Integrate with Obsidian
Goal
Use Obsidian as a read/browse interface for the knowledge graph — graph view, backlinks, and tag filtering over captured lessons, ADRs, and patterns.
Prerequisites
- KMGraph initialized with a populated knowledge graph
- Obsidian installed
KMGraph stores all entries as plain markdown. Obsidian reads markdown natively. No conversion, no plugin, and no sync step is needed for read access. This guide covers three levels: instant vault (zero install), improved vault (community plugin), and future primary-store mode (deferred).
Option A — Instant vault (zero install)
Point an Obsidian vault at the KG directory. In Obsidian:
- File → Open vault
- Select
~/.kmgraph/(personal KG) or./knowledge/(project KG) - Open the vault
All lessons, ADRs, patterns, and session summaries are immediately browsable. Obsidian's graph view shows links between entries. Tag filtering works on the YAML frontmatter tags: field.
This is read-only in the sense that Obsidian will not corrupt KMGraph structure — you can edit files in Obsidian and they remain valid KMGraph markdown.
Starting in v0.3.3, kmgraph init converts all cross-references to Obsidian [[wiki link]] format automatically. ADR-028, ENH-010, Lessons_Learned_X, and GitHub issue references are all converted on first init or upgrade. This means Obsidian's graph view shows real connections between lessons, decisions, and enhancements without any manual linking.
Option B — Bidirectional sync with an MCP bridge
Community Obsidian MCP servers (e.g., mcp-obsidian, obsidian-mcp) allow reading and writing Obsidian notes from an AI assistant. With an Obsidian MCP server configured:
Use obsidian_get_note to read the lesson at lessons-learned/debugging/my-lesson.md
Use obsidian_create_note to add a new entry to lessons-learned/patterns/
This enables the AI assistant to query the KG via Obsidian's API, which supports Dataview queries and Obsidian-specific metadata. Setup varies by MCP server — see the documentation for your chosen server.
Recommended Obsidian plugins for KMGraph browsing
| Plugin | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Dataview | Query lessons by tag, date, category — TABLE file.name WHERE category = "debugging" |
| Templater | Use KMGraph templates directly inside Obsidian |
| Graph Analysis | Visualize connections between lessons, ADRs, and patterns |
Verify
Open the Obsidian graph view. Each lesson should appear as a node. Linked ADRs and lessons should be connected by edges.
Next steps
- Integrate with NotebookLM — AI-powered Q&A over the knowledge graph
- Integrate with Notion — team-browsable mirror with database filtering