ios.
- 2024request to speed up the startup speed of the mobile appobsidian forum · obsidian forumversion-regression complaints on mobile speed.
- 2024-11-25introducing the model context protocolanthropic · anthropicthe open standard for two-way connections between ai assistants and the systems where data lives — local servers included.
- 2025model context protocol docsmodelcontextprotocol.io · mcp projectthe protocol surface and ecosystem.
- 2025modelcontextprotocol/serversgithub · modelcontextprotocolthe reference and community server index, obsidian entries included.
- 2024markuspfundstein/mcp-obsidiangithub · markus pfundsteinthe ~4.4k-star mcp server that drives vaults through the local rest api plugin.
- 2022coddingtonbear/obsidian-local-rest-apigithub · adam coddingtonthe plugin that gives vaults an http interface — the bridge most obsidian mcp servers ride on.
- 2024stevenstavrakis/obsidian-mcpgithub · steven stavrakisan alternative obsidian mcp implementation — one of several.
- 2025mohd-bilal/obsidian-mcpgithub · mohd bilalproliferation evidence — one of several parallel obsidian mcp servers.
- 2025basicmachines-co/basic-memorygithub · basic machinesmcp-native markdown memory — 'knowledge lives as markdown files that both you and your ai can read, write.' the vault pattern minus the app.
- 2026second brain: obsidian + claude codeokhlopkov.com · dima okhlopkovthe vault-as-agent-memory playbook — 'the setup that actually works.'
- 2026claude code + obsidianhackastak · hackastaka practitioner integration guide.
- 2026make your obsidian vault a claude code brainproductory · productorythe vault-plus-agent workflow write-up.
- 2026claude code + obsidian setupedrandall.uk · ed randalla configuration-level how-to.
- 2025-09-18notion releases — september 18, 2025notion · notionnotion 3.0 — native agents plus an mcp server. the cloud answer to the same question.
- 2025-09introducing notion 3.0notion · notionagents across docs, databases, and integrations.
- 2025-05-14ai note-taking app granola raises $43m at $250m valuationtechcrunch · techcrunchthe ai-notepad category validation — $43m series b at a $250m valuation.
- 2022-11-16bending spoons acquires evernote, marking the end of an eratechcrunch · techcrunchthe ~$350m-raised incumbent sold to bending spoons — the end-of-era framing.
- 2023-02-27bending spoons lays off 129 evernote stafferstechcrunch · techcrunchthe post-acquisition gutting — 129 layoffs.
- 2025-05-22mozilla is shutting down read-it-later app pockettechcrunch · techcrunchpocket dead july 8, 2025, user data deleted october 8 — the files-outlive-apps exhibit.
- 2026-06-01where to put the portalsmichaeldeank.netlify.app · michael deana 2026 essay on agent-era knowledge surfaces.
- 2026hraness projectshraness · hranessthe portfolio index — wordcell, sponge, and oh with their one-line proofs.
- 2026portfolio.jsonhraness · hranessthe machine-readable project metadata.
- 2025hraness/wordcellgithub · hranessthe wordcell repository — 'a knowledge base for coding agents, built from markdown, backlinks, semantic search, and git context.'
- 2025wordcell readmegithub · hranessinstall, the cli/sdk/skill surface, and repository scopes.
- 2025wordcellwordcell · hraness'plain files, derived views'; 'refuses to become a second source of truth' — the obsidian fork made explicit for agents. mit-licensed; v0.21.3 as accessed september 2026.
- 2026wordcell changeloggithub · hranessthe kb→wordcell rename at 0.20.0 and the feature arc.
- 2025wordcell skillgithub · hranessthe agent rituals — search, capture, plan, percolate, refresh, validate; knowledge maintenance as an agent-performable loop.
- 2025sponge.computersponge · hranessthe agentic research workspace — a private source archive, bring-your-own-agent.
- 2025sponge docssponge · hranesssource-vs-claim separation, api/cli export, agent support — the epistemic discipline a plain folder can't express.
- 2026hraness/ohgithub · hranessthe public repo — skills/oh, spec/, the sdk; 2 stars, ~117 commits as accessed september 2026.
