sources
every source cited in the obsidian history, with its date and type.
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.