Aside

Side note index

Agent reply

Aside is a tool for thought. It helps you capture, connect, and go deeper into your knowledge. Optionally, local AI agents can assist you along the journey. For durable storage and sync across devices, use Aside with [Obsidian Sync](https://obsidian.md/sync).

Features

• Uses a dedicated sidebar for drafting, editing, resolving, reopening, and deleting comments.
• Adds page notes to markdown, PDF, and HTML files. Text-anchored notes work in markdown files only.
• Supports Obsidian-style [[wikilinks]] inside side comments to link existing notes or create new markdown notes.
• Type # in a side note to search existing tags or add a new one.
• Type @todo to mark follow-ups that appear in the Todo index tab.
• Browse, filter, and batch-apply local side-note tags from the active note sidebar.
• Keeps resolved comments archived instead of removing them.
• Generates 🐰 Aside Index.md as a vault-wide comment index.
• Lets the index sidebar switch between the comment list and a thought-trail graph built from side-note wiki links. The graph follows those links across connected markdown files, so it can show multi-step trails instead of only direct one-hop links.
• Built-in agent help on desktop Obsidian. Type @codex or @claude in a thread to get a reply, create anchored side notes, or apply explicit edits to the source note.
• Experimental Cloudflare Pages publishing for testers on desktop Obsidian.

How to Get Started

1. Install Aside from Obsidian's Community plugins browser.
2. Optional: install and sign in to the local agent CLI you want to use on the same machine.
   • For @codex, open Terminal in your vault or project folder and run codex.
   • For @claude, open Terminal in your vault or project folder and run claude.
3. Optional: install the Aside skill for better agent workflows.

   $skill-installer install https://github.com/vicky469/aside/tree/main/skills/aside
   

4. Experimental, for testers only: configure Cloudflare Pages publishing.
   • Install Wrangler so wrangler --version works in Terminal.
   • Run wrangler login with the Cloudflare account that owns the Pages project.
   • Create or choose a Cloudflare Pages project.
   • If you use a custom domain, attach it to the Pages project in Cloudflare first.
   • In Aside settings, turn on Publishing and set the Publishing URL to your public Pages URL, for example https://publish.example.com.
   • Put publishable Markdown, HTML, and PDF files under public/. Aside creates public/ when Publishing is enabled if it does not already exist.
   • Do not put Cloudflare API tokens in Aside settings.

Workflow

1. Open a markdown, PDF, or HTML file.
2. Add a side note. In markdown, select text and right-click Add comment to selection, or use the sidebar for a page note. In HTML and PDF files, use the sidebar to add a page note for the whole file.
3. Write your comment in the sidebar. Type @todo for follow-ups, @codex if you want Codex to take the task, or @claude if you want Claude to take it.

Publishing

Publishing is an experimental desktop-only Cloudflare Pages workflow for testers. It is not an out-of-the-box hosted service: Aside does not create Cloudflare projects, attach domains, store tokens, or log Wrangler in for you.

After setup, publish supported files under public/ from the pane header.

• Markdown files publish as Markdown when you open the .md file and click Publish Markdown.
• HTML files publish as HTML when you open the .html file and click Publish HTML. If the HTML is generated from Markdown, keep the source .md file under public/ too so Aside can track the pair.
• PDF files publish as PDFs when you open the .pdf file and click Publish PDF.
• After publishing, the pane header shows matching Open published, Republish, and Unpublish actions.
• Aside refuses obvious private or unsafe artifacts, including Obsidian config files, .env*, .npmrc, private keys, certificates, source maps, source-map references, log files, and unsupported file types.

Glossary

• thread
  One Aside discussion attached to one target. A thread can have one first entry and later replies.

• entry
  One message inside a thread. The first saved entry creates the thread. Later child entries are replies in the same thread.

• page note
  A thread attached to the whole file, not to a text selection. Page notes work on markdown files, PDFs, and HTML files.

• anchored note
  A thread attached to a specific text selection in a markdown note. HTML files and PDFs support page notes only.

• orphaned note
  An anchored thread whose original text can no longer be matched in the file. The thread still exists; its anchor is just currently missing.

• resolved note
  A thread that has been archived instead of deleted.

• 🐰 Aside Index.md The generated vault-wide index note. It is derived output, not the source of truth.

• thought trail
  The graph view built from [[wikilinks]] inside side-note threads.

Writing in Side Notes

Action	How it works
Save draft	Click Save.
Insert a newline	Press Enter.
Mark a todo	Type @todo in the note.
Publish public Markdown	Put the .md file under public/, open it, then click Publish Markdown in the pane header.
Publish public HTML	Put the .html file under public/, open it, then click Publish HTML in the pane header. If it is generated from Markdown, keep the source .md under public/ too.
Publish a public PDF	Put the .pdf file under public/, open it, then click Publish PDF in the pane header.
Republish public content	Open the published file under public/, then click the matching Republish Markdown, Republish HTML, or Republish PDF action.
Unpublish public content	Open the published file under public/, then click the matching Unpublish Markdown, Unpublish HTML, or Unpublish PDF action.
Open published content	Open the published file under public/, then click the matching Open published Markdown, Open published HTML, or Open published PDF action.
Ask a local agent from a side note	Type @codex or @claude in the note, then save it.
Link a note	Type [[ to open note suggestions and insert an Obsidian wikilink.
Add a tag	Type # to open tag suggestions and insert a tag.
Reopen link or tag suggestions	Press Tab while the cursor is inside an unfinished [[... or #... token.
Bold or highlight text	Use the sidebar B and H buttons to wrap the current selection with **bold** or ==highlight==.
Cancel a draft or edit	Press Esc.

Settings

• Index header image URL
• Index header image caption
• Publishing (experimental)
• Enable publishing
• Publishing URL
• Project name

Commands

• Aside: Add comment to selection

Reporting Bugs

Open a GitHub issue using the bug report template:

https://github.com/vicky469/aside/issues/new?template=bug_report.yml

For suspected vulnerabilities or other sensitive security issues, do not file a public issue. Email vickyli819@proton.me instead.

License

MIT

Keep Aside brewing.