- 2026oh.computeroh computer · hraness'open-source tools for agentic research' — oh.ontology.v1 separates the question, the source, and the claim into typed local records.
- 2026oh skillgithub · hranessthe agent skill for the research-trace kernel.
- 2024getting to know the ceo of obsidianobsidian observer · obsidian observerthe community-media ceo profile.
- 2015twenty in their 20s: jesse genet and stephan angola business journal · la business journalthe 2015 profile — ango and jesse genet met at artcenter in 2008; the bio+chem background.
- 2021the future of commerce is human (kepano interview)future commerce · future commercethe lumi-era interview — well made, slash packaging, the dtc supply chain.
- 2018-09-27episode 101 — shipping is violencenew disruptors · new disruptorsthe lumi episode — 'shipping is violence,' with jesse genet.
- n.d.why isn't obsidian open source?obsidian rocks · obsidian rocksthe community explainer summarizing silver's four-point closed-source rationale.
- 2020kepano/obsidian-minimalgithub · steph angothe most-installed obsidian theme — ~5.4k stars as accessed september 2026.
- 2025obsidian securityobsidian · obsidianthe audit inventory: cure53 apps december 2023 and december 2024, cure53 sync october 2024, trail of bits december 2025.
- 2022-10obsidian 1.0obsidian · obsidianthe 1.0 launch page — a milestone, not 'feature complete.'
- 2024catalyst licenseobsidian help · obsidianthe catalyst tiers — insider $25, supporter $50, vip $100.
- 2020obsidian changelogobsidian · obsidianthe full release history — roughly weekly during the beta year.
- 2025-02-20obsidian is now free for workobsidian · steph angothe commercial license becomes optional — 'the commercial license terms were confusing and added unnecessary complexity.' reveals over 10,000 organizations use obsidian, with thousands of daily employee-users at amazon and google.
- 2024-03-20new sync standard planobsidian · obsidianthe $4/month sync standard tier; sync and publish 'help obsidian remain 100% user-supported.'
- 2023-11-21new obsidian sync plansobsidian · steph ango'obsidian has grown beyond a million users' — sync expansion to 10 vaults, 100 gb, regional servers; new tiers from january 2024.
- 2021-07-01last chance to get early bird discountobsidian · erica xuearly-bird pricing ends september 30, 2021 — with free-alternative guidance in the same breath.
- 2023-04-18obsidian publish now offers more for lessobsidian · obsidianpublish repriced to $96/year or $10/month per site — down from $16/month.
- 2024-11-11save the webobsidian · steph angothe web clipper launch — free, mit open-source, no data collection.
- 2025-12obsidian sync audits by cure53 and trail of bitsobsidian · obsidianthe cure53 and trail of bits sync audits published together — including a disclosed high-severity weak-randomness flaw, remediated.
- 2021-09-21obsidian october 2021obsidian · erica xuthe first obsidian october — judges included liam, mgmeyers, argentum, and kepano, community members who later joined or shaped the team.
- 2023-09-26obsidian october 2023obsidian · erica xu'for our third year' — the 2023 edition.
- 2025-10-01obsidian october 2025obsidian · erica xuo_o 2025 — same day the 1.10 beta shipped bases apis and an official maps plugin.
- 2021-12-082021 gems of the year nominationsobsidian · erica xuthe first named gems of the year — 'that time of the year again' implies a 2020 precursor that was never formally named.
- 2022-01-252021 gems of the year winnersobsidian · erica xuthe first formal gems of the year results — theme 'primary' takes best theme.
- 2022-08-291.0 theme migration guideobsidian · obsidianthe pre-1.0 breaking-change documentation for theme developers — the public signal 1.0 was imminent.
- 2020-03-30desktop v0.0.1obsidian · obsidianthe earliest release in the official changelog — the first distributable build.
- 2020-04-10desktop v0.1.0obsidian · obsidianalpha iteration — v0.1.0 inside two weeks.
- 2020-05-24desktop v0.6.4obsidian · obsidiancatalyst insider builds appear — the early-access program predates the public launch.
- 2020-09-30desktop v0.9.2obsidian · obsidianthe publish plugin ships — the paid site-publishing service is live, months before sync.
