8 KiB
IStart-Note-AI
AI-powered knowledge management plugin for Obsidian. One unified AI assistant that helps you build structured notes, read books effectively, and visualize knowledge — all through natural language.
Core Concept
One input, infinite possibilities. Instead of memorizing dozens of commands, just tell the AI what you want:
- Select text → click 🧠 → "画个时序图"
- Cursor in empty section → click 🧠 → (leave blank, AI auto-completes)
- Reading a chapter → click 🧠 → "总结这章"
The AI understands your context (selected text, current file, cursor position) and acts accordingly.
Features
| Feature | How to use |
|---|---|
| AI Assistant | 🧠 button or right-click → type any instruction |
| Reading Projects | Command panel → "New reading project" → enter book title |
| Baidu Cloud Sync | Settings → enable sync → backup/restore/force-overwrite |
| Knowledge Graph | Automatic: concepts, relations, and Mermaid diagrams |
AI Assistant (unified entry)
The AI assistant handles everything through one input:
- Expand — select text, ask to expand
- Explain — select a term, ask to explain
- Diagrams — describe what you want (flowchart, sequence, state, class, ER, Gantt)
- Formulas — describe a math expression, get LaTeX
- Complete — fill empty sections based on context
- Continue — write more from cursor position
- Summarize — summarize the current document
- Answer questions — ask anything about the content
- Anything else — just describe it in natural language
Reading Projects
Turn any book into a structured study plan:
- Enter book title (and optionally paste table of contents)
- AI generates:
- Reading roadmap with chapter relationships (Mermaid)
- Pre-reading questions for each chapter
- Core concepts (auto-linked to concept pages)
- As you read, record notes in chapter pages
- Generate chapter summaries and take Feynman tests
Supports resume: If generation is interrupted, re-run to complete missing chapters.
Knowledge Structure
Knowledge/
├── Reading/
│ └── Book-Title/
│ ├── _索引.md ← Overview + progress + relationship graph
│ ├── Chapter-1.md ← Notes with pre-reading questions
│ └── ...
├── Concepts/
│ ├── _未分类/ ← New concepts (before completion)
│ ├── 技术/ ← Auto-organized by domain after completion
│ │ ├── TCP.md
│ │ └── _索引.md ← Domain MOC with Mermaid overview
│ └── ...
└── Q&A/
└── 2026-05-01-question.md
Baidu Cloud Sync
- Incremental backup — only uploads changed files
- Bidirectional sync — with conflict resolution
- Force overwrite — reset local to match cloud state
- Plugin backup — includes plugin files + Obsidian config (toolbar, hotkeys, appearance)
- Auto backup — triggers after note generation
Requirements
- Obsidian 1.7.2 or later
- A DeepSeek API key
Installation
From community plugins (recommended)
- Settings → Community plugins → Browse
- Search IStart-Note-AI
- Install → Enable
Manual
- Build:
npm install && npm run build - Copy
dist/contents to.obsidian/plugins/istart-note-ai/ - Enable in Settings → Community plugins
Configuration
Settings → IStart-Note-AI:
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| API Key | DeepSeek API key | — |
| Base URL | API endpoint | https://api.deepseek.com |
| Model | deepseek-v4-flash (fast) or deepseek-v4-pro (deep reasoning) |
deepseek-v4-flash |
| Q&A folder | Where Q&A notes are saved | Knowledge/Q&A |
| Concepts folder | Where concept pages are saved | Knowledge/Concepts |
| Questions folder | Question graph index | Knowledge/Questions |
Usage
Desktop
- 🧠 Ribbon icon → Opens command panel
- Right-click in editor → "IStart-Note-AI: AI 助手"
- Right-click file in sidebar → "IStart-Note-AI: AI 助手"
- Command palette → Search any command
Mobile
- 🧠 Ribbon icon → Opens command panel (recommended)
- Add
AI 助手to mobile toolbar for quick access - Select text → tap toolbar button → enter instruction
Quick tags
The AI assistant input has quick tags for common actions:
[扩写] [解释] [画图] [补全] [续写] [总结] [公式] [时序图]
Tap a tag to fill the instruction, or type your own.
Development
Setup
cd obsidian-deepseek-plugin
npm install
Build
npm run build # Production → dist/
npm run dev # Watch mode
Project Structure
src/
├── main.ts # Plugin entry (minimal: onload + method implementations)
├── types.ts # Shared type definitions
├── actions/ # Action registry (defines all commands/menus)
│ ├── types.ts
│ ├── definitions.ts # All actions defined here
│ └── registry.ts # Auto-registers to commands/menus/panel
├── ai/ # AI clients (pure API calls, no UI)
│ ├── AIAssistant.ts # Unified AI assistant
│ ├── ReadingPlanner.ts # Reading project generation
│ ├── ConceptCompleter.ts # Concept page completion
│ ├── SmartCompleter.ts # Section/expand/continue
│ ├── DiagramGenerator.ts # Mermaid/LaTeX generation
│ ├── SectionAppender.ts # Section content generation
│ ├── DeepSeekClient.ts # Basic Q&A
│ ├── ContextQAClient.ts # Context-aware Q&A
│ └── QuestionClassifier.ts # Question classification
├── features/ # Feature modules (UI + logic)
│ ├── assistant/ # Unified AI assistant modal
│ ├── reading/ # Reading project management
│ ├── concept/ # Concept page management
│ ├── question/ # Question graph
│ ├── context-qa/ # Context Q&A modal
│ ├── section/ # Section append modal
│ ├── diagram/ # Diagram type/preview modals
│ ├── sync/ # Baidu cloud sync
│ ├── smart-complete/ # Document analysis modal
│ └── command-panel/ # Unified command panel
├── vault/ # Vault file operations
│ └── VaultWriter.ts
├── settings/ # Settings tab
│ └── SettingsTab.ts
└── util/
└── md5.ts
Adding a new feature
- Add AI client in
src/ai/(if needed) - Add UI in
src/features/your-feature/ - Add action in
src/actions/definitions.ts - Done — automatically appears in command panel, right-click menu, and command palette
Changelog
2.0.0
- Unified AI Assistant — one input replaces all previous commands
- Action Registry — consistent behavior across panel, right-click, and commands
- DeepSeek v4 models — switched to
deepseek-v4-flashanddeepseek-v4-pro - Reading Projects — book study with pre-reading questions, chapter summaries, Feynman tests
- Domain organization — concepts auto-organized into domain subdirectories
- Mermaid diagrams — auto-generated relationship graphs in concept pages
- Obsidian config backup — toolbar, hotkeys, appearance synced to cloud
- Force overwrite — reset local state from cloud backup
- Code restructure — modular architecture for easy extension
1.5.x
- Baidu Netdisk sync with incremental backup/restore
- Section append, concept completion, context Q&A
- Question classification and graph
1.0.0
- Basic Q&A note generation with DeepSeek
- Automatic concept pages and bidirectional links
License
MIT. See LICENSE.