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

Lookups go through one of two sources, picked in Settings → Lexophile → Dictionary source:

• Online (default) — calls the free Dictionary API. Zero setup, occasionally rate-limited on large batches.
• Local SQLite (offline) — one-time ~23MB download to your plugin folder. Sub-millisecond lookups, no network calls after that. Data derived from MattDodsonEnglish/english-dictionary (CC BY-SA 3.0, sourced from Wiktionary).

┌──────────────┐    POST /word    ┌────────────────────────────────┐
│   Chrome     │ ───────────────► │   Obsidian plugin              │
│  extension   │   Bearer <tok>   │   (HTTP server on :27124)      │
└──────────────┘                  │                                │
                                  │   ┌──────────────────────┐     │
   Mass-import / Kobo / manual ►──┼──►│ Dictionary source:   │     │
                                  │   │ • api.dictionaryapi  │     │
                                  │   │ • local SQLite       │     │
                                  │   └──────────────────────┘     │
                                  │                                │
                                  │   creates note in vault →      │  →  📓 Dictionary/serendipity.md
                                  └────────────────────────────────┘

The Chrome extension makes its own call to dictionaryapi.dev regardless of plugin source. 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

The plugin works out of the box — it uses the free Dictionary API by default. Two optional steps:

1. (For offline use) In Settings → Lexophile → Dictionary source, switch to Local SQLite. The page reveals a status pill; click Download to fetch the dictionary file once (~23MB). The "Ready" pill confirms it loaded.
2. (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

No analytics, no telemetry, no account, no cloud.

• In Online mode (default): the plugin calls api.dictionaryapi.dev to fetch each definition.
• In Local mode: the only network call is the one-time dictionary download. Lookups thereafter are fully offline.
• The Chrome extension calls api.dictionaryapi.dev directly when you right-click to capture — independent of the plugin's source setting.

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