- 2020-10-13desktop v0.9.4obsidian · obsidianpublish gets backlinks and custom css.
- 2020-10-29desktop v0.9.8obsidian · obsidianthe in-app community plugin directory — the formal start of the plugin economy.
- 2020-12-07desktop v0.9.21obsidian · obsidiansync becomes purchasable — end-to-end encrypted, selective sync, version history.
- 2020-12-16desktop v0.10.1obsidian · obsidiansync reaches the public channel about a week after the insider launch.
- 2021-03-17mobile v0.0.12obsidian · obsidianthe first changelogged mobile build — closed beta for catalyst vips.
- 2021-04-08mobile v0.0.16obsidian · obsidianpublish from mobile.
- 2021-05-31mobile v0.1.0obsidian · obsidianthe closed beta widens toward public release.
- 2021-07-07mobile v1.0.0obsidian · obsidianmobile leaves beta — ios and android public.
- 2021-11-10desktop v0.13.0obsidian · obsidianexperimental live preview — wysiwyg-style editing, the most requested feature since launch.
- 2021-12-09desktop v0.13.8obsidian · obsidianlive preview becomes the default editor, replacing codemirror 5.
- 2022-10-13desktop v1.0.0obsidian · obsidianout of beta — the redesigned ui, tabs, tab stacks, theme versioning.
- 2022-12-05desktop v1.1.0obsidian · obsidiancanvas in early access — an infinite spatial canvas for notes, images, and embeds.
- 2022-12-23desktop v1.1.9obsidian · obsidiancanvas reaches everyone.
- 2023-05-09desktop v1.3obsidian · obsidianbuilt-in pdf reading and annotation.
- 2023-08-31desktop v1.4.5obsidian · obsidianproperties — structured yaml-frontmatter editing — ships to all users.
- 2023-12-26desktop v1.5obsidian · obsidianthe new markdown table editor, a formatting menu, global property rename, expanded sync limits.
- 2024-10-16desktop v1.7obsidian · obsidianthe performance overhaul — load-time speed and memory reduction across desktop and mobile.
- 2024-12-18desktop v1.8.0obsidian · obsidianthe web viewer core plugin in early access, plus icloud-sync improvements.
- 2025-01-30desktop v1.8.3obsidian · obsidianweb viewer reaches everyone, off by default.
- 2025-05-21desktop v1.9.0obsidian · obsidianbases in early access — database-like views over note collections.
- 2025-08-18desktop v1.9.10obsidian · obsidianbases reaches all users — the biggest core-feature addition since canvas.
- 2026-02-27desktop v1.12.4obsidian · obsidianthe obsidian cli arrives — scripting, automation, and headless sync.
- 2026-07-30desktop v1.13obsidian · obsidianrebuilt settings, a full-screen image viewer, and obsidian:// uri security prompts.
- 2026-09-02desktop v1.14.0 (catalyst)obsidian · obsidiankanban layout for bases, colored highlights, right-to-left workspaces, opening files from outside the vault, mobile quick-capture widgets.
- 2021-03mobile closed beta started for catalyst vipobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe mobile closed-beta announcement for catalyst vips — since removed; cited via contemporary references.
- 2021-03-05when is the mobile app coming out?obsidian forum · obsidian forumthe march 2021 thread referencing the closed-beta announcement.
- 2021-09-08obsidian publish standard priceobsidian forum · obsidian forumusers push back on the ~$16/site/month standard; silver: '$8/site/month by end of september and double the price after that.'
- 2020what is the exclusive dev channel?obsidian forum · obsidian forumcatalyst tiers and perks described by staff.
- 2024-08-24obsidian sync appears to be downlemmy · shida lilicat's discord postmortem of the ~5-hour august 24, 2024 outage, preserved via a lemmy mirror.
- 2020-05-30dynalist & obsidiandynalist forum · dynalist team'public beta launched two days ago' — the dynalist-forum mirror of the announcement.
- n.d.projects: dynalistericaxu.com · erica xuher own account of the dynalist origin — side project, march 2015, the hn and product hunt launches.
- 2026dynalist inc company profiledun & bradstreetthe dynalist inc. corporate record — 115 george st suite 350, oakville, ontario.
