Lexophile — Personal Dictionary

Build your vocabulary one word at a time.

An Obsidian plugin that turns any word you read into a permanent, searchable dictionary note in your vault.

Install · How it works · Privacy · Support

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What it does

• Right-click on the web → "Add to Lexophile" → a definition note appears in your Obsidian vault. (Requires the Chrome extension.)
• Inside Obsidian → run Lexophile: Add word to lexicon from the command palette and type or paste the word.
• Plug in your Kobo → import every word you saved from "My Words" in one shot, with each word linked back to the book it came from.

Every word becomes a note in your Dictionary/ folder with the part of speech, definition, example sentence, and a clickable source link. A Bases view auto-generates so you can see your whole vocabulary in one table.

Features

• 📖 One-click capture from the web via the companion Chrome extension
• ✍️ Manual entry from inside Obsidian
• 📱 Kobo import — pull "My Words" from KoboReader.sqlite and link each word back to its book
• 🗂️ Auto-generated Bases view of your full lexicon (Word, Word class, Definition, Example, Source, Date added)
• 🔗 Books library integration — Kobo imports become [[wikilinks]] to book notes
• 🔒 Local-only — your words never leave your machine except for the dictionary lookup itself
• 🎨 Customizable note template with frontmatter properties for everything

How it works

The plugin ships with a local SQLite dictionary (~23MB, ~167K entries). Lookups happen entirely offline — the dictionary file downloads once on first use, then everything stays on your machine.

┌──────────────┐    POST /word    ┌────────────────────────────────┐
│   Chrome     │ ───────────────► │   Obsidian plugin              │
│  extension   │   Bearer <tok>   │   (HTTP server on :27124)      │
└──────────────┘                  │                                │
                                  │   ┌──────────────────────┐     │
                                  │   │ dictionary.sqlite    │     │
   Mass-import / Kobo / manual ►──┼──►│ (167K entries, local)│     │
                                  │   └──────────────────────┘     │
                                  │                                │
                                  │   creates note in vault →      │  →  📓 Dictionary/serendipity.md
                                  └────────────────────────────────┘

Dictionary data is derived from MattDodsonEnglish/english-dictionary (CC BY-SA 3.0, originally from Wiktionary via dictionaryapi.dev). The Chrome extension still calls dictionaryapi.dev for its own lookups; the plugin itself makes no network calls during normal use.

The Chrome extension and the plugin authenticate to each other with a shared secret token (auto-generated during onboarding) so random websites can't write to your vault.

Installation

From the Obsidian community store (coming soon)

Search for Lexophile in Settings → Community plugins → Browse.

Manual install

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and versions.json from the latest release.
2. Create the folder <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/lexophile/.
3. Copy the three files into that folder.
4. In Obsidian: Settings → Community plugins → toggle Lexophile - Personal Dictionary on.

Chrome extension

Install the companion extension from the lexophile-chrome-extension repo.

Setup

1. Open Settings → Lexophile → Local dictionary and click Download. The plugin fetches ~23MB once and stores it inside your vault's plugin folder. The "Ready" pill confirms it loaded.
2. (Optional, for web capture) The Chrome extension opens a welcome tab on install. It auto-generates an API token; copy it and paste it into Settings → Lexophile → API token, then click Test connection.

Usage

From the web

Highlight a word on any page, right-click, and choose Add "" to Lexophile. A toast confirms it was saved. The page URL is captured as the word's source.

Inside Obsidian

Cmd+P → Lexophile: Add word to lexicon → type or paste a word, hit Enter. The source for these is manual.

From your Kobo eReader

1. Settings → Lexophile → enable Kobo import, set your books folder.
2. Plug in your Kobo via USB.
3. Cmd+P → Lexophile: Import words from Kobo.
4. The default path (/Volumes/KOBOeReader/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite on macOS) is pre-filled. Click Read words.
5. A preview lists each book with the Kobo title, an editable Title Case name, a word count, and autocomplete against existing book notes in your library.
6. Edit any name or pick an existing book, then Import.

Every imported word gets source: "[[Book Name]]" in its frontmatter. If the book note doesn't exist yet, the plugin creates a stub (configurable).

Settings reference

Setting	Default	Notes
Dictionary folder	Dictionary	Auto-created if missing
Note naming	As-is	lowercase and Title Case also available
Duplicate handling	Skip	Or append, or overwrite
Auto-create dictionary base	On	Creates _Dictionary List.base for the table view
Local server port	27124	Change if it conflicts with another plugin
API token	(auto-generated)	Must match the Chrome extension
Enable Kobo import	Off	Reveals the books library settings
Books folder	Books	Where book notes live
When a book isn't in your library	Auto-create stub	Or link without creating, or use plain text

Privacy

The plugin is fully local after the initial dictionary download. No analytics, no telemetry, no account, no cloud. The only network call after setup is when you click Re-download in settings.

The Chrome extension does call dictionaryapi.dev when you right-click to capture a word — that's outside the plugin and only happens when you use the extension.

Development

npm install
npm run dev      # watch mode
npm run build    # production bundle

The plugin bundles sql.js (used by the Kobo import) which is why main.js is ~1 MB.

For the Chrome extension, see lexophile-chrome-extension — no build step, just load unpacked.

Support

Need help, hit a bug, or have an idea?

• 🐛 Bug or feature request → open an issue
• ☕ Like it? → Buy me a coffee

License

MIT © Bryan Maniotakis