- 2026obsidian trademark 2266181canadian intellectual property officedynalist inc. registered as owner of the obsidian trademark.
- 2020-05-08obsidianmd/obsidian-releasesgithub · obsidianthe plugin and theme registry repo — created may 8, 2020, three weeks before the public beta. plugin infrastructure was planned from the start.
- 2024-08-29obsidianmd/obsidian-clippergithub · obsidianthe web clipper repo — created august 29, 2024, mit-licensed.
- 2025-12obsidian sync code reviewtrail of bits via obsidian.md · trail of bitsthe sync audit — a high-severity weak-randomness flaw (tob-obsync-1) that could have allowed recovery of encrypted files; remediations validated.
- currentobsidian (dynalist inc.)linkedin · linkedin'privately held,' toronto hq, ~37 associated profiles — almost certainly overcounting volunteers and contractors.
- 2024-121.8.0 early access announcementthreads · obsidianthe official social post for the web viewer early access.
- 2020-04-10obsidian.md homepageinternet archivethe obsidian.md homepage live during the private alpha.
- 2020-07-18obsidian pricing, july 2020internet archivethe earliest full price menu — sync and publish pre-sold on early-bird pricing months before sync shipped.
- 2021-01-05obsidian pricing, january 2021internet archivestandard prices alongside grandfathered early-bird rates.
- 2023-01-01obsidian pricing, january 2023internet archivethe pre-reprice grid — publish $16/month, commercial $50/user/year.
- 2022-01-02obsidian community page, january 2022internet archivethe footer already links forum-zh — the chinese community infrastructure was early.
- 2026obsidian gems of the year winnersall-in-obsidian (li3huo.com)the fan wiki carrying the unverified 'january 31, 2020 first line of code' claim — included as the claim's only source, flagged weak.
- 2021-07-12show hn: obsidian for mobilehacker news · erica xuthe mobile launch thread — dominated by ios sync workarounds and license questions.
- 2022-12-20show hn: obsidian canvashacker news · erica xuthe highest-scoring obsidian submission in algolia — 1,380 points, 387 comments.
- 2025-08-18obsidian baseshacker news695 points, 255 comments — 'notion killer' versus 'scope creep.'
- 2026-02-28obsidian sync now has a headless clienthacker news587 points — heavy discussion of self-hosting versus paying.
- 2025-09-19less is safer: reducing the risk of supply chain attackshacker newsobsidian's own supply-chain post; comments press the no-sandbox problem. 522 points.
- 2026-05-12the future of obsidian pluginshacker news452 points — the directory relaunch and automated per-version reviews.
- 2026-05-10obsidian plugin was abused to deploy a remote access trojanhacker news366 points, 229 comments — the phantompulse rat story; debate over whether blame lies with obsidian or social engineering.
- 2026-05-18show hn: files.md — open-source alternative to obsidianhacker news730 points — an open-source clone's launch out-scoring most obsidian announcements; a referendum on the closed core.
- 2025-05-18ditching obsidian and building my ownhacker newsthe biggest 'leaving obsidian' thread ever — 471 points, 559 comments.
- 2024-01-17why i like obsidianhacker news293 points, 368 comments — a love letter that doubled as a meta-discussion of pkm habits.
- 2022-11-09writing down what i do in obsidianhacker news358 points — chris krycho's workflow essay.
- 2025-04-23how i blog with obsidian, hugo, github, and cloudflarehacker news336 points — the obsidian→hugo publishing pipeline.
- 2026-02-17how i use obsidian (2023)hacker news203 points — kepano's own vault doc, notable for how little it resembles influencer setups.
- 2025-10-23be careful with obsidianhacker news127 points, 150 comments — hn split between 'relatively trustworthy for proprietary software' and sandboxing demands.
- 2025-02-20obsidian is now free for workhacker news~421 combined points across two submissions — the license made optional.
- 2025-08-03if you're remote, ramblehacker news976 points, 464 comments — kepano's biggest hn hit.
- 2026-07-26design is compromisehacker news286 points.
- 2024-02-11100% user-supportedhacker news191 points — the thread includes kepano's 'file over app is more important than open source' comment.
- 2022-10-18photoshop for texthacker news183 points — the ambition essay's hn run.
- 2023-10-09flexoki, an inky color scheme for prose and codehacker news194 points — the color scheme's adjacent halo.
- 2025-05-22show hn: defuddlehacker news · steph ango418 points — the web-cleaning library powering obsidian web clipper.
- 2023-08-24show hn: open-source obsidian.md sync serverhacker news416 points — a community-built sync alternative; pricing grumbling throughout.
- 2022-05-17obsidian dataviewhacker news211 points — the plugin that later pressured obsidian to ship bases.
- 2023-12-26obsidian 1.5 desktop (public)hacker news199 points, 193 comments.
- 2022-07-27after obsidian and logseq, i give dendron a tryhacker news129 points, 159 comments — the era-typical three-way comparison.
- 2025-09-17notion api importer, with databases to bases conversion bountyhacker news189 points — obsidian offering bounties to convert notion databases.
- 2022-10-15logseq: privacy-first, joyful platform for knowledge managementhacker news276 points — the open-source rival's big thread, full of obsidian comparisons.
- 2023-10-15the cult of the obsidian note-taking apphacker news29 points — the fast company profile's modest hn reception.
- 2024-03-20obsidian sync now starts at $4 per monthhacker newsthe $4/month standard tier's quiet reception.
- 2025-11-03obsidian entertainment's ai support forwards emails to obsidian supporthacker newsthe game studio's ai support reportedly forwarded user emails to obsidian.md support — the name collision made real.
- 2023-07-02file over apphacker news · steph ango56 points — the largest of ~15 submissions through august 2026. canonical status out of proportion to points; the 'hit #1' claim is unverified.
- 2024-05-17quality software deserves your hard-earned cashhacker news36 points — the essay's virality was off-hn, in newsletters and docs citations.
- 2025-11i used to be very against closed source products…hacker newsthe comment thread resurrecting licat's open-sourcing rebuttal years later.
- 2025-08-18have obsidian stopped requiring that you pay for a commercial license?hacker newsevidence the old license terms confused users for years — one employer 'expressly forbid the use of obsidian.'
- 2021-12-22the rise of second-brain apps: notion, obsidian, memthe cut / new york magazine · sophie haigneythe first big mainstream-culture piece to name the category — 'i saw the best minds of my generation being uploaded onto second-brain apps.'
- 2022-02-07case study: how the second brain meme is going mainstreamforte labs · tiago forteforte's meta-analysis of the cut piece — the second-brain meme going mainstream.
- 2023-10techmeme summary of the fast company profiletechmemethe aggregator record — including kepano's 'proudly not a cult' response.
- 2024i've turned into a tech hippiefast company · jared newmanobsidian as refuge from venture-backed apps — 'a small team that hasn't raised any venture capital.'
- 2023-10-05obsidian — a new take on noteswonder tools · jeremy caplan and jared newmanthe newsletter explainer that fed the 'cult' framing.
- 2024how to use obsidian for writing and productivitywired · justin pot'this application has slowly gone from being a weird app i didn't understand to one i can't imagine functioning without.'
- 2024best distraction-free writing appswired · justin potrecommended with a warning: 'don't let browsing and trying out all those extensions become a distraction itself.'
- 2025-12-07obsidian reviewpcmag · justin pot4.0/excellent, 'best for power users'; cons — 'difficult to get started with. no collaboration features.'
- 2022-08-04obsidian reviewtechradar · stefan ionescu'sophisticated features… a stellar user interface' — and a snapshot of the old pricing grid.
- 2023-10obsidian's popularity explainedmacstories · macstoriesthe apple-ecosystem validation.
- 2024obsidian vs. notion: which is best?zapier · zapier'both are for power users, but notion is more user friendly' — the usability-versus-power framing.
- 2025i ditched google keep and replaced it with a notes app that actually respects my privacyhow-to geek · how-to geekthe churn-era seo switch piece.
- 2024i linked my messy notes and built a universe of ideas in obsidianandroid police · android policethe mainstream-android discovery piece.
- 2025after using obsidian bases, i can't see myself going back to notionmakeuseof · makeuseofthe bases reception — even this fan piece calls kepano's marketing 'a bit too flowery.'
- 2025obsidian's new bases feature is finally replacing notion in my workflowxda · xdabases replacing notion in a workflow — with caveats about catalyst gating and fewer view types.
- 2026-05obsidian isn't actually open source — here's the markdown editor that isyahoo tech · xda via yahoo'with obsidian's entire stance being that you should own your own data, i just assumed that it was open source — i was wrong.'
- 2025i ditched obsidian for notebooklm, and i'm so glad i didxda · xdaleaves for ai-first tooling — 'the lack of an integrated ai' as the dealbreaker.
- 2025i stopped using obsidian after finding this self-hosted notes appxda · xda'i had just built a high-maintenance hobby… i hadn't produced a single original thought.'
- 2025i tried replacing obsidian with open-source tools, and here's why i went backxda · xdathe open-source alternates can't match the plugin ecosystem — back again.
- 2025i stopped using obsidian for quick notes, and my vault actually got usefulxda · xda'obsidian is more of a library than a notepad' — the electron startup cost and mobile capture friction.
- 2025notion, obsidian, and apple notes all lost to a plain folder of markdown filesxda · mahnoor faisal'it's beloved by the open-source community despite not being open-source.'
- 2026-06-23obsidian's sync pricing hike triggers community backlashremio.ai · ethan carterthe june 2026 sync hike — ~35% annual increase, the 1 gb tier eliminated, no grandfathering. caveat: at least one statistic reads ai-embellished; broad strokes corroborated by forum and reddit threads.
- 2024-01-17why i like obsidianddanieltan.com · daniel tan'the backstage manager of my life' — the love letter that ran 368 comments on hn.
- 2025-05-05ditching obsidian and building my ownamberwilliams.io · amber williams'i was surprised at this fee because i thought obsidian was open-source… $8 a month… almost $1,000 if i planned to use obsidian for a decade.'
- 2025-10-23be careful with obsidianphong.bearblog.dev · hữu phongclosed-source, no sandbox, plugins 'reviewed only once and not re-audited on updates,' unsigned dmg.
- 2022-01-31notes against note-taking systemssashachapin.substack.com · sasha chapinthe canonical anti-pkm essay — 'getting lost in your knowledge management system is a fantastic way to avoid creating things.' doesn't name obsidian; defined the counter-genre anyway.
- 2022-02-13notes against sasha chapin's notes against note-taking systemsechoes & chimes · echoes and chimesthe public rebuttal genre the chapin essay spawned.
- 2023-02-03a note on the cargo cult of zettelkastenchrisaldrich.wordpress.com · chris aldrich'a cargo cult of zettelkasten aspirants… may eventually give up, sometimes in shame.'
- 2021why switching from roam research to obsidian is simple, but not easymedium · martin sauterthe importer rough edges — 'simple, but not easy.'
- 2021why i chose obsidian over roamfork my brain · nicole van der hoevennotable because the author was a roam 'believer' plan buyer and small investor — defecting publicly.
- 2021how to switch from roam research to obsidianness labs · anne-laure le cunffthe influential migration how-to — roam lock-in as the cautionary contrast.
- 2023-05-22what happened to roam research?canion.blog · canion.blog'has obsidian entirely cut its lunch?' — the may 2023 read on roam's fade.
- 2023the fall of roamevery · every / superorganizers'we got a garbage dump full of crufty links… and we feel guilty and sad about it.' critical of roam, obliquely flattering to the category.
- 2023-01-22pkm in retrospectpkm weekly · curtis mchale'roam is out of the picture… people were always dreaming about a tool that did the work.'
- 2025-09trying logseqblog.tombert.com · tombert'the one complaint i have with obsidian is that it is not open source… i actually pay for the professional license to support the project.'
- 2026-05-26why i left logseq for obsidian after 2+ years0x5.uk · tim abellthe reverse-migration essay — calls obsidian 'closed-source freeware' and still switches for reliability.
- 2026-07-17rebooting my note-takingdarcynorman.net · d'arcy norman'even that had turned into something of a cargo cult… thousands of notes that i never referred to… i just deleted all of those.'
- 2025over-engineering the mind: the obsidian trapbuildfirstbrain.com · buildfirstbrain'a polished form of procrastination, productivity porn, where optimizing the system substitutes for the hard work.'
- 2024how i use obsidiancalv.info · calvin french-owenthe segment co-founder's widely shared workflow — 'the primary goal of the tool should be eliciting thought… 99% of the time i never re-visit my notes, and that is fine.'
- 2022obsidian publish feels like it's still in development and therefore should not cost $198 a yearlinkedin · bob dotothe canonical publish pricing gripe — still cited in 2026 alternatives posts.
- 2025i love obsidian but hate publishing from itunmarkdown · unmarkdown'obsidian publish costs $8 to $16 per month… only outputs to the web.'
- 2026obsidian publish alternativesunmarkdown · unmarkdowndocuments the launch-era $20/month pricing and the doto article.
- 2024an exceptional example of thoughtful pricing strategyrobinlandy.substack.com · robin landythe pricing teardown — notes karpathy's 'love letter'; sync as presumed largest revenue source.
- 2026-04obsidian plugin abuse delivers phantompulse ratthe hacker news · the hacker newsthe phantompulse rat coverage — a trust-model weaponization, not an obsidian vulnerability.
- 2026-04crypto users warned of scam on notes app obsidiancointelegraph · cointelegraphthe crypto-angle coverage of the shared-vault social-engineering campaign.
- 2026-04-16phantompulse: blockchain c2 rat via obsidian plugin abusecsa labs · cloud security alliancethe research note on blockchain-c2 rat delivery via shell commands and hider plugins.
- 2025-08-27obsidian disabling community pluginsobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe team remotely deprecated two plugin versions over a bug-report flood — 'does this really justify interacting with a user's personal plugin config?'
- 2022-07-05my (largely popular) open source thread was hiddenobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe open-sourcing megathread auto-hidden by community flags, then restored by staff.
- 2025-07-05security issue: vibe-coded plugins sent for approval into community pluginsobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe ai-generated plugin flood versus gatekeeping — a ~300-pr review backlog cited.
- 2023ios & icloud slow to startobsidian forum · obsidian forum'waiting for icloud to synchronize' blocking launch for 10–30 seconds or more.
- 2023ios app extremely slow to loadobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe ios load-time complaint thread.
- 2024obsidian ios performance hit after enabling icloud advanced data protection?obsidian forum · obsidian forumicloud advanced data protection taking app load from ~5s to ~45s.
- 2024ios and icloud: stuck on loading workspaceobsidian forum · obsidian forum'loading workspace' hangs requiring workspace-mobile.json surgery.
- 2026-05-31obsidian sync storage optionsobsidian forum · obsidian forumthe 50 gb tier's disappearance ahead of the 2026 price hike.
- 2025-09how to use obsidian sync at work (without breaking the rules)hamy.xyz · hamysync is 'basically banned by default' at companies that haven't approved it — the corporate-approval reality.
- 2024-04-24obsidian: the king of learning tools (full guide + setup)youtube · odysseas3.26m views — the single biggest obsidian video.
- 2020-09-15obsidian for beginners: start hereyoutube — linking your thinking · nick milo2.41m views — the foundational onboarding video; 'this wasn't a product walkthrough. this was a guided meditation.'
- 2025-09-26give me 15 minutes. i'll teach you 80% of obsidianyoutube — linking your thinking · nick milo2.10m views — the second wind of mainstream interest post-bases.
- 2022-01-27the fun and efficient note-taking system i use in my phdyoutube · morganeua1.57m views — the phd note-taking system.
- 2021how to take smart notes (3 methods no one's talking about)youtube · vicky zhao1.37m views — the smart-notes methods video.
- 2022my simple note-taking setup | zettelkasten in obsidianyoutube · artem kirsanov817k views — the zettelkasten-in-obsidian setup.
- 2024-08-29my obsidian setup: the king of note taking appsyoutube · christopher lawley809k views — 'the king of note taking apps.'
- 202210 must-have obsidian pluginsyoutube · nicole van der hoeven741k views — the must-have plugins canon.
- 2022-01-31why i left notion for obsidianyoutube · rachel v madrigal675k views — the 'influencer switch' genre at scale.
- 2021i tried obsidian note taking for a weekyoutube · john mavrick531k views — the week-long trial genre.
- 2025-12how the ceo of obsidian takes his notes (underrated genius)youtube · karlos obsidian tutorials526k views — the kepano-vault essay reaching video scale.
- 2025-11why i switched to using obsidian (as a former notion user)youtube · reysu445k views — the former-notion-user switch genre, still running.
- 2024-10-18i ditched obsidian for this note app and i'm never going back!youtube · shu omi603k views — 'i found myself spending so much time constantly tweaking my setup and installing hundreds of plugins that i didn't work on what i really needed to do.'
- 2023-09-08why are people leaving obsidian for this note app? | capacities reviewyoutube · shu omi446k views — the video that framed the capacities exodus narrative.
- 2023stop procrastinating with note-taking apps like obsidian, roam, logseqyoutube · sam matla533k views — the video-form 'productivity porn' critique.
- 2020-08-23the perfect note-taking appyoutube · ali abdaal797k views — the pre-fandom era taxonomy; abdaal later publicly preferred apple notes.
- 2025how i organized my life using only apple notesyoutube · zach highley681k views — the apple notes counter-current.
- 2026-03how i use obsidian + claude code to run my lifeyoutube · greg isenberg455k views — the ai-era vault usage video.
- 2026-04claude just killed the note-taking app. here is proof.youtube · icor with tom473k views — the 'ai kills pkm' genre.
- 2024open source alternatives to the most popular productivity appsyoutube · the linux experiment1.75m views — obsidian listed among apps needing oss alternatives.
- 2024-01-25could it be time to switch? (evernote → obsidian, with nick milo)linkedin · tiago fortethe basb creator testing obsidian with the lyt founder — 'an amazing community that ships plugins faster than startups backed by vcs.'
- 2026r/obsidianmd stats 2026reddtrends · reddtrends~357.7k members mid-2026 — trackers disagree; treat as a range.
- 2026r/obsidianmd subreddit statsgummysearch · gummysearch~360k members — the upper end of the range.
- 2024many users use reddit possibly because they are unaware…feddit.dk · lemmythe subreddit carries an official notice steering users to the forum.
- 2024-10-01obsidian october 2024obsidian · obsidianthe 2024 edition pivoted to plugin quality and performance — 'help your users experience <1 second load times'; ~2,000 plugins by then.
- 2021-10-02obsidian roundup, october 2 2021obsidian roundup · eleanor konikthe obsidian roundup newsletter — community scaffolding next to o_o and gems of the year.
- 2024-12-19bending spoons acquisition cold email to obsidianbluesky · steph angothe publicized cold acquisition email — resonated as proof-of-independence amid evernote's bending spoons-era decline.
- 2023-02dendron development stopped?github · dendron'we were ultimately not able to find product market fit for a venture backed business' — the cautionary tale invoked in every obsidian business-model debate.
- 2024-02-24karpathy's obsidian endorsement threadx · andrej karpathy'the file is the source of truth, not the application' — the february 2024 endorsement of the philosophy over the note-taking.
- 2026-04-02llm knowledge basesx · andrej karpathy1.2m+ views — obsidian cast as the ide/frontend for an llm-compiled markdown wiki, web clipper for ingest.
- 2026-04karpathy's llm knowledge base workflow explainedanalytics drift · analytics driftthe secondary write-up carrying the 1.2m+ view count.
- 2025the personal second brainnoferi.it · stefano nofericollects the critique canon — tietze, chapin, newton, matuschak — plus the license and bases dates.
- 2023single-purpose notebooksdeep questions (podscripts transcript) · cal newportthe deep questions skepticism — second brain as fine for unstructured hoarding, 'not my best brain.'
- 2025-02obsidian is now completely free to use — even for businessesmedium · michael swengelthe medium explainer on the free-for-work change.
- 2025-08obsidian bases: transforming notes into dynamic dataalgustionesa.com · algustionesathe scope-creep and vision-drift framing of the bases launch.
- 2024-10-06pkm weekly 2024-10-06pkm weekly · pkm weeklythe newsletter record of the 2024 o_o plugin-quality framing.
AI-drafted at Ben Guo's direct request and credited to Hraness; every claim links to its cataloged source.